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☆ The Secret Hand Behind the Women Who Stood by Cuomo? His Sister.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Nicholas Fandos | More About Nicholas Fandos | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Good Morning Just spoke and he thinks a distraction could be helpful today,” Ms. Cuomo wrote in the private texts reviewed by The New York Times. She suggested posting “photos of Charlotte In her sex kitten straddle” taken from Ms. Bennett’s Instagram account, potentially alongside more “austere, professional” ones of loyal Cuomo aides. “No respectable woman would EVER pose like that,” Ms. Cuomo added. The group swarmed his critics on social media, sold Cuomo swag and pushed for due process. But four of the group’s current leaders said in interviews that even as their work appeared organic to the outside world, Ms. Cuomo, 58, began privately exerting control.

Persons: Ms, Cuomo, Charlotte, Bennett’s, “, Cuomo swag Organizations: The New York Times, The Times Locations: York

“This is a room full of people who truly believe in the ability to go up against Adams and win,” said Cristina González, one of the hosts, on Thursday, after word of the meeting leaked. Mr. Adams will likely be a heavy favorite to capture a second term. He remains broadly popular with the coalition of Black and Latino voters outside of Manhattan who sent him to Gracie Mansion. Evan Thies, a spokesman for the Adams campaign, said in a statement that the mayor had lowered crime and “invested billions of dollars in working people” and that polls showed he had strong support from New Yorkers. “The fact that these folks would rather play politics in some back room two years before the election, instead of help the mayor help working people, tells you all you need to know about what they really care about: their own power,” he said.

Persons: Adams, ”, Cristina González, Gracie, Evan Thies Organizations: Democratic, New Yorkers Locations: Manhattan, New

Despite falling poll numbers and critical news coverage, Mayor Eric Adams clearly has the continued monetary support of two influential spheres of influence: real estate leaders and the donor class from New York City and beyond. Mr. Adams has raised $1.3 million since January for his 2025 re-election effort in the latest reporting period, drawing maximum $2,100 donations from real estate magnates like Marc Holliday, the chief executive of SL Green, the city’s largest commercial landlord, and its founder, Steve Green; and Alexander and Helena Durst, members of The Durst Organization real estate dynasty, according to new filings with the city’s Campaign Finance Board. About $550,000 came from donors outside New York City who live in the suburbs, Florida and other states — a continuation of a pattern displayed early in his tenure, when he held fund-raisers in Beverly Hills and Chicago in his first months in office. As mayor, Mr. Adams has often taken positions that benefit the real estate industry, including being supportive of rent increases and criticizing state lawmakers for failing to replace a tax-incentive program for developers known as 421a.

Persons: Eric Adams, Adams, Marc Holliday, Steve Green, Alexander, Helena Durst Organizations: SL Green, Organization, city’s Campaign Locations: New York City, Florida, Beverly Hills, Chicago

Representative George Santos, the New York Republican facing federal criminal charges, reported raising about $150,000 through his re-election campaign and an associated committee from April through June — a modest sum that he mostly used to pay back money he had lent to his past congressional bids. Mr. Santos had previously reported giving his own campaign more than $700,000 in personal loans, money that has been the subject of intense scrutiny given his apparent sudden rise in wealth and a lack of transparency around his business deals. On May 30, his campaign repaid him $85,000, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on Friday. Kellen Curry, a Republican primary challenger, said he raised more than $200,000 in the same period. Other candidates who have entered the race had yet to announce their totals ahead of a Saturday deadline.

Persons: George Santos, Santos, Santos’s, Zak Malamed, Kellen Curry Organizations: New York Republican, Federal, Democratic, Republican Locations: Long Island, Queens

☆ New York Is Ordered by Appeals Court to Redraw House Map
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Nicholas Fandos | More About Nicholas Fandos | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The LatestA New York appeals court on Thursday ordered the state’s congressional map to be redrawn, siding with Democrats in a case that could give the party a fresh chance to tilt one of the nation’s most contested House battlegrounds leftward. Wading into a long-simmering legal dispute, the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court in Albany said that the competitive, court-drawn districts put in place for last year’s midterms had only been a temporary fix. They ordered the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission to promptly restart a process that would effectively give the Democrat-dominated State Legislature final say over the contours of New York’s 26 House seats for the remainder of the decade. to commence its duties forthwith,” Elizabeth A. Garry, the presiding justice, wrote in the majority opinion, referring to the Independent Redistricting Commission. Two members of the five-judge panel dissented.

Persons: year’s midterms, ” Elizabeth A . Garry Organizations: Division, Democrat, Legislature, Independent Locations: York, Albany

☆ Ocasio-Cortez’s Unusual Place in N.Y. City Council Races: The Sidelines
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Nicholas Fandos | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Two years ago, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez set out to put her imprint on New York City government, using her personal clout and a leadership PAC to boost dozens of left-leaning candidates. Yet as New Yorkers prepare to go back to the polls next week to begin electing a new City Council, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has been practically invisible. Courage to Change, her political action committee that backed 60 candidates in 2021, has gone dormant. And while she has offered to quietly help left-leaning incumbents who dissented from last year’s city budget, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has yet to issue any actual endorsements — and may not, as early voting began Saturday. “But in the meantime, please do not use Courage to Change PAC or A.O.C.

Persons: Alexandria Ocasio, Cortez, Ocasio, “ Organizations: PAC, City Council, The New York Times Locations: New York City

☆ Could Democrats Get Another Shot at Redistricting in New York?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Nicholas Fandos | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Whatever happens, New York promises to be perhaps the most contested state in the nation for House races next year. Republicans outperformed expectations in New York during the 2022 midterm elections, leaving their candidates positioned to defend six districts President Biden won in 2020, two by double digits. “We think our chances are good, but it’s not something we are relying on,” said Jay Jacobs, the Democrats’ state party chairman. The court case was proceeding this week as Democrats in Albany used the final days of this year’s legislative session to try to shore up their electoral prospects in other ways. Democratic supermajorities in both legislative chambers appeared poised to adopt changes weakening New York’s new publicly financed donor-matching program in ways that would benefit incumbents.

Persons: Biden, ”, Jay Jacobs, Wasserman Organizations: House, Republicans, Democratic supermajorities Locations: New York, Albany

☆ Jamaal Bowman Finds His Voice. Some Republicans Don’t Like the Sound.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Nicholas Fandos | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In this hyperpartisan era, the country has no shortage of politicians willing to savage each other from across a hearing room or on social media. Bowman, a media-savvy democratic socialist from the Bronx, has rapidly made a name for himself this spring by going where most of them have not: up to his opponents’ actual faces. Mr. Bowman’s platform includes far-reaching left-wing policies that split his party. Bowman, 47, to “calm down” as they argue over how to stop gun violence has already been viewed more than seven million times. Bowman, even though video showed her smiling as they sparred.

☆ Biden Woos Republican Moderates in Debt Ceiling Standoff
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Peter Baker | Nicholas Fandos | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden sought to drive a wedge among Republicans in their escalating dispute over spending and debt on Wednesday, effectively reaching out to moderates in hopes of convincing them to break away from Speaker Kevin McCarthy rather than risk triggering a national default that could throw the economy into a tailspin. Appearing in a competitive suburb with a vulnerable House Republican in his sights, Mr. Biden accused Mr. McCarthy of pursuing a radical strategy at the behest of the “extreme” wing of his party loyal to former President Donald J. Trump, putting the country in economic jeopardy in a way that he said reasonable Republicans of his own era in the Senate would not have done. “They’ve taken control of the House,” Mr. Biden said of this wing to a friendly audience at SUNY Westchester Community College in New York’s Hudson Valley. “They have a speaker who has his job because he yielded to the, quote, MAGA element of the party,” he added. Those hard-right Republicans, Mr. Biden said, are “literally, not figuratively, holding the economy hostage by threatening to default on our nation’s debt, debt we’ve already incurred, we’ve already incurred over the last couple hundred years, unless we give into their threats and demands.”

☆ These Are the Charges Against George Santos
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Nicholas Fandos | Rebecca Davis O Brien | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Federal prosecutors have charged Representative George Santos of New York with 13 counts of money laundering, stealing public money, wire fraud and making false statements to Congress. Prosecutors said the charges resulted from “fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations” designed to mislead donors, enrich Mr. Santos and win a seat in Congress as a Republican from Queens. The Times reported than Mr. Santos registered a company, RedStone Strategies, in November 2021, the same date noted in the indictment, and told donors it was an “independent expenditure” group, or super PAC. Mr. Santos was also charged with three counts of money laundering in connection to the donor solicitation scheme. Mr. Santos was earning $120,000 a year through his employment at a Florida-based investment company, but prosecutors said he repeatedly told the state he had been unemployed since March 2020.

But for months, Mr. Santos has denied any criminal wrongdoing, even as he has admitted to lying about going to college and working for prestigious Wall Street firms. When he appears before a judge on Wednesday, Mr. Santos will hear the government’s case against him. Shortly thereafter, prosecutors will argue for the terms of release they believe to be appropriate to ensure that Mr. Santos returns to court. It is not yet clear whether Mr. Santos will lodge a plea or if he will be asked to do so in a subsequent hearing. Court records show that Mr. Santos spent nearly $700 using a stolen checkbook and a false name at a store near Rio de Janeiro.

☆ Hochul Acknowledges She Didn’t Vet Adviser Accused of Sexual Harassment
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Nicholas Fandos | Jeffery C. Mays | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Kathy Hochul acknowledged on Thursday that she had not scrutinized the background of a longtime political adviser when she hired him to run her 2018 re-election campaign for lieutenant governor of New York, just months after he was fired for sexually harassing colleagues at a nonprofit in Washington, D.C.Ms. Hochul said that she had seen no reason to vet the adviser, Adam C. Sullivan, because he had already managed her 2011 congressional race. In the absence of a thorough background check, the governor said she had no knowledge of the accusations against him until The New York Times reported them this week, long after Mr. Sullivan had risen to become one of her most trusted counselors. “To ask for a résumé and go through a whole new process later for campaigns, that wasn’t what I was doing,” Ms. Hochul, a Democrat, told reporters of her 2018 hiring decision. “Had I known what I knew now, there would be a very different circumstance.”The remarks were part of Ms. Hochul’s first extended account of her dealings with Mr. Sullivan, 43, whose close ties with the governor threaten to cast a cloud over her promises to clean up Albany after her predecessor, Andrew M. Cuomo, resigned amid his own sexual harassment scandal.

☆ Hochul’s Ex-Adviser Has History of Sexual Harassment Complaints
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Nicholas Fandos | Jeffery C. Mays | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ms. Driscoll did not lodge a formal sexual harassment complaint until mid-July that year, when a woman she supervised came to her recounting a similar experience. A human resources specialist investigated, found the claims credible and in the last days of July, the Hub Project quietly fired Mr. Sullivan. The two had worked together before: In 2011, he helped Ms. Hochul, a Democrat, win a special election for Congress, and she later recommended him for the job at the Hub Project. It is not clear what Mr. Sullivan told her about his time at the Hub Project. Ms. Hochul cut ties with him on Sunday, when she said that she was surprised and disappointed to learn of the behavior described by The Times.

☆ Gov. Hochul Severs Ties With Top Political Adviser in Face of Backlash
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Nicholas Fandos | Jeffery C. Mays | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A top political adviser to Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York abruptly informed colleagues that he would resign on Sunday, citing a New York Times report that called into question his political counsel and described a toxic work environment under him. The adviser, Adam C. Sullivan, was not a paid employee of the state but had been the de facto head of Ms. Hochul’s political operation, overseeing her 2022 campaign. She had also deputized him to help steer the state Democratic Party. In an email Sunday to colleagues, including the party’s chairman, Mr. Sullivan apologized for his behavior and said he and Ms. Hochul agreed he should relinquish his responsibilities.

☆ George Santos, Instead of Shrinking From the Spotlight, Steps Into It
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Nicholas Fandos | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

If it is an unorthodox, and perhaps still futile path, Mr. Santos has few other options. His local Republican Party has banned him from its events, and pushed other civic organizations to blackball him, too. Representatives for New York’s senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, said he has yet to seek to work with them. “I have no doubt that he will be a one-term congressman,” said Representative Anthony D’Esposito, a fellow New York Republican who, like Mr. Santos, flipped a Democratic-leaning suburban district on Long Island last November. Mr. D’Esposito said he had gone out of his way to make sure his name did not appear on letters or bills with Mr. Santos, and bemoaned the constant churn that seemed to follow his colleague, and overshadow his own work.

☆ He Calls the Shots for New York’s Governor. He Lives in Colorado.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Nicholas Fandos | Jeffery C. Mays | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But Mr. Sullivan often insisted that crime was a losing issue for Ms. Hochul. Mr. Sullivan declined to comment on campaign strategy. He and Ms. Hochul have stood by its chairman, Jay Jacobs, who has become a punching bag for Democrats, especially on the left. Mr. Sullivan’s allies say he and Ms. Hochul want to strengthen the party, but they could only describe vague plans. “I don’t think he has any agenda other than the governor being successful.”Susan C. Beachy contributed research.

☆ As New York Boosts Tax Breaks for Movies, Some Critics Pan the Program
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Dana Rubinstein | Nicholas Fandos | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Four years ago, Amazon pulled the plug on its plans to build a headquarters in New York City, amid left-wing outrage over a $3 billion public subsidy package. But New York has hardly cut the company off: Amazon’s film and TV arm has received more than $108 million in state tax credits since then, and the left has raised nary a peep. Kathy Hochul is pushing to expand the program by nearly 70 percent, using the proposed state budget to shower as much as $7.7 billion in tax credits on the industry over the next 11 years. As it now stands, the subsidy is the most generous of any offered by the state, according to an analysis by Reinvent Albany, a watchdog group. The proposed expansion to $700 million a year from $420 million has drawn stern rebukes from a range of critics who argue the decades-old program has consistently been a bad deal for taxpayers.

☆ The Obscure G.O.P. Bookkeeper at the Center of the George Santos Mess
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Grace Ashford | Nicholas Fandos | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The degree to which Ms. Marks was aware of Mr. Santos’s numerous biographical deceptions is not clear. In May 2021, Red Strategies USA was born. The placements cost $3,800, though Mr. Hafizi paid Red Strategies $12,000, according to a person with direct knowledge of the arrangement. Red Strategies was not the only company Mr. Hafizi patronized that was tied to Ms. Marks, who was also his treasurer. By then, Ms. Marks and Mr. Santos were just a few weeks from an unlikely upset victory that would alter the course of their careers.

☆ Hey, New Yorkers: Meet Your Neighborhood’s New Congressional District
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Denise Lu | Nicholas Fandos | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The district this neighborhood falls in now has a very different shape from the district before. Mr. Biden won the old district by 69 points in 2020; if the election had been held in the new district, he would have won there by 56 points. Vote margin in 2020 election by precinctBiden Trump +75 +50 +25 0 +25 +50 +75 pts. 2020 (12th District) 2022 (14th District)Old Astoria has long been linked across the East River to some of Manhattan’s wealthiest and whitest neighborhoods, including the Upper East Side, home to the 12th Congressional District’s longtime representative, Carolyn B. Maloney. The new 14th District is much less affluent, more progressive and more Hispanic than the one Old Astoria had been voting in.

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