Lander Announces Mayoral Run; Taxpayers Fund Cuomo’s Defense
No. 386 | Monday, August 5, 2024
The NYC Thorn is a weekly roundup of local political news compiled by members of NYC-DSA.
Local News
With New York State taxpayers already paying more than $8 million for former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s legal bills relating to sexual misconduct allegations, current Governor Kathy Hochul is now retaining the law firm Morgan Lewis to contest Attorney General Letitia James’s office’s report confirming Cuomo’s sexual misconduct, at an additional cost of $2.5 million to the State’s taxpayers.
Governor Hochul’s indefinite delays to congestion pricing in Manhattan will vastly decrease the MTA’s ability to enact its plans for climate resiliency, including upgrading stations subject to flooding in severe storms, all while failing to disincentivize drivers of private vehicles, thus creating more of the carbon waste that causes climate change and necessitates such climate resiliency plans in the first place.
When his senior advisor and former NYPD officer Timothy Pearson was faced with a fourth lawsuit alleging Pearson’s sexual misconduct or retaliation while at the NYPD, Mayor Adams increased his public support of Pearson and nominated Randy Mastro to lead the City’s law department (and thus also Pearson’s defense).
A state judge declared that the City Council does not have the legal right to increase the scope of a state housing voucher law, which the Council voted for over the mayor’s veto.
Election News
The City’s Comptroller Brad Lander has formally announced his 2025 campaign for mayor, challenging Mayor Adams in the Democratic primary.
The New York City Campaign Finance Board’s draft audit of Mayor Eric Adams’s 2021 campaign shows it failed to document $2.3 million worth of expenses, potentially resulting in stiff financial penalties that would decrease Adams’s cash on hand for his 2025 reelection campaign.
City & State speculates that former Governor Andrew Cuomo could run for New York City Mayor in 2025 if Mayor Adams drops out of the race, or that Cuomo might challenge Governor Kathy Hochul for the governorship in 2026.
The NYC Local
Our chapter's labor newsletter, The Local, arrives every other week with a focus on labor organizing, bargaining, and local legislation that impacts NYC's workers. Give them a follow here.