LaSalle Rejected by Judiciary Committee + Hochul Mulls Lawsuit
No. 306 | Monday, January 23, 2023
The NYC Thorn is a weekly roundup of local political news compiled by members of NYC-DSA.
Local News
The State Senate Judiciary Committee rejected Governor Kathy Hochul’s Court of Appeals nominee, Hector LaSalle, voting 10-9 not to advance him to a floor vote. Now the Governor is reportedly “considering all [her] options,” including potentially suing the Senate to force a vote of the full Senate. The Daily Beast reported on why Hochul chose to expend so much political capital on a fight she never seemed likely to win.
Both Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams are calling for budget cuts at a time of rising tax revenues. Adams’s budget calls for the elimination of over 4,300 unfilled City jobs.
The New Yorker released an extensive report on Mayor Adams’s relationship with Pastor Lamor Whitehead, who was recently arrested on federal fraud charges.
Ed Mullins, the former head of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, one of the NYPD’s most powerful unions, pleaded guilty to stealing member dues.
Over 1,200 unlicensed cannabis stores have opened over the past couple of years, undercutting the recent arrival of licensed weed stores and causing some in government to call for heavier regulation and even criminalization.
The City’s eviction rate, as well as homelessness, continues to spike as pandemic-era protections for renters expire.
Council Member Lincoln Restler (District 33, Williamsburg) proposed a set of bills that would prohibit City workers from taking a lobbying job with any part of the City government for two years.
After nurses at two private hospitals won additional staffing protections, nurses at the City’s public hospitals are calling for the same protections, although they cannot legally strike.
Elections
Mayor Adams raised $428,000 in the last six months, giving him over $1 million in cash for his re-election campaign, which is over two years away. This is in addition to over $920,000 he currently expects to receive in public matching funds.
Assembly Member Inez Dickens has an early fundraising advantage over City Council Member Kristin Richardson Jordan for this year’s City Council primary (District 9, Harlem).
The City Council passed a law mandating public disclosures on spending meant to influence voting on ballot referendums.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced she is running for a third term in 2024. She has $4.4 million in her campaign account.
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A publication of the Legislative Committee of the NYC-DSA Labor Branch.
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