State Budget Late + AIPAC donors create “Solidarity PAC”
No. 368 | Monday, April 1, 2024
The NYC Thorn is a weekly roundup of local political news compiled by members of NYC-DSA.
Local News
The New York State budget will once again be late. One reason for the delay, according to State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (Yonkers), is that lawmakers are waiting for labor unions and the Real Estate Board of New York to agree to a deal on housing.
In a Daily News op-ed, Rep. Nydia Velasquez (Williamsburg) called on the State legislature to pass "Good Cause" eviction. State Senator Julia Salazar (Bushwick) talked to City & State about the state of negotiations on the bill.
The Rent Guidelines Board’s annual negotiations over proposed rent increases revealed huge profit increases for Manhattan landlords.
State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s girlfriend can continue working as a lobbyist in Albany.
Mayor Adams’ administration overrode Comptroller Brad Lander’s rejection of a Rikers Island commissary contract, and issued the $33 million no-bid, multiyear contract to the Keefe Group, a Miami-based private equity firm. The comptroller’s office cited a 2023 investigation into the Keefe Group by THE CITY, which found they had overcharged detainees and their families for food.
The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision is planning a system-wide lockdown during the upcoming solar eclipse.
Election News
AIPAC donors have formed “Solidarity PAC” a New York state-level version of the national organization to attack critics of Israel’s brutal war on Gaza.
Jacobin interviewed DSA-endorsed Eon Huntley about his insurgent campaign for Assembly District 56 (Bedford-Stuyvesant).
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (Bed-Stuy) endorsed Rep. Jamaal Bowman (Westchester). The late endorsement comes with Bowman facing an AIPAC-funded primary challenger.
The New York presidential primary is tomorrow, and the Working Families Party is urging voters to protest Joe Biden by casting blank ballots.
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