“New Yorkers will be sick of me”
After getting slammed for fleeing the city for his country home in New Paltzduring the pandemic, Andrew Yang warned New Yorkers that they would see him in the city around the clock – at least during his first term – if he’s elected mayor. Yang vowed during a debate Thursday night that he wouldn’t rely on a taxpayer-funded security detail to drive him and his family upstate. In fact, he said New Yorkers would be seeing him so much they might get sick of him. “I don’t expect to leave the city a single day for my first term. I’m going to be here grinding it out because that’s what our city requires right now,” he said. “Grinding” is an Eric Adams catchphrase at this point, and the subtext was clear, when Adams had just released E-ZPass records showing government cars had driven him to New Jersey six times in the past year – presumably to a second home he owns there with his partner. But Yang was also drawing a contrast
Will Tusk be the next Capalino?
Andrew Yang’s two campaign managers, his press secretary, his policy director and multiple senior advisers don’t actually work for his New York City mayoral campaign. They’re employed by Tusk Strategies, a lobbying firm that’s regularly hired by clients to advocate for or against bills that are being considered by the City Council and the mayor. And the arrangement raises concerns about what kind of access this lobbying firm – and the private clients that hire Tusk – would have to the mayor if Yang were to win the election.
“We believe that it is improper for the same firm to be both a campaign consultant, and then lobby the person that they helped to elect,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of good-government group Common Cause New York. Consultants build “a special relationship of trust” with the candidate, and Lerner added they’re increasingly cashing in on that relationship.
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Nothing special about this election
Tuesday’s special election to replace expelled former City Council Member Andy King in District 12 in the northeastern Bronx is the end of an era: the last special or primary election to be held without ranked-choice voting. But the city’s political establishment is hoping it’s