Former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D) was sentenced to seven years in prison Friday for corruption, the AP reports.
Silver was once one of the state’s most powerful Democrats until he was accused of “pocketing $4 million illegally by collecting fees from a cancer researcher and real estate developer.”
New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood filed suit against President Trump and his three eldest children alleging “persistently illegal conduct” at the president’s personal charity, saying Trump “repeatedly misused the nonprofit — to pay off his businesses’ creditors, to decorate one of his golf clubs and to stage a multimillion dollar giveaway at his 2016 campaign events,” the Washington Post reports.
“She said a 20-month state investigation found that Trump had repeatedly violated laws that set the ground rules for tax-exempt foundations — most importantly, that their money is meant to serve the public good, and not to provide private benefits to their founders.”
New York Times: “The lawsuit, which seeks to dissolve the foundation and bar President Trump and three of his children from serving on the boards of nonprofits, was an extraordinary rebuke of a sitting president. The attorney general also sent referral letters to the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Election Commission for possible further action, adding to Mr. Trump’s extensive legal problems.”
Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is “weighing a run for the suddenly vacant spot of New York attorney general — possibly doing so as an independent, free of ties to Democrats and Republicans,” Bloomberg reports.
“Bharara’s name was floated as possible attorney general almost instantly after Eric Schneiderman quit as New York state’s top cop on May 7, following allegations of abuse by four women. Bharara, 49, served almost eight years as U.S. attorney in New York, where he spearheaded an historic crackdown on insider trading and targeted corruption in state government, before he was summarily fired by President Trump on March 11, 2017.”
New York Times: “The intense scrutiny for a seemingly obscure seat is the result of a fragile deal that was recently brokered in which a group of breakaway Democrats who had long shared power with Senate Republicans agreed to return to the Democratic fold. That collaboration had helped give Republicans control of the Senate, despite Democrats holding a numerical majority, until early April, when the so-called Independent Democratic Conference agreed to return to the mainstream fold.”
“The deal gave the Democrats a chance to sweep the Legislature and governor’s office. There was just one hitch: two Senate seats that had previously been occupied by Democrats will be decided on Tuesday in special elections.”
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) “has pushed through a plan to shield his state residents from tax hikes under the Republican tax law — and Democratic-controlled statehouses across the country are following suit,” the Washington Post reports.
“The two provisions — one creating a new ‘charitable’ fund to replace local property taxes, and the second a largely technical change in how taxes are assessed — aim to help taxpayers avoid a new $10,000 cap on the amount of state and local taxes they can deduct from their federal taxes. The cap was imposed by congressional Republicans to raise money to offset their law’s steep cut to the corporate tax rate, but critics say it was designed to hurt residents of liberal states.”
Politico: “Two potential candidates for New York governor against incumbent Andrew Cuomo have dropped out in the past week. No candidate against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has gotten beyond the whisper phase. There’s still no challenger to the state attorney general or comptroller. In President Donald Trump’s home state, the New York Republican Party is on the verge of disaster. It has so far come up dry in its efforts to put together a top-tier 2018 statewide ticket — a budding failure with implications that could ripple beyond state borders.”
New York Times: “For decades, New York seats have traded hands this way in what amounts to one of the last, most powerful vestiges of Tammany Hall-style politics in the state. Election laws here grant politicians and local political power brokers vast sway in picking candidates when legislators leave office in the middle of their term — whether they retire early, pass away, depart for another job or are carted away in handcuffs.”
“The rules are a crucial part of what empowers party bosses in a state that regularly outpaces the nation in corruption. They encourage ambitious politicians, even the most independent ones, to pledge fealty to county political leaders, lest they get passed over if and when the time comes for possible advancement.”
Donald Trump renewed his vow “to compete and ultimately win in New York, a state that has not voted Republican in a presidential election since 1984,” Politico reports.
Said Trump: “Just so you understand, we are going to play New York. You know, we’re not just doing this for fun. We’re going to play New York.”
The HuffPost Pollster average shows Hillary Clinton leading Trump in New York, 52% to 33%.
“Carl Paladino, the campaign’s co-chair in New York and the 2010 gubernatorial nominee, said they will also rely on conventional get-out-the-vote efforts and blanketing the upstate region with signs and bumper stickers,” CNN reports.
Said Paladino: “Upstate will give us a wave in this election, and my instruction from HQ is really simple. It’s one word: Win. And that’s what we intend to do.”
Donald Trump “has hired a new pollster to help him capture an elusive Republican victory in New York,” the New York Times reports.
“The pollster, John McLaughlin, will be focusing exclusively on New York, polling to determine what type of climb Mr. Trump would face in a state that hasn’t voted for a Republican in a presidential race since Ronald Reagan in 1984. Mr. McLaughlin’s role was described by two campaign sources briefed on the move, who were not authorized to speak publicly.”
A new Siena College poll in New York finds Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump by 21 points in their home state, 51% to 31%.
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A new NBC News/Marist poll in New York finds Donald Trump leading the GOP presidential race with 54%, followed by John Kasich at 21% and Ted Cruz at 18%.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders 55% to 41%.
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A new Fox News poll in New York finds Donald Trump leads the GOP presidential race with 54%, followed by John Kasich at 22% and Ted Cruz at 15%.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders 53% to 37%.
“Ted Cruz’s campaign is setting some awfully high expectations for Donald Trump in New York: Get at least 50 percent, or drop out of the presidential race,” Politico reports.
Said Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe: “If he doesn’t get over 50 percent, he should probably consider dropping out, like everyone else has when they don’t win their home state in a dramatic fashion.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Wonk Wire, Political Job Hunt and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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