Programming note: We’ll be off this Monday but will be back in your inboxes on Tuesday.
DAYS THE BUDGET IS LATE: 52
ALBANY AUTOPSY ANGST: National Democrats entrusted their 2024 autopsy to a strategist entwined with another long-ago party calamity: the Obama-era implosion of the New York Senate.
Paul Rivera previously served as a key adviser to state Senate Democratic leader John Sampson, a Brooklyn lawmaker who led an infamously dysfunctional majority for part of 2009 and into 2010 — and was later convicted of federal fraud charges.
Rivera arrived in the Senate with a strong resume after working on gubernatorial and presidential campaigns, including Al Gore and John Kerry. Staffers and lawmakers alike found him to be an inscrutable, enigmatic aide who murmured advice in the background. It was the kind of shapeless profile many advisers hone in power centers across the globe, but seemed especially befitting a state Capitol known for its bewildering opacity.
“The man lurked in the shadows. No one knew where he came from,” former Democratic Senate press aide Travis Proulx said. “It was like a ship in the night working with him. Of everyone I’ve ever worked with he stands out as the man behind the curtain. No one knew how he got there.”
Rivera did not return five phone calls and text messages seeking comment on Thursday and Friday. Sampson also did not return messages seeking comment.
The strategist has little national profile, but his involvement in crafting the widely panned autopsy report was befuddling to Albany Democrats who recall with unease a deeply broken era of New York politics. They still shudder when thinking about their unhappy two-year state Senate majority during the Obama years.
Rivera’s Zelig-like reputation was fostered during that benighted era and even lawmakers struggled to figure out where his power flowed from in the building.
“You never know who he was really loyal to, on whose behalf he was acting,” said former Democratic state Sen. Diane Savino.
Rivera’s name does not appear on the Democratic National Committee’s 192-page report on the 2024 election, formally released Thursday after it was published online by CNN. The autopsy was widely criticized by party officials, ex-Harris campaign aides and former Biden staffers.
The report did not include any references to the party’s challenges over Israel and Gaza, while only making passing references to President Joe Biden’s decision to step aside — widely considered two crucial reasons for the party’s failure two years ago.
DNC Chair Ken Martin apologized for the document in a long statement. But that hasn’t stemmed widespread calls for him to resign the leadership post he’s held for less than 18 months.
Democratic alumni of the fractious state Senate Democratic conference in Albany were flabbergasted that the national party would hand such an important job — analyzing why droves of Americans backed President Donald Trump’s unlikely White House return — to a strategist associated with a disastrous era for Empire State Democrats.
“He sold himself as a guy who knew everything and that he was a master of politics,” Savino said of the former Senate aide’s Albany tenure. “He didn’t know what the fuck he was talking about.”
Read more from POLITICO’s Nick Reisman.
From the Capitol
MICAH’S SUPERNATURAL VOTE: Assemblymember and former teen magician Micah Lasher seemingly made a miraculous journey to New York City from Albany on Thursday.
And Lasher — who is running for the congressional seat held by retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler — is refusing to answer questions about how it happened.
The assemblymember apparently was able to cast his vote from Albany at around 4:50 p.m. and make it to Manhattan’s Upper West Side in time for a 7 p.m. candidate forum.
Anyone who’s ever driven the roughly 150 miles from Albany to New York City knows that timetable stretches the limits of reality — unless you’re driving well over the speed limit and get a lucky streak of zero traffic congestion.
Lasher’s campaign refused to say where he physically was at the time he voted, and then ignored multiple follow-up calls from Playbook.
The vote was on a budget bill that included a slate of measures designed to protect immigrants from the Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement tactics. Lasher has called for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the campaign trail, and even traveled to Minnesota in January to join protests against the federal agency.
Earlier today, Lasher touted passage of the bill, saying “I am incredibly proud to have authored this legislation to protect the dignity and safety of all.”
Assembly rules state members need to be in the “bar of the House” in order to be considered present. The “bar” is defined as “the entire Assembly Chamber and lobbies contiguous thereto as designated by the Speaker.”
As our Playbook colleague Bill Mahoney reported last month, members have taken advantage of the policy by routinely being absent from the chambers during votes and debates. Instead, many clock in during the morning and then spend session elsewhere in the Capitol or the adjacent Legislative Office Building. Because they’re technically checked-in and considered present, the members are automatically counted as a “yes” vote on legislation — even if they’re holed up somewhere else in the Capitol complex.
But there’s no indication the “bar” of the House extends to the Catskill exit of the New York State Thruway — a reasonable, but still tight, starting point for someone hoping to make it all the way to West 97th St. in 130 minutes.
And if members do need to leave town early, they’re instructed to tell Assembly leadership so they don’t get mistakenly counted in the vote tally when they’re in another zip code.
Assemblymember Alex Bores, who is also running for the congressional seat — along with Kennedy scion Jack Schlossberg and former Republican Trump antagonist George Conway — made it to the forum late because he voted for the bill and also took time to explain his vote on the floor.
After Bores apologized for his tardiness at the forum, which was hosted by a group of tenant associations, he expressed befuddlement at how Lasher was seemingly able to beam across the Hudson Valley and also cast his vote.
“You got to tell me the route that gets me here in two hours. That’s remarkable,” Bores said, in a video reviewed by Playbook. “You voted on it?”
“I did,” Lasher said, giving a nod. — Jason Beeferman
BURSTING INTO TIERS: A package of changes to the Tier 6 pension plan have been finalized as state budget talks come to an end, two people familiar with the conversations said.
“Tier 6 is done,” said one of the people, who was granted anonymity to relay the closed-door negotiations.
The changes will allow teachers to retire at age 58 after 30 years of service. Employee contribution rates for many public workers will fall to 3 percent of their pay checks. The total cost stands at more than $550 million a year spread out between the state government, municipalities and school districts.
The provision is expected to be tucked inside the transportation and economic development budget bill.
The overhaul represents a major victory for labor, which has detested the less-generous pension tier since its 2012 inception.
Read more from POLITICO Pro’s Nick Reisman.
FROM CITY HALL
SIGNS OF LIFE: The zombie charter revision commission created by former Mayor Eric Adams will release a report next week listing proposed changes to the City Charter the body may pursue — even as state legislation seeks to kill the outfit altogether and ensure it stays dead.
The report, which was obtained by Playbook, is set to appear in the City Record Tuesday. In addition to the prospect of open primaries, it suggests more reforms to the city’s land use process, prohibiting elected officials from giving themselves pay raises and making it harder to change term limit laws. The report also muses about making permanent several mayoral offices relating to combating hate crimes and antisemitism and forcing City Hall to fund future charter revision commissions. That last one is key.
This particular commission was created on the last day of Adams’ tenure and is being spearheaded by his first deputy mayor, Randy Mastro.
The rogue body is advancing proposals that would make life difficult for Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Open primaries, for example, would empower more moderate candidates and complicate the mayor’s reelection prospects. The report also recommended putting to voters several executive orders related to combating antisemitism that were signed by Adams — also in the waning days of his term — and left to lapse by the current mayor. The expiration of the executive orders predictably sparked consternation with many Jewish residents.
The commission has been criticized as an abuse of the process by city and state government ethics organizations — even by those who support the concept of open primaries. And while Mamdani has starved the commission of funds, Albany went a step further by passing legislation Thursday that effectively dissolves the body.
The mayor has been playing coy about what he will do (despite being the person who asked for the state provision in the first place). He said at a press conference Thursday he is still considering his options.
The commission remains undeterred, however. It plans to sue over the state legislation while plowing ahead with its work. A public hearing remains on the schedule for next week.
Kayla Mamelak Altus, a commission member, said state lawmakers are attempting to silence the will of the people, who would otherwise be able to help shape the commission’s eventual ballot questions.
“That should send chills down the spines of all New Yorkers who care about having a voice in our local democracy,” she said in a statement. “This attempt to retroactively dismantle a legally constituted Charter Revision Commission in the middle of its work flies in the face of municipal home rule.” — Joe Anuta
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
BREWING SUPPORT: City Council member and Upper West Side fixture Gale Brewer has endorsed Stephanie Ruskay in the race for an open state Assembly seat covering the vote-rich enclave.
“We need leaders who are smart, compassionate, and deeply rooted in the communities they serve,” Brewer said in a statement shared exclusively with Playbook. “That’s why I’m proud to support Stephanie Ruskay for State Assembly.”
Ruskay, who would be the first female rabbi elected to the state Legislature, is running for the seat being vacated by Assemblymember Micah Lasher, who himself is vying for an open congressional seat.
In addition to Brewer, who has represented the area over two stints in the Council, Ruskay is being backed by a number of sitting officials including City Comptroller Mark Levine, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal and City Council member Shaun Abreu.
She’s locked in a battle with Eli Northrup, a public defender who has received endorsements from local Democratic clubs and organizations farther to the left in a proxy war between different wings of the Democratic Party. — Joe Anuta
IN OTHER NEWS
— PRESSURE FROM WITHIN: Hundreds of immigrants detained at a Newark immigration detention center went on a hunger and labor strike, demanding the facility’s closure, their release and visits from elected officials. (Gothamist)
— PLAY NICE!: Kathy Wylde, former head of the Partnership for New York City and a key business broker, is again playing go-between for Mamdani and corporate leaders. (New York Post)
— FARE FIGHT: World Cup fans are opting for $20 buses over $98 train rides to MetLife Stadium, amid backlash over steep transit prices. (The New York Times)
Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.