Trouble for the Morales Campaign + Manhattan DA Race Heats Up

Local News

• State Democrats and unions are divided over a bill that would give gig workers collective bargaining rights, but would not allow the workers to strike and would drop some minimum state and local protections regarding pay, paid leave and unemployment insurance the workers have now. 

• Applications for the state’s new Emergency Rental Assistance Program will open Tuesday, June 1st after the first attempt at Covid rent relief proved so confusing that most of the money went unspent.

• Governor Cuomo made two picks to fill open seats on New York’s Court of Appeals, ignoring more qualified candidates to appoint a political ally and career prosecutor, Madeline Singas.

• The City Council passed a bill to expand a voucher program that would enable New Yorkers experiencing homelessness to afford substantially more market rate housing, but a last minute change to the legislation added a “glaring hole” that would cut off the vouchers at just above the City’s minimum wage.

• The US Attorney’s public corruption office is investigating Patrick Jenkins, an influential lobbyist with close ties to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.

• Following a lawsuit from the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), the New York Department of State has overturned its regulations banning broker’s fees.

• New analysis shows that all New York City high schools that use screens to admit students disproportionately accept white and Asian students (and reject Black and Latinx students). Unlike specialized high schools, which utilize the SHSAT for admittance, these high schools use a screening algorithm which uses variables like test scores, attendance, and behavioral records.

Elections

• After multiple high-ranking staffers for Dianne Morales left her campaign early last week in disputes over staffer pay and mistreatment in the workplace, a number of employees on the campaign formed a union. Morales voluntarily recognized the union, but then fired four leaders of the unionization effort, saying the union was not inclusive of all staff and characterizing it as “a coup.” The firings led to a rally and work stoppage by campaign workers, leaving the campaign fractured as it heads into the final weeks before the election.

• The turmoil at the Morales campaign raised the issue of staff pay on all the mayoral campaigns, as well as campaign unions throughout the city.

• With Scott Stinger and Dianne Morales now both facing scandals, Maya Wiley is hoping to consolidate progressive support in the mayoral race.

• The New York Times endorsed Alvin Bragg for Manhattan DA, while Tali Farhadian Weinstein raised an additional $1.5 million this filing period, mostly from her husband’s finance circle.

• The Indypendent characterized the City Council race between DSA candidate Michael Hollingsworth and Crystal Hudson as a battle between a leftist and “the real estate industry’s candidate.”

• The State Board of Elections has finally approved software to tabulate the results of this year’s ranked-choice primary, but it will still likely take until mid-July until the final results are known.

The latest mayoral polls show Eric Adams and Kathryn Garcia moving up, as Andrew Yang slips.