Challenging deadlines

Daily Point

A tight calendar

For Democrats looking to challenge freshly minted Gov. Kathy Hochul, it’s a tight calendar.

The primary itself is set for June 28, 2022, months earlier than the old September date for state contests in use as recently as 2018, when Andrew M. Cuomo bested Cynthia Nixon.

Designating petitions to get on the ballot would be filed between April 4 and April 7, according to state Board of Elections spokesman John Conklin, and the first day to start gathering those signatures is March 1.

The party nominating convention comes before that, sometime between Feb. 8 and March 1, according to Conklin. There, any candidate "who receives a majority of the vote is the nominee and any candidate that receives 25% or more can submit a written demand to the [state BOE] to be put on the primary ballot."

There are other potential timing issues, too. November and December are holiday months and some candidates could have difficulty fundraising then — particularly with the possible resurgence of the delta variant. Some candidates might be looking to announce as soon as possible to get something of a first-mover advantage. But going too early could be tricky too — do you want to come out against the incumbent mere moments after Hochul made history as the state’s first female governor?

All this suggests the usual baseline advantages to candidates with good name recognition who already have good campaign or fundraising apparatuses and nothing to lose by a run. But there are plenty of unknowns.

Hochul herself could do or not do something that gives or takes away a challenger’s rationale for running. Individual candidates could have individual problems to navigate; if you’re an elected official already — say, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone — you still have to work with the governor after you announce you’re running against her. Attorney General Letitia James could face criticism if she jumps in not long after Cuomo was felled thanks to a report by investigators she appointed.

Then there’s this:

"Be mindful that 2022 is a redistricting year," warns Conklin. "Any delay in the Legislature drawing political district lines could force a change to the date of the primary."

— Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Talking Point

Empty chairs at the next MTA board meeting?

Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo wasn’t the only one to see his tenure come to an end this week.

Because their terms are tied with the executive who appointed them, Cuomo’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority board members’ terms also officially expired with his departure.

But that doesn’t mean those seats will be vacated right away.

The governor has six MTA board appointees, including the chairman. But even when board members’ terms end, they remain in place as holdovers, until they either resign or are replaced. And Gov. Kathy Hochul has a lot on her plate, including addressing enormous challenges associated with COVID-19 and the delta variant as well as potential mask and vaccination mandates, so it’s not clear where the MTA will fit on her to-do list.

Hochul has said she would use a 45-day transition period to make staffing and appointment decisions.

"Governor Hochul is committed to a robust, accessible and sustainable public transportation network that’s responsive to the needs of New Yorkers and run by experienced professionals," a Hochul spokesman said in a statement to The Point. "She looks forward to sharing more details about her vision soon."

One of the governor’s MTA board members, Linda Lacewell, already resigned her spot, leaving that seat open for Hochul to fill. The others, however, remain in place — for now.

As of now, it seems unlikely Hochul will replace Janno Lieber, whom Cuomo nominated as acting chairman and chief executive last month, anytime soon.

But the future may be less certain for board member Larry Schwartz, Cuomo’s former chief of staff who handled the state’s vaccine rollout and has been a controversial figure on the MTA board. Schwartz also was featured in Attorney General Letitia James’ report, particularly for his efforts to call county executives to determine whether they thought Cuomo should resign after the allegations of sexual harassment. Hochul has said that anyone "named as doing anything unethical" in the report would not remain in her administration.

On Thursday, Hochul declined to say whether she’d ask Schwartz to leave the board.

Budget director Robert Mujica may be on safer ground, at least in the short term, since he’s briefly named in the report, but not cited for any "unethical" behavior. And Hochul may want him to stay, at least temporarily, to work on the next state budget.

Cuomo’s other appointees include Haeda Mihaltses, the director of government and external relations for Sterling Project Development, which is working on the Belmont Park redevelopment effort and other real estate projects, and Jamey Barbas, the New York State Thruway Authority’s project director for the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement, which ultimately became the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge. Barbas is the only professional engineer on the board.

Hochul could choose to keep, or replace, all or some of the appointees. Any new board members she appoints require State Senate confirmation.

And she could also advocate larger change — perhaps a shift in the makeup of the board more generally, though that would require legislative approval.

The MTA board doesn’t meet in August, which gives Hochul a few weeks to make some decisions if she wants the board to look different at its next official gatherings — scheduled for Sept. 13 and 15.

— Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall

Pencil Point

Sorry, for whom?

For more cartoons, visit www.newsday.com/nationalcartoons

Final Point

The storm before the superstorm

In the recent annals of the Long Island Power Authority, the starting point in discussing the current situation always seems to be that supreme superstorm, Sandy.

But much of what changed LIPA started a decade ago this week and 10 months before Sandy, when Irene came calling and Long Islanders, New Yorkers and then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo were left fuming.

Newsday’s infamous front-page headline, "Cuomo to Nat. Grid: ‘Get the power on now!" was written not in response to Sandy but post-Irene, on Sept. 2, 2011.

And the souring on National Grid that led to the switch from having the company run LIPA’s system to having PSEG win an RFP to do it? That was because of the Irene failures too, with the transfer agreed to on Dec.15, 2011,10 months before Sandy.

What the Sandy failure did, on the heels of Irene incompetence, was convince Cuomo that as PSEG took over, LIPA had to shrink and the role of the for-profit utility had to be far broader: That took place in the 2013 LIPA Reform Act. Ahead of Irene, to prepare for what was coming, Cuomo declared a state of emergency on Aug. 26 and shut down the MTA and LIRR entirely on Aug. 27 at noon.

That day the storm hit Long Island, interrupting power to 523,000 LIPA customers and badly flooding both Long Beach and Freeport, which would be further decimated by Sandy the next year.

Temperatures and humidity were stifling post-Irene, and power restoration was slow, infuriating residents and politicians. While LIPA claimed 99% restoration within a week and 100% in eight days, Newsday reported that Blue Point homeowner Danny Arcieri was actually the last to be restored, 12 days after the storm cut his power and left downed wires lying in his yard.

A few months later the state announced PSEG would take over National Grid’s operation role in 2014.

And so the stage was set for the Sandy response disaster, with National Grid on its way out the door, PSEG not yet officially on the job.

This time next year, the news will be consumed with Sandy retrospectives, but much of the change Long Island reaped after that 2012 Superstorm Sandy was sown by Irene 10 years ago this week.

— Lane Filler @lanefiller

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