Power plays in New York

Daily Point

Warren, Sanders and AOC walk into a bar

There are 766,117 Democrats with active registrations eligible to vote in the Queens district attorney Democratic primary. Yet two top-tier 2020 presidential candidates who may be seeking something on the order of 70 million votes next November just took the time to make an endorsement.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders both hopped on the train of outsider candidate and 31-year-old public defender Tiffany Cabán on Wednesday. Cabán is giving establishment candidate Melinda Katz, considered by some to be the front-runner, a strong challenge.

NYC is not Iowa or South Carolina. City folk are not used to presidential candidates caring much about local races and minor party figures. They come here to fundraise, not curry favor ahead of a caucus.

So why bestow blessings on Cabán?

• A random Queens representative named Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has already given her support to Cabán.
• A media industry centered in the five boroughs that at least knows glancingly about Cabán and co.
• Plus, Sanders and Warren are fighting for many of the same presidential voters on the leftmost side of the party. The support of AOC’s coalition of progressive groups could make a difference in next April's presidential primary if both Warren and Sanders are still in the hunt and need the state’s treasure trove of delegates.

And what’s in it for AOC? Cabán’s win could give the freshman member of Congress more muscle in New York City politics and thus the ability to raise more money to advance her own political career and move her power base out of her district and the Twittersphere.

It’s a good strategy for 2020 Democratic contenders and AOC no matter how many votes the endorsements turn out Tuesday in Queens.

- Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Talking Point

And the winner is...

A three-way deal among the State Senate, Assembly and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, is imminent on prevailing wage -- the hourly wage paid to workers usually agreed to through collective-bargaining agreements.

And the agreed-upon bill language seems to check some boxes about which Long Island developers, affordable housing advocates, and others have been concerned, though no one got everything they wanted.

Sources said that while previous versions of the legislation would have been “fatal” to projects like the Nassau Hub, the agreed-upon final version is somewhat better.

“This is certainly going to be more challenging,” a source familiar with the Nassau Hub project said. “The math definitely changes ... We’re going to have to spend more on actually constructing the site.”

That could impact the amount of money that goes to community benefits, such as schools and parks, the source said.

The newest proposal would require prevailing wage to be paid on Long Island projects in which public funds amount to at least 30 percent of the total costs. And it would exempt any projects whose costs fell below $750,000.

Long Island’s development advocates initially had proposed higher thresholds -- in the 50-percent-of-total-cost range, but 30 percent became the recent compromise. Nonetheless, after months of negotiations that mostly involved downstate developers and statewide labor reps, upstate senators tried to get involved in the last several days, returning to a push for a higher threshold, but failing, at that point, to get any traction in the talks.

The bill exempts New York City, a nod to city real estate officials who’ve been saying the legislation would be bad for development efforts there. The legislation also exempts any construction work related to renewable energy and all public funds used for sewers -- an important addition, especially for Suffolk County. And not-for-profits with revenues under $5 million also are exempt. That would be good for some of the Island’s smaller housing providers, but larger entities, like hospitals, are not exempt.

The new bill includes exemptions for housing projects in which 30 percent or more of the units are designated as affordable for households where earnings are no more than 80 percent of area median income. That may not apply to many of Long Island’s projects, which often designate only 10 percent of units as affordable. Supportive housing projects, such as veterans housing, are also exempt, as long as 35 percent of units fit that category.

The other remaining concern, advocates say, is that the bill does include commercial and industrial construction, and therefore, could impact new companies wanting to come to Long Island that would have to pay prevailing wage on new or renovated office buildings.

There’s also an important clause in the bill that allows developers and labor leaders to agree to a “pre-hire” deal on specific projects that could supersede the prevailing wage law. That, sources said, may help developers craft a better deal on individual projects.

Sources said the deal came together over the last several days, adding that Cuomo’s involvement in the negotiations was “critical” to the final agreement.

- Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall

Pencil Point

Hole in one

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Final Point

When art imitates life

With politics being the most interesting show in town these days, it's no surprise that New York’s theater scene has been so full of it.

The current Shakespeare in the Park production of “Much Ado About Nothing” features an all-black cast and a Stacey Abrams 2020 banner as part of the stage design.

The Broadway play “Hillary and Clinton” (closing soon) investigates the marriage of the defeated political dynasty during the 2008 campaign.

For those who are interested in the law of the land, “What the Constitution Means to Me” tells the story of a former constitutional debate champion angry about the way the American legal system treats women and others. Tyranny- and Russia investigation-related jabs are folded in, and at a recent performance the “Roving Anti-Trump Band-Wagon” dropped by to sell political pins outside.

There’s plenty more out there, from the historical drama of “Hamilton” to the song about a wall in the Tony Award-winner “Hadestown.”

Politics often slides onto the stage in moments of great civic intensity -- just two years ago, Shakespeare in the Park’s Julius Caesar was essentially President Donald Trump.

We await the appearance of Bernie Sanders in the footlights, maybe in a democratic socialist revival of “Rent.”

- Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano