Control-of-the-House suspense shifts from NYC to LI

Daily Point

D’Esposito’s Labor Department gig in D.C. might be wrapping up

The U.S. Supreme Court, through a widely unexpected emergency intervention in a New York State lawsuit, has canceled the Democratic Party's effort to alter the state's congressional district map in time for the November midterms. Now the only real suspense about House races lingers in Long Island's 4th Congressional District, where the momentary wisdom is that former Rep. Anthony D'Esposito will soon face Rep. Laura Gillen for the third time since 2022.

There has been radio silence from Nassau County GOP officials on the CD4 candidacy for weeks, creating a mystery: whether D'Esposito, a former NYPD detective, will give up a high profile job as inspector general for the U.S. Labor Department for which he was confirmed by the Senate in December — even after refusing to predict if he'd run for Congress again.

The SCOTUS ruling, in which Justice Samuel Alito slammed the Democratic bid for what was deemed to be an unconstitutionally racial gerrymander, rescued CD11 Rep. Nicole Malliotakis from a prospective loss in the fall by having to lose Staten Island and Brooklyn neighborhoods in her district and begin representing unfamiliar parts of Manhattan. The Staten Island Democrats, who awaited Monday's outcome in court, haven't even announced a challenger for Malliotakis.

The implications of the decision could set a jarring national precedent regarding state determination of state election cases. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the 6-3 conservative majority enacted "rules for thee, but not for me." She said the court took the side of Malliotakis, the city's only Republican House member, despite its own recent posture that federal courts shouldn't interfere in intra-state election law fights. She warned that a flood of new cases seeking an end-around to state courts will follow.

Meanwhile, petitions were already being circulated under the 2024 map, which, even if it was to be altered this year, wasn't expected to modify the lines as far away as Nassau County.

The most recent news stories about D'Esposito have provided publicity about how he grappled with monitoring the behavior of top Labor Department officials. Two of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer's top aides, Jihun Han and Rebecca Wright, are resigning amid D'Esposito's probe, with reporting out of Washington Monday that the White House was pushing them out. The secretary's job is teetering. Is there an effort underway to quickly wrap up and get rid of the scandal, so D'Esposito can take credit for cleaning the place out before he leaves to run for the House? 

In the Labor Department probe, there have been allegations of verbal abuse of staffers by Chavez-DeRemer and public resources squandered on personal travel. If D'Esposito runs, that should eclipse from the public awareness of the stories from 2024 when he lost to Gillen that concerned D'Esposito's hiring of a girlfriend and his longtime fiancée's daughter in his district office. If he runs, even on temporary leave from the administration, it wouldn't be surprising if D'Esposito chose to say he sacrificed a big job to serve his community and party.

Despite an apparently busy time in the Labor Department's IG office, D'Esposito has kept up targeted social media shots at New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, such as on his personal Facebook account, reflecting a GOP effort to tie incumbent Gillen and other Democrats to Mamdani.

On Tuesday, D'Esposito blasted Mamdani's happy Purim wishes, calling them "bullshit." Adding, "If you can't stand unequivocally with Jewish New Yorkers when it matters, don't pretend to stand with them today."

While the countdown to a mystery-shrouded GOP candidacy in CD4 still ticks, another contest — less likely to affect the narrow House majority — is clearly taking on new battle lines. Rep. Dan Goldman was believed to have been ready to challenge Malliotakis if her district lines were less red. But now that his neighboring CD10 in Brooklyn and Manhattan remains untouched, Goldman is expected to face a June primary challenge from Brad Lander, the ex-city comptroller and ally of Mamdani. Lander is expected to have a stronghold in Park Slope, but that could be offset by support for Goldman in other district enclaves. Observers tell The Point that Goldman would have at least the tacit support of House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. Goldman won the 2024 primary with 66% and then the general election with 81%. 

— Dan Janison dan.janison@newsday.com

Pencil Point

A head-scratcher

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Final Point

Liberty Water seeks 'customer service' for access to public funds

Liberty New York Water, the private company that handles water for about 120,000 Nassau County residents, reached out to its customers in an email late last month with "important information." But it wasn't about a bill, or a rate increase, or a problem with the pipes.

Instead, it was a request.

"It only takes a minute, but your voice adds to a growing movement that's already making an impact," the email said. "Together we can push for fairer, more affordable water bills for all Liberty New York Water customers."

The email directs customers to a website at stopthehiddentax.org, which focuses on two key issues. One is the so-called special franchise tax — a tax paid by private utilities on public infrastructure like water mains. Liberty Water claims that the tax can add as much as 50% to what customers pay on their water bills, noting that it is directly passed through from the state to the customer. The other issue relates to public funding. Liberty Water officials note that private water providers cannot access state infrastructure grant money, even though customers pay for those grants through property taxes.

"Allowing ALL water providers in the state to access these funding streams is a common-sense measure since everyone in the state is contributing to them," the website says.

The website has links that allow customers to send letters to their state elected officials to encourage changes to those two concerns and to support legislation that would make appropriate fixes.

Liberty Water began its advocacy efforts in 2024, and has sought its customers' help since then. Liberty officials said 4,603 customers have taken action through the website, sending 74,952 letters to elected officials.

"... We are hopeful that this year will be productive in passing these bills and delivering meaningful rate relief to our customers," Liberty said in a statement provided to The Point.

What's not mentioned anywhere in the email is the all-important backdrop of Liberty Water's fight: the ongoing push for municipalization that could make private water public.

"If all of a sudden, our bills get substantially cut, Liberty is hoping they can hang on and the pressure for a public takeover would go away," said Dave Denenberg, co-director of the pro-municipalization advocacy group Long Island Clean Air, Water and Soil.

Denenberg said that while he'd support anything that would reduce the taxes charged to Liberty Water customers, he questions whether the ratepayer would actually see the full reduction in their bills.

"They can do whatever they want to try to reduce the tax burden that we pay," Denenberg said. "But as far as I'm concerned, we'd much rather have public water where we know tax-free is tax-free."

— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com

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