The running mate race

Daily Point

Cui bono, LG edition

The onslaught of Kathy Hochul campaign ads is beginning, with the Tuesday release of the governor’s first TV ad showing late-night work at the office and the tagline, “a governor who works as hard as you do.”

Of course, Hochul’s opponents are working hard to keep the focus on points of weakness such as the now-indicted former lieutenant governor Brian Benjamin. Rep. Tom Suozzi, for one, said in a morning news conference that Hochul shouldn’t appoint a replacement for the number two spot and “let New Yorkers decide.”

Whether Hochul replaces Benjamin for the remainder of this year as she finishes out her predecessor’s term, it’s looking highly unlikely that New York’s Democratic-controlled legislature will throw Hochul a bone and pass a new law to help get Benjamin off the June 28 primary ballot. A proposal from Westchester Assemb. Amy Paulin would have to be passed quickly to apply to Benjamin, and it’s nowhere in the State Senate. There is no upper chamber partner bill to the Paulin proposal, says Senate Democratic majority spokesman Mike Murphy, and the majority has “no plans” to take her measure up.

So, cui bono?

Let’s say Benjamin remains on the ballot if none of the other legal maneuvers work to get him off.

It’s possible that would result in some people still voting for him, even though he has already resigned and suspended his campaign. That could mean a small amount of splitting the moderate vote between Benjamin, allied with Hochul, and Diana Reyna, Suozzi’s running mate.

That could boost Ana Maria Archila, the activist running with NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. For New Yorkers looking to cast their ballot ideologically, she’s certainly the choice of the progressive left, given her experience doing immigrant advocacy work and her endorsement from the Working Families Party.

It’s unclear whether the political center of the Democratic Party would get strongly behind Reyna in turn, given how much support Hochul has worked to get from unions and party leaders, and how much Reyna has criticized and separated herself from Hochul. Reyna said today with Suozzi that “Tom and I are sick and tired just as much as New Yorkers are sick and tired of the inside politics.”

But there’s also reason to think Benjamin’s status on the ballot would have a limited impact. He lasted mere months in the often-ceremonial office, and he wasn’t exactly hugely popular before. During his failed 2021 primary bid for NYC comptroller, he lost his own Senate district substantially in the first round of ranked choice voting, and only picked up around a thousand ballots in subsequent rounds, according to analysis from the Center for Urban Research at the CUNY Graduate Center.

If few voters pick him, Reyna — a former city councilwoman and Albany staffer — could become the main choice for voters who just don’t want to pick a progressive.

What’s most clear, though, is that the race is up in the air. Neither of the LG candidates has huge followings or war chests, and even the gubernatorial hopefuls they’d like to run with in the general election are far behind Hochul in fundraising. Few people think much about this office. And even the physical design of the ballot — which sometimes affects people’s choices in low-profile races — is unclear. Ballot order will be decided on April 25, says state Board of Elections spokesman John Conklin — by “random drawing.”

— Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Talking Point

Now for the pot of money

With legal sales of recreational marijuana expected in New York by the end of the year and recreational use and possession already allowed and extremely popular, lawmakers are ready for marijuana users to show them the money.

Tax money, that is.

The potential to tax what has previously only been sold illegally was a big part of the push to legalize marijuana here.

But while lawmakers and advocates are talking about all the tax revenue marijuana is going to bring in, with estimates that the state will see $350 million annually within five years, tobacco users may wonder why the marijuana tax is going to be so much lower than the levies on tobacco products.

The main tax on recreational marijuana in New York will be a 13% sales tax, with 9% going to the state for education (40%), community reinvestment (40%) and drug treatment (20%).

The other 4% of the sales tax will support counties (25%) and cities, towns and villages (75%) that allow marijuana businesses to operate in their jurisdictions.

There’s also a separate potency-based tax on cannabis products when they are transferred from distributors to retailers, and according to experts, it’s confusing.

That tax charges half a cent per milligram of the amount of total THC for flower, eight-tenths of one cent per milligram for concentrates, and three cents per milligram for edibles.

And while no one knows exactly how that’s going to work out, experts say that at most, about 30% of the price of marijuana products in New York will be taxes. Compared to what cigar and cigarette smokers pay, well over 50%, that’s peanuts.

And there is no federal tax on marijuana, yet, unlike on tobacco, because the feds can’t tax a banned substance.

So why are the taxes on New York’s newly legalized vice so much lower than the tariffs on one of its oldest ones?

There is no major, established and illegal market for cigarettes and cigars, as there is for marijuana. Advocates have argued as each state legalized pot that if the taxes were too high, most people would just keep buying it illegally.

So put that in your pipe and smoke it.

— Lane Filler @lanefiller

Pencil Point

Russian oil

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Final Point

More money for Long Island

Long Island has its eye on one particular pot of money set aside in the final state budget.

The so-called Long Island Investment Fund will contain $350 million earmarked for significant projects related to everything from manufacturing and agriculture to biotechnology and downtown revitalization.

And this isn’t the first time the Island has had access to hundreds of millions of dollars for big projects. In 2015, the region got $400 million in the state budget for what was then called the Transformative Investment Program, along with another $150 million from federal banking settlements.

So, as public officials and advocates start to discuss how to spend the new money, The Point wondered how the older pot was distributed.

Some of the money set aside in 2015 went to sewers in Kings Park and Smithtown. A slice was earmarked for Long Island MacArthur Airport. Other funds went to the Island’s research institutions and universities, including Brookhaven National Lab, Cold Spring Harbor Lab, and more.

Among the larger projects funded under the 2015 effort that are either finished or in progress:

• A new facility for Stony Brook University’s Institute for Engineering-Driven Medicine, to be focused on discovery and innovation. The building is expected to open next year. ($75 million)
• Parking garages and other infrastructure for ongoing development at the Ronkonkoma Hub. ($50 million)
• The Center of Bioelectronic Medicine at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset. Originally planned for the Nassau Hub, Northwell Health and the Feinstein Institute eventually decided to move the facility to Manhasset. ($30 million)
• New facility for Hofstra University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. ($25 million)
• Cold Spring Harbor Lab’s Center for Therapeutics Research, which will be focused on treatments for genetic diseases and other drug discovery efforts. ($25 million)
• The College of Veterinary Medicine at LIU Post in Brookville. ($12 million)

Then there’s the Nassau Hub. The Hub got $125 million, set aside for parking garages, pedestrian walkways, and research space, but plans there continue to shift in the wake of the pandemic. Another $6 million was spent — for improvements to Nassau Coliseum that were made to meet National Hockey League standards before the New York Islanders briefly returned to the arena, before their eventual move to UBS Arena at Belmont Park.

Advocates hope that “transformative” project money will still be used for the Hub as plans there continue to unfold. As the site awaits post-pandemic adjustments to the development proposal and approvals from the Town of Hempstead, the question could be whether additional money from the new pot could go to the Hub, too.

Could it, for instance, be used toward the demolition of or complete remake of the Coliseum, to make way for something even better?

— Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall