Hochul's fate: The running mate

Daily Point

Oh that Benjamin-ballot trouble spot

In past statewide campaigns, the lieutenant governor’s slot on the ballot was a low-interest affair, or just a footnote. This year it has blown up into a huge problem for Democrats — after their elected lieutenant governor became governor and replaced herself in the second spot with a state senator who would resign seven months later under indictment.

Having the already-nominated Brian Benjamin stuck on the separate ballot for lieutenant governor in the Democratic primary is something Gov. Kathy Hochul has every motive to undo. Insider buzz in Albany on Tuesday involved whether and how that could happen.

On the legislative front, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said she spoke with Hochul the night before about legislation allowing Benjamin’s removal in circumstances other than those now in the law — a candidate’s death, or a move out of state, or a nomination for another position.

One obvious problem on that front, voiced by Cousins: “I really, really, really don’t like to change rules in the middle of a process.” And some of those to Stewart-Cousins’ political left in the majority conference — allies of the Working Families Party — remain outright opposed to the fix. One asked whether anyone would be seeking to change this ballot law if another LG candidate had been indicted and added, “Benjamin isn’t winning a primary.”

What frightens mainstream organization Democrats, however, is that his presence on the ballot could siphon enough votes to help the WFP-endorsed Ana Archila — best known as a movement activist — win the LG spot, handing Lee Zeldin or another Republican nominee a useful wedge.

Archila is the former co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, which put out this statement a year ago: “As a national network of organizations dedicated to addressing the forces of racial capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy that violently oppress Black, Latinx, immigrant and other marginalized people across the United States of America, we support justice for the Palestinian people and join the call for an end to violent attacks on Palestinians by the state of Israel.”

Whatever the merits, this becomes red meat for the GOP. And there are more statements like that already in the arsenal of opposition research.

Some believe there may be another way out for the Hochul-Benjamin problem. The Court of Appeals heard arguments on redistricting Tuesday, and one of the judges’ options in correcting obvious gerrymandering may involve pushing all the primary contests — not just House and state legislative ones — back to late August from June 28 as now scheduled. And that could mean reopening the petitioning process.

If that happens, the Democrats could get another shot at framing the candidacies for lieutenant governor. The top court is expected to rule as early as Thursday. But Democratic operatives say action is needed quickly under current state Board of Elections deadlines to finalize the ballots for a June primary.

Whatever the result, Hochul is likely still vulnerable to attack in the Democratic primary and the general election on that often-overlooked lieutenant-governor front.

— Dan Janison @Danjanison

Pencil Point

Unforgettable

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Final Point

A quiet end to Nassau’s LIPA, longevity battles?

Nassau County has been dealing with LIPA’s property tax appeals on two National Grid plants, and the demands of unionized county employees that their longevity pay be restored for a decade.

The final phase in resolving both issues, NIFA approval of the deals the county legislature passed Monday, looks likely to go forward with ease.

The move doesn’t cost the county money, as LIPA’s diminished responsibility is shifted to other taxpayers.

And the union longevity deal, at a cost of about $43 million in back pay and $15 million annually for 2022-2025, is more contentious for the way it came about than any possibility it will fail.

County wages were frozen under former County Executive Edward Mangano in 2011, and then unfrozen in 2014. A dispute over whether the thaw restored annual longevity pay that increases incrementally each year led Mangano’s chief deputy to sign a memorandum saying the pay would be restored. Mangano’s successor, Laura Curran, argued the longevity was not in effect.

When Bruce Blakeman came into office, he wanted to get the longevity argument off the table.

NIFA board Chairman Adam Barsky said that while he doesn’t want to speak for the board, the likelihood is that, because the county is flush with cash and can afford the deal, NIFA will pass it. What he objects to is a process that left NIFA out of the loop, a move that he and several of the union leaders argued was shortsighted and could have left them high and dry if members approved a deal NIFA later rejected.

And, Barsky pointed out, it was nearly $200 million in federal COVID-19 funding to Nassau that made the longevity deal affordable.

Said NIFA board member Chris Wright in an email to The Point, “While we may have views on how better to handle process and communication, NIFA’s statutory role is to look at affordability in the context of the County’s budget and multi-year plan. From what I have seen so far, the settlement appears affordable, and, subject to the staff’s analysis, merits approval.”

— Lane Filler @lanefiller