Pol Position: When There’s No Path, Move The Goal …. And Cuomo Still Leads

The red dress, who had been seemingly inserted in every photo
with Mayor Adams prior his legal troubles, announced a run
for city comptroller in November. Woodhaven Assembly
member Jennifer Rajkumar announced then, with great
fanfare, that she could turn the city around. Her blanket
political promises, of course, covered little specific substance,
just outlined that she fixes things and NYC needs to be fixed.
When others saw she was running, they thought she was quite
vulnerable. Senator Kevin Parker was in the race early. The
political playbook says, ‘raise a lot of money and you scare
people away from running against you.’ Well, it didn’t work
here. Seeing Rajkumar had raised a significant amount of
money entering the race, our sources tell us that Councilman
Justin Brennan and Mark Levine didn’t flinch, saw a path to
win the Comptroller race and joined in on the fun. After all,
Rajkumar’s claim to fame, according to legislators we speak
with, is appearing wearing a red dress, in nearly every photo
op. with the mayor. And as soon as he, and those around him
got caught up in probes and cell phone confiscation, she was a
ghost.

It’s not really her fault though. We were the first to talk to her
when she announced she was running for the Assembly and
faced incumbent Mike Miller in a primary in Woodhaven &
Richmond Hill. Our Leader Observer newspaper has been the
weekly paper of record in that area since 1909. She admitted
she moved here from Manhattan, specifically to run against
him in a district that had a low voter turnout. It’s a great story.
We loved her honesty and gave her a bunch of credit for
wanting to get into the political game any way she could.

It was brilliant. But early success, as we all know, sometimes leads to
a false sense that it’s going to be easy to move up in the
political world. By the way, not every legislator wants ‘to move
up’ as they say. Being an Assemblyman, Council representative
or Senator is a pretty successful thing – and many we report on
here see their service in these positions as a goal. But no doubt
some feel the need to move ‘up.’ But we digress.
The ‘Red Dress’ thing is a great prop. It’s a good way for people
to remember you. But people aren’t easily fooled. These days
they want substance. It’s too easy to run for office now, so we
are getting people who are movers and shakers, civic leaders
and business leaders. They don’t solely come out of democratic
clubs any longer. She happens to be sort of an outcast in the
Queens Assembly Caucus. Why? Because she wants more and
her colleagues see it. There’s time, one Queens Assembly
member told us. You can’t just move up because you are smart,
or because you have a brand. Getting elected takes work. It
takes going door-to-door to talk to the people. “… it takes
proving you can get things done.”

Cuomo Still On Top

Case in point … Andrew Cuomo. This week another poll came
out showing he still has a 25-point lead in a run for mayor ….
and he didn’t even announce. You have Stringer, Williams,
Ramos, Landor, Mamdani and Adams, each under 10%.
Cuomo has a track record of getting something done. Whether
you like it or not.

As of last week, the path to the next level for Rajkumar is in the
Public Advocate office. Moving The Goal… brilliant with
unapologetic moxie.

Jennifer Rajkumar

Suozzi considering joining Adams at City Hall

Northeast Queens might be looking for a new congressman.
Mayor-elect Eric Adams revealed this weekend that he has asked Congressman Tom Suozzi to join his administration at deputy mayor.
Suozzi, who before being elected to the House of Representatives served as Nassau County executive and mayor of Glen Cove, campaigned hard for Adams before the Democratic Primary in June.
Suozzi says he will give the offer serious thought over the Thanksgiving holiday.
It would be a raise for Suozzi, at the very least. According to the Post, as a congressman he makes $174,000 a year. Dean Fuleihan, the current first deputy mayor, makes nearly $300,000. You’re probably thinking the same thing we are…Dean who?!
It’s not the only post that Suozzi is eyeing. He also said that he would decide by the end of the month if he plans to run in the Democratic Primary for governor next year. He would join a crowded race of bold-faced names, including current Governor Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Oh yeah, and maybe Mayor Bill de Blasio, who formed an exploratory committee to determine whether he would have a viable shot at competing.
If Suozzi decides to accept Adam’s position, it would likely help Hochul’s chance at earning the governorship from the voters as opposed to being gifted it by Andrew Cuomo’s ego and busy hands. Hochul and Suozzi would likely be competing for the same suburban voters.
In a recent Zoom call with reporters, Suozzi said he would run a moderate campaign, and distance himself from some of the rhetoric coming out of the far left.
Suozzi recently took a stand against the more progressive factions of the party when he endorsed the write-in campaign of Byron Brown for mayor of Buffalo after he lost in the Democratic Primary to Democratic Socialist India Walton.
Many progressives were upset that Brown was even continuing to campaign.
It looks like Monday is shaping up to be a big day of decisions for Suozzi.

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