Pol Position: DOJ Halts Probe into Mayor – Lander on call

Political pundits are having a field day after a directive came down Monday from the federal court delaying justice for Mayor Adams until after the November election. The case involves the pay-to-play schemes, the most reported involving getting an airline upgrade not so dissimilar to the one our bookie gets. But for Adams it’s a felony. He is in a position to influence decisions involving a great deal of money. In this case he is alleged to have used his influence to get a building’s occupancy status through some red tape. So the case, which was expected to be heard in court in April, looks like it is delayed until November.

There is no doubt that we should expect our elected and appointed officials in highly influential positions be beyond reproach when it comes to potential conflicts of interest. But it’s turned out, since the Trump DOJ case details were so public, a good number of people did conclude, in gunning for Trump, the DOJ was weaponized.

There were certainly those who voted for Trump who say a top reason is they didn’t like the idea that the courts could ‘go after’ a candidate for office they didn’t like. It’s hard to forget, the biggest reported crime was Trump paying someone off (with his own money) and not reporting it properly. Something many consider a petty misstep – at most.

This move, by the DOJ, to wait until after the election, evens the playing field. No excuses. If Adams doesn’t get past the primary in June, there are no excuses that his candidacy was derailed over a court case.

Cuomo the quiet one…

Notice Andrew Cuomo is silent on the Monday news. Smart. The earlier he comes out for his run for mayor, the more time he will be in the news for behavior that’s going to hurt him. While some of the more recent polls put Cuomo well ahead of the field, most believe that when people are reminded of the abuse accusations against him and that congestion pricing might have been pioneered by him while he was governor, he might lose double digit numbers in the polls. But Brad Lander, who paid a visit to our Woodside offices Friday (see our reports in this issue), was not shy about laying down comments after hearing the news, saying he (Adams) stands for ‘himself.’

Lander: Okay to involuntarily hospitalize mentally ill

One of our Pol Position staffers prodded Brad Lander to come to our offices last week and it was an insightful back-and-forth. While we pushed the current comptroller on a basic issue we have been writing about; local non-profit service providers having to wait more than a year to get reimbursed for service to our kids and others, it also seems some charter schools, who are running pre-k programs, are just getting paid now for the last school year ….. That’s the 2023-2024 school year. Although he said it wasn’t the fault of his office, what stood out to us is how he is toning down the rhetoric that public safety is not a big issue. He supports the idea of involuntary hospitalization of mentally ill lingering on the subway, while just a few years ago most on the left didn’t want to touch that subject.

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

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