Zelenskyy’s ‘palpable’ frustration 2 years in

From: POLITICO's National Security Daily - Friday Feb 23,2024 09:05 pm

Feb 23, 2024

With help from Irie Sentner

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of Calif., administers the House oath of office to Rep. Joe Sempolinski R-N.Y. during a ceremonial swearing-in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Sept.13, 2022. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Joe Sempolinksi served one of the briefest tenures in the history of the House of Representatives in 2022. Now, he's running for the state Assembly. | Jose Luis Magana/AP

Joe Sempolinski has already had an unusual electoral history in New York. Now he’s poised to make it even more unusual.

Sempolinksi served one of the briefest tenures in the history of the House of Representatives in 2022. He’s now running for the state Assembly. If he wins, it appears the Southern Tier Republican will be the first former congress member elected to that body in over a century.

“I have a little bit of a quirky political résumé,” Sempolinski said.

Sempolinski started 2022 as Steuben County GOP chair and a staffer for then-Rep. Tom Reed. Reed then abruptly announced he would join a lobbying firm rather than finish his term.

The GOP didn’t have an obvious candidate to run in the special election. The ongoing chaos over redistricting meant members were constantly shuffling seats, and there was a bitter primary battle over Reed’s former district between Nick Langworthy and Carl Paladino.

But Sempolinski was happy to be a placeholder, and went on to serve for only 112 days. That’s the 18th-briefest tenure among the 11,000 people who have ever served in the House, and the second-briefest for a New Yorker.

He has spent the past year working as a staffer for Assemblymember Joe Giglio. Giglio is now retiring, and Sempolinski has quickly won support from the area’s top Republicans to replace him. There might still be a Democratic candidate, but the rural district — where the largest population center is the 14,000-person city of Olean — is the safest Republican seat in the 213-member state Legislature.

Sempolinski said his brief tenure in the House shows he’s the right person for the Assembly job.

“You’re talking to somebody who, as the most junior person of the House and a lame duck the second they took the oath” was “still able to be very productive,” he said.

Conversations with several historians and cursory reviews of the biographies of over 400 House members from New York suggest that no former member of Congress has won an election to the state Assembly in over a century.

It appears that the most recent person to pull off that transition was none other than William Sulzer — who left the House in 1912 to become the only governor in New York’s history to be impeached.

“Sulzer sought vindication” after his 1913 impeachment, political consultant and Sulzer biographer Jack O’Donnell said. “Election to any office would afford him the ability to say that ‘the People’ supported him and that they took his side over that of Tammany Hall.”

He won that office just a few weeks after he was removed from the governorship.

But despite his earlier track record in the state and federal legislative branches — in which he played a role in everything from ending sweatshops to providing a light for the Statue of Liberty — Sulzer “was not a factor” in the Assembly in his comeback career, O’Donnell said.

Sempolinski is hopeful his likely Assembly career will be more successful.

“It’s all about service,” Sempolinski said. “I want to serve the people of the 148th district in the Assembly just like I served each and every one of them in the House and as a staff person.” — Bill Mahoney

From the Capitol

The New York state Capitol is seen from the steps of the State Education Building in Albany, N.Y., Wednesday, June 7, 2023.

Assembly Democrats did not reach a decision on a new state congressional map after a nearly three-hour meeting. | Hans Pennink/AP Photo

ROADMAP TO A MAP: No agreement was reached Friday for a path forward on a new House map after a nearly three-hour meeting of the Assembly Democratic conference, two people with knowledge of the discussion said.

Assembly lawmakers are expected to meet again behind closed doors on Monday to weigh their options, which could include a wholesale change of the existing House lines and a rejection of a proposed map submitted by the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission.

Some Democrats in the state Legislature are pushing for major changes to the House map, four people familiar with the talks said. They were granted anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.

Privately, state lawmakers have raised concerns with how multiple House members have had their homes drawn into their new districts under the commission-proposed map. They also have pushed back on splitting multiple counties.

The drama comes as Democrats in the Legislature have also privately pointed to the high stakes: At least six New York House districts under the current lines are considered to be battleground seats in the upcoming midterm elections as Republicans fight to retain control of the House.

But there’s also tension among Democrats, as some lawmakers worry an overhaul of the existing House lines to favor their party would lead to voter backlash.

Any changes by Democrats to the commission-drawn map, which makes relatively small alterations to the existing House lines, would also likely result in a Republican-backed legal challenge.

Lawmakers could stay in Albany until Thursday to vote on a new House map.

The commission-drawn map has been panned by Democratic activists and by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ office. — Nick Reisman

NEW CYBERSECURITY GRANT PLAN: Gov. Kathy Hochul announced nearly $6 million in federal funding to protect families from cybersecurity attacks.

The program will increase access to cybersecurity information, tools, resources and services to give the public sector adequate defenses.

“A cyberattack can halt an entire community, and it’s essential that local governments have the resources and information needed to protect themselves and quickly respond to a cyber threat,” Hochul said in a release.

New York State will use grants available through the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to obtain multi-factor authentication, cybersecurity scholarships and training resources. Eligible departments can complete the SLCGP interest form. — Shawn Ness

FROM CITY HALL

State Sen. Leroy Comrie and Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar took to the City Hall steps in Manhattan to keep up pressure to get the SMOKEOUT Act into the budget.

State Sen. Leroy Comrie (above) and Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar took to the City Hall steps in Manhattan to keep up pressure to get the SMOKEOUT Act into the budget. | Jeff Coltin/POLITICO

SPARKING UP A CONVERSATION: Mayor Eric Adams missed out on a rally at his front door today for one of his top state legislative priorities — making it easier for the city to shut down illegal cannabis shops.

State Sen. Leroy Comrie and Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar — two of Adams’ leading Albany allies — took the City Hall steps in Manhattan to keep up pressure to get the SMOKEOUT Act into the state budget. Adams has complained the city’s hands are tied because the agencies that can regulate cannabis are toothless. In fact, the shops are effectively ignoring fines levied against them.

“This is a ridiculous situation that was unfortunately instigated by our past governor who legalized smoking without making sure that the procedures were in place to have legal shops,” Comrie said, pointing the finger at former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

“How did you vote on that bill?” Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi responded, in part, on X.

Kathy Wylde of the Partnership for New York City also spoke at the rally. “Legalization of cannabis was supposed to make our city safer and healthier,” she said. “And exactly the opposite has happened because of the proliferation of illegal cannabis shops.”

Rajkumar said she’s working with Hochul’s team on a solution; the governor included her own proposal to shut down unlicensed smoke shops in her proposed budget. — Jeff Coltin

On the Beats

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul walks into a room.

Lawmakers and art organizations gathered in Buffalo today to push back against Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposal to reduce capital funding for the New York State Council on the Arts by nearly $50 million. | Hans Pennink/AP

PUSH TO RESTORE ARTS FUNDING: Hochul is proposing to reduce capital funding for the New York State Council on the Arts by nearly $50 million in her executive budget. Lawmakers and impacted organizations gathered in Buffalo on Friday to push back against the move.

Buffalo Assemblymember Jon Rivera and Councilmember Mitch Nowakowski called for the state’s final budget to include $100 million in capital funding, as was included in last year’s budget. The group also called for an increase in grant funding for NYSCA to $100 million, which would be a $59 million increase from Hochul’s executive budget.

“If we’re to see the limitless dividend that the arts can provide our communities, the organizations and nonprofits that facilitate that potential must be fully funded and given the opportunity to expand their visions,” Rivera said, “I will continue to fight for the funding that NYSCA both needs and deserves, so that our arts sector can reach new heights in the coming years.” — Katelyn Cordero

HIGHER EDUCATION: The state’s public university systems are looking to help prospective students amid delays with the federal application for student aid.

The State University of New York is offering additional in-person and virtual financial aid sessions to support high school seniors, working adults and other SUNY applicants completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

This comes after SUNY Chancellor John King issued guidance last week to campus presidents calling for delayed payment deadlines and steps to prevent a drop in enrollment.

“The cost of a college education can be a barrier to students and with the new FAFSA application, our team at SUNY is doing all we can to ensure current and prospective students know about and get all the financial aid they are eligible for,” King said in a statement.

In December, the federal Education Department unveiled an updated FAFSA form, leading to substantial delays for students and families and for campuses to receive FAFSA data. Campuses are expected to be given the data in March, meaning a slower delivery of financial aid packages to waiting students.

The City University of New York is also extending the deadline for students to accept their admissions offers from May 1 to June 1 to contend with delays.

“By pushing back commitment day we’re able to provide students and families the flexibility to make an informed decision and enable more New Yorkers to seize the benefits of public higher education,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez said in a statement. — Madina Touré

The Campaign Trail

Assembly member Patricia Fahy.

Assembly Member Pat Fahy is vacating her Albany-area district seat to run for the state Senate. | Via PatriciaFahyNY.com

RACE TO REPLACE FAHY: Democrat Ginnie Farrell announced Friday she is running for the party’s nomination to replace Assembly Member Pat Fahy in an Albany-area district.

She joins a growing list of Democrats vying for the Assembly district, which Fahy is vacating this year to run for the state Senate held by retiring Democrat Neil Breslin.

Farrell is currently an aide to Assembly Environmental Conservation Chair Deborah Glick and an Albany Common Council member.

She previously served as the Albany City School Board president and is a former advisor to Fahy.

"My long history of community dedication, public service, and policy experience on the local and state level gives me the expertise and knowledge to make a difference from day one as the Assemblymember for the 109th District," Farrell said. — Nick Reisman

MENG KNOCKS AIPAC: Rep. Grace Meng criticized a campaign attack ad that put a yellow-tint over California congressional candidate Dave Min — a fellow Asian American Democrat and political ally.

“Political attacks are expected in any campaign. Attacks literally coloring an Asian American candidate in yellow is highly insensitive at best,” she posted on X Thursday. “Questioning an Asian candidate’s trustworthiness is a tired and old trope. Vote @DaveMinCA.”

The mailer was paid for by the United Democracy Project, which is affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, POLITICO reported. Meng is close with AIPAC, and even tried to broker a peace between Min and the pro-Israel group earlier this month. But it seems to have been unsuccessful — AIPAC has spent big against Min, who is running for an open Los Angeles-area seat. — Jeff Coltin

AROUND NEW YORK

— Mayor Eric Adams attended a private party with members of two Turkish-American interest groups that went unreported to city regulators less than a month before a series of FBI raids as part of an investigation into the Turkish government’s involvement in his campaign. (Daily News)

— Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer visited Ukraine today on the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion. (State of Politics)

— Two men who worked with Malcom X are claiming that NYPD officers falsely arrested them in an attempt to leave Malcolm unattended. (Daily News)

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