Subject: POLITICO New York Playbook: SILVER’s sentence -- DE BLASIO’s ripple effect -- RENT board considers another freeze
From: "Azi Paybarah, Jimmy Vielkind and Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 4 May 2016 05:33:03 -0600

05/04/2016 07:30 AM EDT

By Azi Paybarah in Manhattan, Jimmy Vielkind in Albany, and Mike Allen in D.C., with Daniel Lippman

SILVER SENTENCED TO 12 YEARS IN JAIL - POLITICO New York's Colby Hamilton: Face downcast and darkened, former Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver listened with a lack of emotion on Tuesday as U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Caproni sentenced him to serve 12 years in prison. Silver - once one of the most powerful elected officials in New York, who first came to office representing the Lower East Side in 1977 - was convicted last November on seven counts of bribery, corruption and extortion after being accused of using his office in exchange for legal fees. At the start of Tuesday's sentencing hearing, which lasted nearly two hours, Caproni said she was not going to use federal sentencing
 guidelines in the case, which could have gone as high as nearly 30 years and which Caproni said would be "draconian and unjust" given Silver's age of 72." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c30972b915c2b4f512cb3b4a2454d7cc19024c56e71572111dbba 

-- It was business as usual in the Assembly while Silver learned his fate. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c3097e0e0ff13874a4e0d3d08551138c9c8880feccd239256f6b5 

TRUMP'S PARTY - Times' Jonathan Martin and Patrick Healy: "At Trump Tower on Tuesday night, amid his litany of thank-yous, Mr. Trump demonstrated the degree to which his nomination represented an astonishing break from political precedent. In denouncing Mrs. Clinton's past support for the North American Free Trade Agreement and saying it had caused "carnage" for American workers, he signaled he would run to her left on free trade and upend the decades-long bipartisan consensus on the issue. ... Mr. Trump starts the general election campaign with a still-unfurling roll of incendiary proposals and provocations that are the stuff of dreams for opposition researchers. He made his name in the
 last presidential campaign as the country's most prominent birther, fueling debunked conspiracy theories that President Obama was not born in America; he has used hostile and hard-edged language about Hispanics, suggesting that Mexican migrants are rapists and murderers; and he has not backed off his proposal to bar all foreign Muslims from entering the United States, effectively creating a religious test for immigrants."

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Every time I open my mouth a different story comes out. I have not talked to the feds, I have not done anything wrong, whatever. Let the pebbles fall as they may and I urge people to just get the facts," - John Catsimatidis, via NY1's Inside City Hall. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c30979c1cddd08a2593d915b29295ffa1be0e362356f0abe4accc

STARS WARS DAY -- "May the 4th Be With You" -- Star Wars comics for just $1 today. Details via JediInsider.com: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c309731a3b6ac84e68acf2e5a2ee2db8870d5601c212a9d2c100c [h/t Stephanie Rolin]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Richard Brodsky, a former Assembly member and candidate for attorney general, Reuven Blau, Daily News reporter, and John Gagain Jr., political consultant.

TABS -- Post: "HOOSIER DADDY" -- Daily New, pic of an elephant in a coffin -- SEE THEM: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c3097bf389620e4b280d7c0f81adea34743b5fcf891e96a3abd1f 

-- amNY: "ShelDONE" -- Newsday: "DEADLY FLIGHT" -- El Diario [translated]: Blow to K2

FRONT PAGES: NYT, 6-col., above the fold: "TRUMP NEARS NOMINATION AS CRUZ DROPS OUT" -- WSJNY, 2-col., above the fold: "De Blasio Probes Put Democrats To Test on Ethics"

LIBOUS DEAD AT 63 - Press & Sun-Bulletin's John Roby: "Thomas W. Libous, a Johnson City native who served 14 terms in the New York State Senate and mentored a generation of Southern Tier politicians, died May 3 after a seven-year battle with cancer. He was 63. Both Broome County and the state as a whole have been impacted by the Republican's long career representing the 52nd Senate District, in areas as diverse as entertainment and agriculture, and in the numerous improvements Libous worked to secure for the area. 'He was a power broker,' Broome County Historian Gerald Smith said. 'He knew how to use and focus power to get projects accomplished.' Yet for all that, Libous departed the senate
 under a cloud. He was indicted in July 2014 on one count of making false statements to the FBI during an interview as part of an investigation into his efforts to get his son, Matthew, a job with a prominent Westchester County attorney's office. A year later, he was convicted in federal court, removed from office and sentenced to six months of house arrest." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c3097a1668c837d824656a40d1deefe3d3cc126f287143e103dc2 

FARLEY WON'T SEEK RE-ELECTION - Albany Times Union's Matthew Hamilton: "State Sen. Hugh Farley, one of the longest serving members of the state Legislature, has decided not to seek re-election, he announced Tuesday morning. In a statement, Farley said his wife, Sharon, is dealing with several health issues 'and it is my desire and responsibility to spend more time with her and my family.' ...Farley, 83, first won the seat in 1976. He has enjoyed easy re-election in the past nine two-year cycles, winning by less than 20,000 votes only once. Democrat Chad Putman is running for the 49th Senate District seat. Republicans Christian Klueg and Nancy Nugent had planned to primary Farley. Klueg in a
 statement called Farley 'a well-respected and outstanding public servant.' Farley told WAMC that he expects Republican Assemblyman Jim Tedisco will be interested in a run. Tedisco later said in a statement that he would discuss his plans soon, though not on Tuesday." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c3097b550b45d242e34d0a70fe13735a84e65cf4f7b74b8c376b5 

-- Farley introduced Tedisco as the next state Senator to a group of fourth graders in the Capitol. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c3097f19d9e215d6002c1d5b1a0883b6f79d5b9a03ac53b930f75 

TWEET OF THE DAY: "Sen. Farley with @GeorgeAmedore's 5th grade class at the Capitol in #Albany. Amedore in shirt that says 'George.'" via @HRViccaro: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c30978ea3265f02d3fa78f47282dd83594956900c85a5fb3ddbaf 

RIPPLE EFFECT -- De Blasio Probes Put Democrats in New York Senate on Ethics Hot Seat -- Wall Street Journal's Josh Dawsey and Mike Vilensky: "Democrats in the New York state Senate had expected that government ethics would be a dominant issue in the fall election, but they didn't expect to be the ones playing defense. Ahead of the Nov. 8 election, when every seat in the Legislature is up for grabs, the Senate Democrats have found themselves linked to state and federal investigations examining whether New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and his allies violated laws as part of an unsuccessful effort in 2014 to bring the chamber under Democratic control." Republicans have already begun
 attacking Mr. de Blasio as part of their campaign to keep control of the chamber. One person familiar with their strategy said they planned to spend the next six months using the investigations as a brickbat against the Democrats."

-- "This episode underscores the danger of turning our entire state government over to Mayor de Blasio and the New York City Democrats," said Scott Reif, a spokesman for the Senate Republicans. Mike Murphy, a spokesman for the Senate Democrats, said it is "comical that the Senate Republicans would try to use the ethics argument when they have blocked every major reform effort" and "are waiting for their former leader" to be sentenced on public-corruption charges." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c309784ea5819a526084c4df0f9803da9e24d3f4b0a03fc177330

SOURCES: AIDE TALKED DE BLASIO OUT OF SANDERS ENDORSEMENT -- Ross Barkan in the Village Voice: "[A]ccording to City Hall sources, de Blasio actually did come genuinely close to endorsing Sanders, only to have top aides, including Emma Wolfe, talk him out of it. As the presidential primary descended on New York this April, de Blasio, frozen out of Clintonland for insufficient loyalty and bereft of the adulation progressives showered on Sanders, had nowhere left to go." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c3097d975f49cbba5992fb3560431537b0c063fc97cde76d66bda 

THE CASE OF THE MEMO LEAK -- POLITICO New York's Laura Nahmias: "Mayor Bill de Blasio suggested Tuesday that at least one of the five investigations into his administration was the result of orchestrated work by his political enemies. In language that mirrored the words of his elections lawyer, Laurence Laufer, the mayor said a leaked Board of Elections enforcement memo alleging his top aides and political allies had violated campaign finance laws in their 2014 fundraising efforts on behalf of the Senate Democrats, was "just too convenient." Laufer had earlier implied in a letter that the leak of the confidential memo, written by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's hand-picked enforcement counsel, Risa
 Sugarman, was "politically motivated." Laufer and de Blasio have both complained Sugarman's memo singled out the mayor for fundraising tactics other county committees and politicians have used in the past.

-- De Blasio, without being explicit, said the circumstances behind the Board of Elections investigation, the memo and the way that its findings, which were intended to be confidential, were revealed in the press, suggested a conspiracy. "I don't draw conclusions. I raise questions where I have questions. And the instance of that Board of Elections memo is just too convenient to be possibly believable," de Blasio told reporters at an unrelated press conference in southeastern Queens. "That suddenly this memo is created, referring only to one person and their colleagues who were supporting a change in the state Senate but leaving out everyone else who was supporting a change in the state
 Senate," he said, likely referring to the fact Sugarman's memo did not name the State Democratic Committee, which was involved in the coordinated fundraising effort, as part of its investigation." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c3097e91239f267a502a4fa20e15b66385cab6d8327750cd76161

TONY AWARDS - L.A. Times front page, "The founding father of Broadway diversity," by Theater Critic Charles McNulty: "Last year, the Tony Awards could have adopted the hashtag #TonysSoBritish. This year, the nominees announced Tuesday morning look like the anti-Oscars, so diverse is the roster. ... 'Hamilton,' which amassed 16 nominations, breaking the record of 15 set by 'The Producers' and later matched by 'Billy Elliot: The Musical,' is bound to sweep all the major musical categories. But there's no denying that Broadway burns brighter - and more multihued - because of Lin-Manuel Miranda's groundbreaking musical.

"As these Tony nominations attest, 'Hamilton' has ushered in a new age of multiculturalism on Broadway ... History has arrived, laggard as usual but unmistakable. ... 'Shuffle Along, or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed,' adapter-director George C. Wolfe's snazzy update of the trailblazing 1921 African American blockbuster that seduced Broadway with syncopation, racked up an impressive 10 nominations."  http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c3097ca16f13a206a652ae50dac01f0f31620652a0b963fedfb20

HOT VIDEO -- "Hillary Clinton Ruins 'Hamilton" - Above Average: "Hillary Clinton adds her terrifying voice to the Hamilton soundtrack." 3-min. video  http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c3097b262e901981417a5a04e240e0103c06808223deb6657cdfc

LIVING HISTORY -- "Obama to name Stonewall 1st national monument for gay rights," by AP's Josh Lederman: Manhattan's "Stonewall Inn, where the modern gay rights movement took root, will become the first national monument honoring the history of gays and lesbians in the U.S. under a proposal ... Obama is preparing to approve."  http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c30971c8729c61fdb631cbea601d6dba463de892905ab8ecfa013

HILLARY PLAN -- "Clinton plots swing-state ambush for Trump: She's already organizing a shadow general election campaign," by Politico's Gabe Debenedetti: "[E]ven in [Indiana] defeat, Clinton continues to execute a hard turn toward November ... Over the last two weeks, Clinton has been quietly accelerating her swing-state operation, organizing what amounts to a shadow general election campaign at the same time she is fending off a rival who insists he'll continue to fight until the Democratic convention in July." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c309796c8df067733770f697d11cd0b2e37ba8b7c08178a07daaa

REAL ESTATE - "Rent freeze for one-year leases under consideration by city board," by POLITICO New York's Sally Goldenberg: "One year after the city enacted its first-ever rent freeze, the Rent Guidelines Board considered a similar measure Tuesday night that would take effect later this year. The nine-member board, which is appointed by the mayor, settled upon a proposal to allow one-year leases to either stay flat or increase by no more than 2 percent, beginning in October. Rents on two-year leases would go up between .5 percent and 3.5 percent under the proposal, which cleared the board by a 5-4 vote. A final vote will take place at a public meeting on June 27. The board, established 47
 years ago, regulates rents for approximately 1 million apartments across the five boroughs." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c30978f91aabc86855e8d77dcac35ba9ee78350e8eaf33deb98c2

-"Developer Aby Rosen to Pay $7 Million in Suit Over Unpaid Taxes on Art," by Times' Charles V. Bagli: "The New York attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, announced a $7 million settlement with Mr. Rosen on Tuesday for failing to pay taxes on $80 million in artwork that he had bought or commissioned since 2002. Art dealers who buy works solely for resale do not have to pay sales taxes. But the attorney general said art buyers like Mr. Rosen could not avoid sales or use taxes by claiming that the artwork they purchased was for sale, while treating the pieces as they would their personal possessions. Mr. Rosen used the artwork for his own enjoyment or to enhance the value of his real estate
 brand, according to the attorney general's office. ... Mr. Schneiderman said his office had 'uncovered serious abuses' of tax law in the course of the investigation." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c3097c14641353ebd057dc5d6fb9c2fdfc1e9e2a2f86fac374679

-"How Contaminated Land on the Gowanus Became a Luxury Housing Development," by DNAinfo's Leslie Albrecht: "The gleaming 12-story apartment building that opened to renters last month at 365 Bond St. counts a rooftop lounge, 24-hour concierge, spin studio and boat launch among its deluxe amenities. But you won't find these waterfront tenants dipping their toes in the water or digging a vegetable garden in the soil. That's because 365 Bond St. sits along the heavily polluted Gowanus Canal on a brownfield site - land where industrial use left contaminants in the soil. Industrial pollution is common in Gowanus, but with proximity to brownstone Brooklyn, an expanding restaurant scene and growing
 interest from tech companies, the neighborhood is among the borough's hottest real estate markets." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c309721dee77b20f4490ac91206f321908a7d99d7e50bb1d20f23

#UpstateAmerica: Do you speak Rochesterian? This guide will help you out. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b6e243bce94c3097568b879b9c24c01f40da701eab3876beac7c08c98a683d7c 

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