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From The Courtroom to The Capitol, David Schwartz on Power, Politics & Persuasion Corey’s Corner
0:1212 seconds Pull up a seat. You're now in Cory's corner where right conversations matter. 0:1616 seconds I'm your host, Corey Piggee, and I always keep it right, not real. Today's guest is someone whose career bridges 0:2323 seconds courtroom drama and legislative strategy with influence across law, media, politics, and public policy. I'm excited 0:3131 seconds to welcome David Schwarz, Esquire, founder and president of Gotham Government Relations, the lobbying arm 0:3737 seconds of Adilia, Bertuna, and Cayman for which he's also a partner. An AV-rated trial attorney turned powerhouse lobbyist, 0:4646 secondsDavid has argued cases across New York, litigated numerous jury trials, and represented trade associations, 0:5454 seconds corporations, nonprofits, and even foreign governments. When lobbying alone doesn't work, he brings the fight to the 1:011 minute, 1 second media, grassroot campaigns, and the courts. His expertise is sought by major 1:071 minute, 7 seconds outlets from Fox, NBC, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, just to name a few. David, thank you for joining me. 1:161 minute, 16 seconds Great to be here, Corey. Yes. Yes. Yes. Do you know what's happening right now? 1:191 minute, 19 seconds We have the Yankees starting their journey. Just as I'm doing Cory's corner right now, the Yankees are starting their journey towards the World Series. 1:281 minute, 28 seconds Number 28. 1:291 minute, 29 seconds Six o 28. 28. They're going for 28. Let's go New York. New York. Let's go. 1:371 minute, 37 seconds But I'm here. I'm here. Cory's Corner. More important than the Yankees. Right. You heard it from Dave. 1:451 minute, 45 seconds This episode of Cory's Corner is brought to you by Gotham Government Relations. 1:501 minute, 50 econds When you need results in Albany, City Hall, or Washington DC, Gotham delivers. 1:551 minute, 55 secondsTheir team of expert lobbyists, attorneys, and public affairs specialists know how to shape legislation, move policy, and amplify 2:022 minutes, 2 seconds your voice when it matters most. Read more about Gotham. ww.thamgr.com. 2:112 minutes, 11 secondsBefore we dive into your career, Dave, let's go back to the beginning. Where did it all start from you? 2:182 minutes, 18 seconds Well, I was uh born in Brooklyn in the Sheep Bay area. I went to Lincoln High School, uh, Twolane University. 2:262 minutes, 26 seconds Uh, I I got my JD from Toro Law School and my LLM from Forom Law School. And I started in the Brooklyn DA's office back 2:352 minutes, 35 seconds in the uh wild times of the of the mid 90s. And we had um, as as you know, because you were a police officer during 2:442 minutes, 44 seconds that period of time, we had so many murders. We had uh we had over 2,2300 murders in New York City. I had a case 2:532 minutes, 53 seconds load when I was a felony trial attorney in the DA's office. I had 150 felony 3:003 minutes cases. I was supposed to have 30. These were all trial ready cases. I had 150. The only way to control that case load. 3:083 minutes, 8 seconds And look, it's a it's a young person's sport. You know, it was so great. I used to stay in the office all night under the great Charles Hunt. under the great Charles Joe Hines, a legendary DA. 3:203 minutes, 20 seconds Um, he was he's a he was a mentor to me, Joe Hines. But, uh, I was only supposed to have 30 cases in in the felony trial 3:283 minutes, 28 seconds bureau. I had 150. That's amazing. And basically, the cases that had victims I put in the front of 3:353 minutes, 35 seconds my filing cabinet. And back then it was a filing cabinet, right? Wasn't all this electronic stuff, right? It was a you
3:423 minutes, 42 seconds had physical files. And then the cases, the straight drug cases, the straight gun cases, they were in the back of the 3:503 minutes, 50 seconds filing cabinet because there were no victims there, right? 3:533 minutes, 53 seconds So if those cases went to trial, I would prep it in a day and I would go to trial. It was pretty pretty amazing times back then. 4:014 minutes, 1 secondWow. You began your career, as you said, as a ADA in Kings County and later shifted to private practice and lobbying. What personal professional 4:104 minutes, 10 seconds experiences led you to make the transition other than being overworked with 150 case load? Do you know what 150 case 4:184 minutes, 18 seconds load is? And that was just your case load. That was my case. That wasn't that wasn't your partners. The the other ADAs.
4:254 minutes, 25 seconds No, no, that was my personal No, we had thousands of cases. We had, you know, over a 100,000 arrests in Brooklyn every year, right? 4:334 minutes, 33 seconds And those 150 cases were trial ready cases. So on any given day, I had like six or seven cases ready for trial. 4:434 minutes, 43 seconds Lucky I had luckily I had a great judge, Judge Abe Gurgess, that he was my assigned judge in the red zone in in 4:504 minutes, 50 seconds Brooklyn, which which was the 75 precinct, the 673. 4:564 minutes, 56 seconds Yeah. So uh and Abear just would let me know which cases he he felt would go next, which was a huge help. 5:055 minutes, 5 seconds So what about all of these wusses. Now, these ADAs, they're crying, bitching, and moaning. They got like 40 5:125 minutes, 12 seconds cases. They probably got 50 cases, let's say. And and the whole all the citizens in New York City is saying is so crazy. 5:215 minutes, 21 seconds And I always say one thing about crime, you can't hide the bodies. 5:265 minutes, 26 seconds Last year, New York City had like 323 homicide. What did you just say? How many homicides? Like 5:325 minutes, 32 seconds back then we had like 2,300 I think we were up to. So, let me just tell the citizens of New York City, stop crying, bitching, and moaning, talking about we 5:415 minutes, 41 seconds going back to the 90s. It's over. It's not there no more. Absolutely not. The things are things are pretty good compared to the way it was back then. 5:525 minutes, 52 seconds You know, we have different types of crime now. I think we have more random crime. We have, you know, people walking in the street and you get hit over the 5:595 minutes, 59 seconds head with a bottle. Like, it's kind of random crime, which is scary crime. Mhm. We got a lot of electronic crime, too. 6:066 minutes, 6 seconds We have a lot of electronic crime. Back then, you know, you'd have a gun held to your head, but really, you know, your 6:136 minutes, 13 seconds watch would be robbed, your wallet would be taken, and the and the the robber would go away. You know, now they, you
6:206 minutes, 20 seconds know, now now it's just it seems much more haphazard now. 6:246 minutes, 24 seconds Over your career, you've handled and tried many criminal and civil cases, including high-profile ones. Which case 6:316 minutes, 31 seconds or cases are you most proud of? And what lesson or lessons from those do you use today in your lobbying work? Yeah, I you 6:386 minutes, 38 seconds know I'm proud of all the cases because because every case is tried with passion, aggressiveness and it does 6:466 minutes, 46 seconds morph into the lobbying work because whether we're advocates in the court of law or advocates in the court of the 6:556 minutes, 55 seconds legislature, I view that as a court or the court of the executive branch, whether it's the governor's office or 7:027 minutes, 2 seconds the mayor's office. We bring that same passion that we have in the courtroom to those branches. I I love the Antonio 7:107 minutes, 10 seconds Casanova case that I tried. Um I I had everything against me. Uh it was it was a case back in the you know back in the in the late 90s uh circumstantial case. 7:237 minutes, 23 seconds He was a doctor from the Dominican Republic. It was in the news accused of burning down his building and killing somebody in the building. and they built 7:317 minutes, 31 seconds this circumstantial case and and I worked day and night on the case. I won the case. I had the judge against me. I 7:397 minutes, 39 seconds had these two DAs who were brutal. They were beating me up all trial. But the 7:467 minutes, 46 seconds case taught me a lot about being a criminal defense attorney. Uh it it taught me that you just got to keep 7:537 minutes, 53 seconds moving the ball forward even though you get beat up during the case and these process and the judge was beating me up. I won't say who the judge 8:018 minutes, 1 second was, but the judge was beating me up during the case. She looked at me at the bench. She goes, "You think this jury 8:078 minutes, 7 seconds buys buys your BS?" And uh I I I said, "Yeah, I think they do. Actually, I think they like me a lot." And it turned out they did like me a lot, but you 8:158 minutes, 15 seconds never know. It taught me. So, in in this case, the jury sent a note back uh that they were deadlocked 10 to two in my 8:248 minutes, 24 seconds favor. I didn't get the note and I saw the judge was very upset. Then they came back 11 to one and then they came back
8:328 minutes, 32 seconds that that I got an acquitt on the case and I I was thanking the jury after the case and I thanked this woman. She was a 8:418 minutes, 41 seconds teacher and I thought for sure she was on my side because of the body language of her. I thought she was on my side. 8:498 minutes, 49 seconds Turned out she was the one pulled out and she said, "You're a piece of garbage. your client's a piece of garbage. And she was really giving it to 8:588 minutes, 58 seconds me good. And I still thanked her for serving on the jury. And uh and it just taught me a lesson that you never know who the jurors are. People have jurors 9:079 minutes, 7 seconds have poker faces. The art of picking a jury. Cases are won and lost in jury selection. And you just never know who's 9:159 minutes, 15 seconds going to be on that jury. And you this is not a perfect system that we have. 9:199 minutes, 19 seconds And sometimes the case depends on who the jurors are, who the judge is, and uh that's an unfortunate part because 9:289 minutes, 28 seconds everybody deserves a fair shot. But it really depends on the circumstances of the case. But so just for complete 9:359 minutes, 35 seconds transparency because I don't want people go on my LinkedIn, my social media, you're going to see my last job or most 9:429 minutes, 42 seconds current job is working for Gotham Government Relations. I I do work for Gotham Government Relations. So, I just want to let everybody know that. I don't 9:519 minutes, 51 seconds texting me and saying, "Oh, you bringing your friends here. Everybody that I interviewed so far is my friends." But this is kind of like my boss. But uh
9:599 minutes, 59 seconds I'm not I'm not your boss. My partner, but but but uh and I'm sure you'll give me a harder time because of that. 10:0510 minutes, 5 seconds Yeah. I got some I got some nice dingers for you. I hope so. Yeah. Now, you've earned top peer recognition. 10:1210 minutes, 12 seconds Like I said, the AV rating, okay, over many years. How important are those types of professional accolades in building credibility with clients, 10:2010 minutes, 20 seconds government officials, and the public? I I think it's overrated. I I don't really look for that stuff. You You know, who's 10:2710 minutes, 27 seconds who's to say who's a great lawyer, who's not a great lawyer? It's the clients. 10:3210 minutes, 32 seconds I'm most interested in my clients. If my clients tell me that I did a good job, that means the world to me. When my clients show appreciation for the work 10:4110 minutes, 41 seconds that that I do and they appreciate everything that I did for them, that means the world to me. Some accolade or 10:4910 minutes, 49 seconds some award is uh you know that 38 cents will buy you a cup of coffee, right? But well, I do know personally you're a 10:5710 minutes, 57 seconds great attorney and a great lobbyist. I'll never forget us last year going out to Queens to Bayside. Remember 11:0611 minutes, 6 seconds we was in Bayside for the at the agent place the building. 11:1111 minutes, 11 seconds Oh, and I got into a fight with them in the middle of the street. That was funny. That was hilarious. We were out there. We had a great time. 11:2011 minutes, 20 seconds And all of a sudden, Cory looks over. 11:2111 minutes, 21 seconds I'm in the middle of the street with the guy. You're like, "What happened?" I said, "David's about to kill this 11:2911 minutes, 29 seconds guy." Like, "What's going on out?" No, he pissed me off. But that's that's all right. 11:3311 minutes, 33 seconds But it's all part of the job. It's all part of the job. Now, you represent both large corporations and smaller nonprofits or individuals. How do you 11:4111 minutes, 41 seconds balance or reconcile potential conflicts between very powerful clients and those with less political or financial client? 11:4911 minutes, 49 seconds We always do a conflict uh a conflict of interest check in the law firm, both both on the law side and on the lobbying 11:5711 minutes, 57 seconds side. You can't represent clients that are on either side of a bill. Uh sometimes it gets a little um a little 12:0612 minutes, 6 seconds gray where you have two clients, they may disagree on one bill and then they agree on some other bills. So you have 12:1412 minutes, 14 seconds to weigh each one separately and of course fully disclose to the client that there may be a conflict with another
12:2312 minutes, 23 seconds client on a particular bill, but it doesn't happen too often. 12:2612 minutes, 26 seconds On September 26, I'm going to read something. Mayor Eric Adams was indicted on bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud, and campaign finance charges, including 12:3512 minutes, 35 seconds allegations of accepting luxury travel and pressuring city agencies for foreign interest. He pled not guilty. In April
12:4312 minutes, 43 seconds 2025, Judge Dale Ho dismissed the case with prejudice, preventing it from being refilled, refiled. The dismissal was 12:5212 minutes, 52 seconds controversial as the judge noted it was not a ruling on innocence and came after 12:5912 minutes, 59 seconds the DOJ directed prosecutors to drop the case prompting several resignations. 13:0513 minutes, 5 seconds Given the unsealing of the indictment against Mayor Adams, allegations of luxury benefits, foreign influence, and 13:1213 minutes, 12 seconds pressuring city agencies, and its ultimate dismissal with prejudice, how do you access this? the strength of the 13:2013 minutes, 20 seconds case as it was charged. We know it was thrown out and whether the dismissal sets a precedent for future corruption 13:2813 minutes, 28 seconds prosecutions. And what message does this send about accountability and the balance of power between federal prosecutions and elected officials? 13:3813 minutes, 38 seconds Those are great issues, but I think the case is [ __ ] if you ask me. I think it was a complete disgrace that that case was was even brought in the first 13:4613 minutes, 46 seconds place. When you analyze each portion of that indictment, you know, you you the the the the favors done for the Turkish 13:5513 minutes, 55 seconds embassy not coinciding and the favors done is when he was burrow president and then and then taking uh up getting 14:0414 minutes, 4 seconds upgrades on certain airlines and trying to connect the two. You have to have stronger evidence when you're indicting
14:1114 minutes, 11 seconds a burough president or now a mayor uh for certain acts. I thought that was
14:1714 minutes, 17 seconds complete nonsense. Uh the the the bribery didn't match. Nothing matched.
14:2414 minutes, 24 seconds And yeah, certainly, you know, there there may be ev there there are theories that when President 14:3214 minutes, 32 seconds Trump got into office that somehow there was some influence there, but there's no proof of that. Uh the case was was a 14:4014 minutes, 40 seconds nonsensical case. I think people analyze this case and you have to have a lot more when you're indicting an elected
14:4814 minutes, 48 seconds official. I believe so because it gives the appearance that the side that's not in power, you know, may get indicted and 14:5614 minutes, 56 seconds and it's it's not, you know, I'm a political nothing. I'm not on either side, but I think the James Comey 15:0415 minutes, 4 seconds indictment was and I hate to bring that up, that was horrible, too. So, I think that was just as bad as indicting Mayor Adams. You have to have real evidence. 15:1215 minutes, 12 seconds Like the Menendez case, that was real evidence. There were gold bars in his refrigerate, in his freezer, you know, there was everywhere. 15:2015 minutes, 20 seconds Yeah. Everywhere. He took bribes. It was He wasn't even secretive about it. you know, the the gumption of some of these 15:2715 minutes, 27 seconds elected officials that they feel that that they're entitled, these these elected officials that use insider 15:3415 minutes, 34 seconds information to to increase their stock portfolios just because they're in Congress. That's a disgrace. And I'm 15:4115 minutes, 41 seconds happy that there's a bipartisan bill to stop that in Congress. Can you believe AOC was standing there with the 15:4815 minutes, 48 seconds Republicans on for this bill and they're going to they're going to pass a bipartisan bill. I think that's great when both sides could get together like 15:5615 minutes, 56 seconds that. But getting back to Mayor Adams, uh, you know, where politics comes in, it is bad precedent, but to indict him 16:0416 minutes, 4 seconds for those types of charges was bad president also. It was political. They knew he was running for office. They 16:1116 minutes, 11 seconds knew he was running for reelection. And and I I believe it's just we're we're going down a slippery slope right now 16:1916 minutes, 19 seconds where you prosecute your political enemies. And I think this is so dangerous for this country. It has to stop. I was hoping President Trump would 16:2816 minutes, 28 seconds be the the mature one in the room. I was praying he would be, but he's now doing everything to the other side as to what 16:3716 minutes, 37 seconds was done to him. And that is so horrible. 16:4016 minutes, 40 seconds Well, that's why you I'm glad you're on Cory's corner to clear up a lot of that information. 16:4716 minutes, 47 seconds Now, being that this show is taped and it'll be released in a couple of weeks, there was a bombshell the other day,
16:5516 minutes, 55 seconds Mayor Eric Adams suspended his reelection bid. Uh, he stepped down. What you think led to that decision and what does it 17:0417 minutes, 4 seconds reveal about the current political climate in New York City? 17:0917 minutes, 9 seconds First of all, I'm disappointed. Well, I'm happy. Let me start over. I'm happy based on the politics of this election 17:1817 minutes, 18 seconds that he did step down because and I run a polling company as well, Gotham Polling and Analytics, and we've done we're one of the major polls pollsters 17:2717 minutes, 27 seconds that have done analysis on this race. In fact, we have some more analysis on the primary coming out this week where we 17:3517 minutes, 35 seconds teamed up with AP for analysis and then we have another poll coming out in three weeks. So, I'm happy he resigned from
17:4317 minutes, 43 seconds the race based on the numbers because he wasn't getting past six, seven or eight percent, right? 17:5017 minutes, 50 seconds And he was taking away from Cuomo. He was taking he's taking away from SWAT, too. So, we have to get people out of 17:5717 minutes, 57 seconds this race. So, from that standpoint, I'm happy. I'm very disappointed that he didn't gain more traction 18:0518 minutes, 5 seconds because I think he was a very viable candidate in this race. Yes, there were scandals. Yes, there were indictments. 18:1318 minutes, 13 seconds But there was also a lot of good news from the Adams administration. I think crime went way down under the Adams administration. I believe the end of 18:2218 minutes, 22 seconds Delasio was a disaster. He took over a disaster. He had the migrant crisis which he got through and tourism is at 18:3018 minutes, 30 seconds an all-time high. So, the economics of the city are doing pretty good under the under the Adams administration. 18:3718 minutes, 37 seconds All right. Push back. So the last 25 years, every mayor could stand in front of the camera and say crime went down. 18:4518 minutes, 45 seconds And as a matter of fact, you know, I'm premp. 18:4918 minutes, 49 seconds So the last 25. So every time I see a mayor, like I see Eric all the time, we got the lowest crime in history. Yeah. 18:5518 minutes, 55 seconds Because you just said mayor Delasio had it. When he had it, it was the lowest. When Bloomberg had it, was it Giuliani? 19:0219 minutes, 2 seconds Giuliani had the best. Remember, he was getting 40% decreases. Now when they say crime is all the way down, they're talking about like four and 5%. That's 19:1119 minutes, 11 seconds it's not even a big to me that's that's nothing. Now you said that. So also the other push back is 19:1819 minutes, 18 seconds he is doing some good things or have been doing some good things. But with all the minutia 27 members of his his 19:2619 minutes, 26 seconds administration arrested, indicted had to resign. Four deputy mayors walked out the door in one 19:3319 minutes, 33 seconds day. Like I'm smoking cigars. I'm drinking Hennessy. Like what the hell is going on? He has taken a mayoral ship somewhere that it's unprecedented. 19:4519 minutes, 45 seconds You know, I I understand that argument. 19:4819 minutes, 48 seconds So what I'm saying Dave that overshadow I mean I want I know he's doing good things. 19:5319 minutes, 53 seconds I know the school doing some good things.
19:5519 minutes, 55 seconds He did a lot of good things but he did so much buffoonery that you can't see. People can't see past. 20:0120 minutes, 1 second He hired a lot of amateurs. He hired a lot of not so great people. We have more news coming out. So, but in his recent hires, he really did get it together.
20:1220 minutes, 12 seconds You know, he's got Tish running the police department. She's she's getting good grades from most people. He hire he made some re Randy Mastro. 20:2220 minutes, 22 seconds He He's made some real professional hires in in the last year. Well, apparently you're right and I'm wrong, right? Because the numbers show it. But 20:3120 minutes, 31 seconds I'm disappointed in in those numbers because I think he's doing a better job than what those numbers show. With that being said, now you mentioned Giuliani. 20:3920 minutes, 39 seconds I want to be on record here. That's when I was an ADA in Brooklyn during the Giuliani years. Uh Brooklyn was was 20:4620 minutes, 46 seconds finished before he took over. You were a police officer. 20:5120 minutes, 51 seconds He he was the most and I don't care what people say about him now. And yeah, he brought a lot of it on himself. I I 20:5820 minutes, 58 seconds think it's such he's such a sad case, but he was the most effective politician 21:0521 minutes, 5 seconds of my lifetime. Those eight years that he was mayor starting in in 93, 21:1221 minutes, 12 seconds you know, going through 911 and what a what a great mayor he was during 911. So that's the that's the Rudy that I 21:2021 minutes, 20 seconds remember and it it's a shame what's happened to him since. 21:2421 minutes, 24 seconds Oh yeah. Um, and I'll never forget 910 2001, 21:3121 minutes, 31 seconds he was the most hated person in New York City. 21:3421 minutes, 34 seconds He was not in certain in They wanted They wanted to drag him out. 21:4021 minutes, 40 seconds They were He pissed him. Look at the He probably was overstaying his welcome. 21:4521 minutes, 45 seconds He was going through a div he was going through the divorce with his his then wife, Donna Hanover. She was throwing his clothes out of the window in Gracie
21:5321 minutes, 53 seconds Mansion. was getting, you know, his underwear was hanging out of the window and she's like, "Get out of here." And then and then he was like, "Wait a second. You have to get out of
22:0122 minutes, 1 second here. I'm the mayor the mayor." So that was a crazy situation. And yes, there were a lot of people on him on 910. 22:0922 minutes, 9 seconds 910. But I'm I'm Listen, I'm I'm tell you right now, I thought he was great. 22:1322 minutes, 13 seconds I look in his camera, I'mma tell you, you know, I got my you know, I was a leader in the police department. I got my masters from St. John's in 22:2022 minutes, 20 seconds leadership. I know leadership co Rudy Giuliani is the person that I 22:2822 minutes, 28 seconds wanted 911 to take care of New York City. You see how he stood there the test of time. Forget about 910 and 99. 22:3522 minutes, 35 seconds He was the most hated. He was there. He stood there and he said the things and did the things that New Yorkers needed 22:4322 minutes, 43 seconds to be done and he became America's mayor. So I have to give talk about leadership. When I the first day I met you, 22:5122 minutes, 51 seconds you know, you were a captain in in the was it the 73 or 75? 75. It was the 75, right? Yeah.
22:5822 minutes, 58 seconds And I and I remember I was brought into to see I remember how nervous I was to meet, you know, Captain Piggeez. And I 23:0523 minutes, 5 seconds remember like, oh man, this and you really had it going on. You were leading. You were like, you know, you were the boss. You were the boss of so
23:1323 minutes, 13 seconds many people. And and I hear that and it was really impressive. 23:1723 minutes, 17 seconds You know, you know, those were the days. 23:2023 minutes, 20 seconds Yeah, we had fun. I never forget the white party up in Albany. 23:2423 minutes, 24 seconds Well, and and that's when I became I was always friendly with with then Senator Eric Adams. 23:3023 minutes, 30 seconds But you took it to a whole another level. We were all hanging out and we had a great time. 23:3623 minutes, 36 seconds Yeah, it was great. So, let's There's a segment of this show called Spitfire. Oh, boy. 23:4723 minutes, 47 seconds Okay. It's a fun game. I'm gonna ask you some rapid fire questions. You give me one word answers or yes or no. All right. You ready? 23:5523 minutes, 55 seconds I I'll try. I'm not. All right. Go ahead. Let's go. I like to prepare for things. You can't prepare for Spitfire. All right. All right. 24:0124 minutes, 1 second Because the producer makes the questions. I don't even get them until the day of. Okay. So, easy. Nicks or Nets? 24:0924 minutes, 9 seconds Nicks. 24:1024 minutes, 10 seconds Best steakhouse. Can I Can I Can I clarify that though? I wanted to become a Net fan cuz I'm a Brooklyn guy, but I couldn't do it. When you're When you're 24:1824 minutes, 18 seconds like a sevenyear-old, 8-year-old kid and you're a diehard Knicks fan, you got to stay with the Knicks. All right, go ahead. Sorry, I just blew the whole game. 24:2624 minutes, 26 seconds Best steakhouse in New York City? Peter Luggers. 24:3024 minutes, 30 secondsDream vacation spot you haven't visited yet? 24:3424 minutes, 34 seconds Uh, um, Spain, Greece, which one? 24:4224 minutes, 42 seconds Spain. Favorite city to work in outside of New York? New Orleans. New Orleans stinks. 24:4824 minutes, 48 seconds New Orleans. I hate that place. One country you moved to, if not the US. Likenstein. 24:5624 minutes, 56 seconds Where the hell is that? That's somewhere. I read about it. Everyone's rich. It's quiet. Nobody bothers you. 25:0425 minutes, 4 seconds Hey, write that down for me. I got to research that.
25:0625 minutes, 6 seconds This is a great place. The one politician you love to have dinner with, past or present, dead or alive? 25:1525 minutes, 15 seconds Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt. 25:2125 minutes, 21 seconds I'm waiting for your answer on this. Is true bipartisanship still possible today? Yes. You really believe that? 25:2925 minutes, 29 seconds Yes, I do. 25:3125 minutes, 31 seconds I'm starting a new political party. It's going to be a centrist movement. All right. I blew it again. No, you're doing you're doing well. I blew the rapid fire. Okay. Go ahead. 25:4025 minutes, 40 seconds Coffee or tea? Tea. Cuz I gave up coffee. 25:4425 minutes, 44 seconds I'm a coffee guy. What's the one food you absolutely can't live without? Pizza. Okay.
25:5325 minutes, 53 seconds I think I know this answer. Jets or Giants? Jets. Last one. 26:0126 minutes, 1 second Brad Landers or Brad Gershwin. 26:0826 minutes, 8 seconds I'm not allowed to talk about that.
26:1226 minutes, 12 seconds But but no, I'll take Brad Lander. He's going to be a very important person in the in the next in the next administration probably if it is Mandami. 26:2326 minutes, 23 seconds Well, thanks for participating in the Spitfire round. That's that the last one was a good one. That was a good one, right? That was a good one. 26:3026 minutes, 30 seconds You're not sweating no more, right? 26:3226 minutes, 32 seconds No, it was easy. That was easy. I was expecting tougher questions. Yeah, that was easy.
26:3726 minutes, 37 seconds So, that brings us to the end of the Spitfire round. Before we keep going, I want to pause for a moment to remind the 26:4526 minutes, 45 seconds listeners if you haven't picked up my book, Once a Cop, it's out everywhere in Barnes & Nobles in America and in 26:5226 minutes, 52 seconds Canada. And for the visual learners, the book was is an adapt that tation on Hulu 27:0027 minutes and Apple TV is streaming. It's a movie feature documentary called A Cops and Robbers Story. Both of them take you behind the headlines. Go check them out. 27:0927 minutes, 9 seconds It's excellent. Now, word from our sponsors. 27:1327 minutes, 13 seconds Okay, I want to talk about advocacy for a second because advocacy is the more broad general term that incorporates 27:2227 minutes, 22 seconds government relations and lobbying, but it doesn't necessarily mean the same thing. You could be an advocate. We I'm an advocate. I'm an advocate in the 27:3127 minutes, 31 seconds court of the legislature. I'm an advocate in the court of the executive branch. I'm also an advocate in the court of law and an advocate in the 27:3827 minutes, 38 seconds court of public opinion. Those are all the different courts. So you could be an advocate without actually doing lobbying, government relations work. 27:4627 minutes, 46 seconds Once you try to affect the decision-making power of an elected official or an unelected official that 27:5527 minutes, 55 seconds that's when you get into the world of lobbying and then that's when you have to register and become a lobbyist.
28:0628 minutes, 6 seconds You mentioned earlier about the Poland. 28:0828 minutes, 8 seconds talk more about the polling Gotham polling analytics. 28:1128 minutes, 11 seconds Right. So we we have a subsidiary of Gotham called Gotham Polling and Analytics. And Stephven Graves is brilliant. Uh he's our shout out Steve. 28:2028 minutes, 20 seconds Shout out to Stephen. 28:2128 minutes, 21 secondse's our pollster and uh we got into it because we were doing a lot of analytical work for a client and we decided let's just make a separate 28:2928 minutes, 29 seconds polling company. So we've had several polls come out uh but in the mayor's race we've been doing a lot of work. So, 28:3728 minutes, 37 seconds we had a poll that came out uh recently in in August. We had a a big poll that came out, which really was the first 28:4528 minutes, 45 seconds poll that did the one-on-one races with with Mandami. The poll itself in a fiveway race came out to something similar that we've seen. Mandami was at 28:5428 minutes, 54 seconds 41, Cuomo was at 23, SE was at 16, Adams was at eight, and Jim Walden was at one 29:0229 minutes, 2 seconds 1%. So now Jim and and Adams have dropped out. But in that poll, we were 29:0829 minutes, 8 seconds the first to make assumptions that if they they dropped out or some of them dropped out, we did all the different
29:1629 minutes, 16 seconds angles there, all the all the different scenarios. And the closest one to Mandami in a one-on-one was Cuomo. And 29:2429 minutes, 24 seconds he clearly is the strongest against Mandami one-on-one, but he was still down by 11 points in that poll. I remember that poll. 29:3329 minutes, 33 seconds Yeah, he was still down by 11 points in a one-on-one, but that was before people were focusing in on it, seeing some of 29:4029 minutes, 40 seconds the negatives of Mandami. So, I expected that one to close in if they got out. 29:4529 minutes, 45 seconds But nobody really got out. Even Eric Adams stepping down from the race, he's still on the ballot, right? 29:5229 minutes, 52 seconds So, they're all still on the ballot. So, we don't know how that's going to play out. But, I'm very proud of our polling company. We have an we have an analysis 30:0030 minutes of the primary coming out this week where Stephen really did a deep dive into the primary and what type of voters 30:0930 minutes, 9 seconds voted and it's really it's an historic primary where for the first time ever the under 50 vote was over the over 50 30:1830 minutes, 18 seconds vote. So the under 50 vote came out to like 51% of the electorate. Now I don't expect that in the general election. I
30:2630 minutes, 26 seconds expect the over 50 to be back towards 58 60% of the votes and that'll make the race probably a little closer. 30:3530 minutes, 35 seconds But but that was the first time in history there were a lot of factors. 30:3830 minutes, 38 seconds Mandami was bringing out a lot of young people but also was 105 degrees on primary day. So that kept a lot of older 30:4630 minutes, 46 seconds voters out. But you're going to be seeing a lot more polls from Gotham Polling and Analytics uh coming up in the future. And we have another poll 30:5430 minutes, 54 seconds that should be hitting uh probably be out uh late October around October 23rd or so. 31:0231 minutes, 2 seconds So we don't have to keep hearing the Marriage poll anymore. 31:0631 minutes, 6 seconds No. No. And and believe me, we're we're more we're much more accurate than they are. In every poll so far we did the 31:1431 minutes, 14 seconds congressional races uh last year, we were more accurate than than a lot of them growing up in New York. Quinnipic
31:2131 minutes, 21 seconds and Maris. Those you hear those those are the only two polls you pretty much hear about. 31:2631 minutes, 26 seconds But now you're gonna hear about and you've been hearing because we were we we had an exclusive in the New York Post this last poll that we did. Gotham
31:3431 minutes, 34 seconds Polling and Analytics is on the scene now. Okay. 31:3731 minutes, 37 seconds And we think we could do it better than anyone. The same way that we felt with the lobbying firm. We created a lobbying firm because we felt we could do it better. 31:4531 minutes, 45 seconds Okay. Now, your bio site stopping no fault insurance fraud and stopping illegal cigarettes for which me and you work together. Yep. 31:5431 minutes, 54 seconds As particular areas of advocacy. What are the biggest remaining hurdles in those two fights? And what strategies do you believe remains utilized? 32:0432 minutes, 4 seconds Those are fights that just go on and on and on and on. In a perfect world, we would win both those fights because 32:1132 minutes, 11 seconds they're logical issues. Who wants the city flooded with illegal cigarettes where they're paying no taxes and 32:2032 minutes, 20 seconds they're they're they're pushing out the legitimate stores? You know, we we used to have 10,000 retail outlets that sold 32:2832 minutes, 28 seconds taxed cigarettes. Now we have about 4,000. And oh, I forgot you also used to have a cigarette company. 32:3532 minutes, 35 seconds Well, yeah, I was involved in that many years ago. 32:3732 minutes, 37 seconds Many years ago. Yeah. But uh and that's how I got involved politically with all these issues. But the bottom line is 32:4432 minutes, 44 seconds it's it's a silly issue. It's a legal product and it should be sold legally and the government should make its money on it. Right? We're losing billions of 32:5332 minutes, 53 seconds dollars a year uh due to these untacked cigarettes. They're coming up the I95 corridor by the truckload, illegal, 33:0233 minutes, 2 seconds untaxed, and they're flooding the streets of New York. And no one's doing anything about it. It's very unfortunate. And you know, my argument 33:0933 minutes, 9 seconds from a law enforcement perspective is if you don't legalize it, the underground is going to explode and cocaine dealers 33:1833 minutes, 18 seconds will not exist no more because they all going to sell cigarettes because it's not a crime to sell untacked cigarettes. Right? 33:2533 minutes, 25 seconds I'm going to be selling cigarettes. If they ban cigarettes, I'm telling you, I'm selling cigarettes. Anybody want to join my gang? Come on. Because if I sell 33:3233 minutes, 32 seconds a million dollars worth of cigarettes, you know what my fine is? $3,000. You just bring it up from North Carolina. If you sell a lot of it, 33:4033 minutes, 40 seconds you you could be in some trouble. Like if you get if you get taking the risk, but you know what?
33:4633 minutes, 46 seconds You can make a lot of money. You can make a lot a lot of money. So, uh that's that's a big issue we're working on. You asked me about the no fall. No fault. 33:5433 minutes, 54 seconds Yeah. So, so we have these uh staged accidents uh on now we're working on construction sites staged accidents. I was very much 34:0334 minutes, 3 seconds involved with the staged accidents when it came to automobiles and help pass legislation to try to curve that. Uh 34:1134 minutes, 11 seconds people take advantage, criminals take advantage of the window of opportunity. 34:1534 minutes, 15 seconds So they're staging accidents on construction sites. They're going on these sites, staging accidents, getting um taken out uh uh in in an ambulance. 34:2634 minutes, 26 seconds uh they provide they they leave the hospital but then they go to the doctor and then they they they have these fake 34:3434 minutes, 34 seconds injuries. Um it's very unfortunate a lot of these um uh doctors are in on it and 34:4234 minutes, 42 seconds they're they're doing surgeries. They're they're doing spinal surgeries so the so the person could get a $3 million
34:5034 minutes, 50 seconds uh uh uh judgment or or damages, you know, from these insurance companies when there was no injury in the first 34:5734 minutes, 57 seconds place. A lot of uh migrants are being taken advantage of in this area and they don't know they're being paid like a few 35:0435 minutes, 4 seconds thousand dollars just so they could turn over this whole case to the lawyers. And there's some fraudulent lawyers involved 35:1335 minutes, 13 seconds with this. So, um, our group, there's a lot of RICO cases being brought right now against doctors, lawyers, runners, 35:2235 minutes, 22 seconds and of course, the people that fake these accidents. We have them, we have them on video faking the accidents. It's ridiculous. They're not even hurt, and then all of a sudden, they need surgery. 35:3335 minutes, 33 seconds Yeah. So, this is a multibillion dollar problem. Same with the cigarette problem. It's a multi-billion. We're our 35:4035 minutes, 40 seconds our city, our state, we're just being ripped off. We're constantly being ripped off due to several different 35:4735 minutes, 47 seconds pieces of fraud which are allowable. And the reason why this is this happens is you don't have to prove liability in New 35:5535 minutes, 55 seconds York, right? So 49 other states you have to prove liability. It's comparative negligence versus strict liability. So, 36:0336 minutes, 3 seconds we have a strict liability standard in New York which basically says if you get injured on a construction site, you don't have to prove liability. It goes 36:1136 minutes, 11 seconds right to damages. And that's the problem here. They're taking advantage of holes in the law, a window of opportunity. And it's billions, billions of dollars. 36:2136 minutes, 21 seconds I mean, you know, when I was a cop, we had to worry about the tow trucks racing to the scene. Now, today, you got tow trucks, you got lawyers, you got
36:3036 minutes, 30 seconds doctors. Everybody's coming to It's like one-stop shopping. You get in an accident, boom, everybody's there and they all referring you. They got their business cards and everything.
36:3836 minutes, 38 seconds It turned it on its head. 36:4036 minutes, 40 seconds That's what makes New York City great to live in. You know what? All of the minutia. 36:4536 minutes, 45 seconds New York City would be great without all this stuff. It really would be, but it would be even greater. 36:5136 minutes, 51 seconds Now, you've said you fight the government agencies and stopping progress. Can you recount one of the more memorable turf battles or 36:5836 minutes, 58 seconds regulatory obstacles your clients face and how you overcame them? 37:0437 minutes, 4 seconds Yes. Uh we do a lot of we do a lot of construction lobbying, right? So we have these sites that just get bogged down 37:1237 minutes, 12 seconds and bogged down and bogged down. So basically the this client, this is how silly this 37:2037 minutes, 20 seconds is sometimes. This client basically needed to connect this wire with this wire. All right? They needed KED to come 37:2937 minutes, 29 seconds down to connect this wire with this wire. They were losing millions of dollars because they couldn't get this project done. 37:3637 minutes, 36 seconds So, they called us to come in and try to help them with the situation. I made one phone call to the legal council at Coned 37:4537 minutes, 45 seconds and the next week this wire was connected with that wire. What a great victory. I made a phone call. No, but this is what we do, you know. It's it's 37:5337 minutes, 53 seconds it's the small stuff where we can help clients a achieve what they what they need to achieve, what they what they need to
38:0238 minutes, 2 seconds achieve. I'm proud of a lot of things that we've lobbyed for over the years.
38:0738 minutes, 7 seconds Um I'm proud of the work you mentioned two of the projects that we work that we worked on, but I'm proud that we I was part of that 38:1538 minutes, 15 seconds coalition that kept Walmart out of New York City. And I would make the argument, do we want to become Arkansas?
38:2238 minutes, 22 seconds Does New York City like New York City is is a big city, right? It's the biggest
38:2838 minutes, 28 seconds city, but it's made up of a lot of small little neighborhoods, right? So each neighborhood in New York City, so when 38:3638 minutes, 36 seconds you ask people, and I did a poll on this, this this is one of my first foray into polling. This is a while ago. When you ask New Yorkers, do you want just 38:4538 minutes, 45 seconds straight up, do you would you like to have a Walmart in New York City? Sure, why not? Let's have a Walmart in New York City. What if I told you that we 38:5238 minutes, 52 seconds would have a Walmart and all your little stores or all your main street stores will go out of business because of this 39:0039 minutes big Walmart. And they're like, "No, I don't want my bodega to go out of business. I don't want my little stores to go out of business." You know, so 39:0739 minutes, 7 seconds that when we asked them questions that way, it was overwhelming that people didn't in Walmart in New York City. So, we had 39:1539 minutes, 15 seconds to fight hard to keep them out of New York City because New York City has a certain character. It has a certain flavor. 39:2239 minutes, 22 seconds Yeah. 39:2339 minutes, 23 seconds That's what makes it great. So, that was a a terrific project that we worked on, but we've worked on hundreds and hundreds of projects 39:3139 minutes, 31 seconds uh that have made a difference in the lives of our clients and of New Yorkers. 39:3739 minutes, 37 seconds Now, uh you represent a lot of companies during the pandemic. In what ways did the pandemic change the playing field 39:4439 minutes, 44 seconds for government relations and which of those changes do you expect will be permanent or was there a change from the pandemic? 39:5239 minutes, 52 seconds Well, you know, during the pandemic, uh we we didn't lose any clients during the pandemic. Uh 40:0140 minutes, 1 second we we represent certainly in the healthc care area. 40:0640 minutes, 6 seconds uh we represented a lab which um benefited greatly because of our work that we did with the lab and the 40:1540 minutes, 15 seconds government during COVID. They were processing all the different COVID tests at the time. The COVID test wasn't uh 40:2240 minutes, 22 seconds sophisticated like it is now. It had to go to the lab. You had to wait for the results. 40:2840 minutes, 28 seconds Uh so we represented this lab and and we did a lot of good work for them during COVID. As far as the a lot of the other 40:3640 minutes, 36 seconds clients, um nothing in our strategy really changed except we couldn't meet. 40:4240 minutes, 42 seconds We we like to do the work face to face, go to Albany, we go to the city council. So, a lot of our work changed. 40:5040 minutes, 50 seconds Um but it's hard to even remember. It seems like so long ago. It does. Now things are back to normal. Thank God. 40:5840 minutes, 58 seconds And uh you know, we we stayed in business during during CO. We That's great. 41:0241 minutes, 2 seconds We kept our clients. we kept fighting for them. You always have to show value for the client. 41:0841 minutes, 8 seconds You know, you have to find a way to show value that you're adding to their operation. And I think we do a good job doing that. 41:1641 minutes, 16 seconds Now, you represented foreign countries as clients. This is a good I wanted to get this answer. What unique challenges arise when advocating for non US 41:2541 minutes, 25 seconds interests and how do you ensure compliance with laws such as a foreign agents right registration? 41:3141 minutes, 31 seconds So, you have to file with Farah. You have to make sure you do that. The filing is my friend because you're telling the world, listen, I'm representing this client. 41:4241 minutes, 42 seconds It's a foreign client and we, you know, we like to do the filings at Gotham. You know, we want to do these filings 41:5041 minutes, 50 seconds because it's basically telling the world that you're representing this client, right? And we want to do that. 41:5541 minutes, 55 seconds Um, we did a lot of good work. We we represented the um the Libyan Investment 42:0242 minutes, 2 seconds Authority. Uh they had a lot of assets that were frozen where people were suffering in Liby even though there was 42:0942 minutes, 9 seconds a civil war going on the assets were frozen. Uh we were able to help them in certain situations because think about 42:1742 minutes, 17 seconds it. So Libya is not a it's very poor country, right? Um the people are suffering there. But what what they were 42:2542 minutes, 25 seconds doing was they were freezing the assets, right? Big banks here, JP Morgan, you name it. Freezing assets, but they were 42:3442 minutes, 34 seconds keeping all the they were freezing it with no interest. So they were just, you know, so if you have $20 million in an account, they they they yes, they 42:4242 minutes, 42 seconds couldn't touch the money, but they couldn't they weren't gaining interest. So who was keeping all that interest? 42:4842 minutes, 48 seconds And now c you know now go to the fact that there were billions being held. How 42:5542 minutes, 55 seconds much money were the US banks making off of these frozen assets where they were giving no interest, zero interest? So 43:0343 minutes, 3 seconds that was one of my big arguments is that okay the money's frozen but it should at least continue to earn its interest rate, right? 43:1143 minutes, 11 seconds And they weren't allowing that. So we were, you know, we we've been fighting banks um a lot. Uh, I represented 43:1843 minutes, 18 seconds Fatulla Gulan, the Turkish opposition leader, and they had a lot of their bank accounts stolen. Fatula Gulan, you know, 43:2643 minutes, 26 seconds believed in democracy. He believed in equality. He believed in women's rights. 43:3043 minutes, 30 seconds He w he believed in rights for all. He was an amazing person. He was in the compound here in Pennsylvania. Uh and 43:3743 minutes, 37 seconds then they had all their bank accounts frozen also because the current president, prime minister of Tur, president Turkey Erdogan would that's his mortal enemy and he was freezing. 43:4843 minutes, 48 seconds They had schools all over the world that we represented in that situation. We did a lot of good work for the for the Gulan 43:5643 minutes, 56 seconds movement. I'm very proud of the work that we did there. 44:0044 minutes Okay. You you served on the New York State Commission of Judicial Nomination. 44:0544 minutes, 5 seconds What's your perspective on the polarization of judicial appointments and how could the process be improved? 44:1144 minutes, 11 seconds We we had the right process. So on the the judic the commiti the commission on judicial nomination is a constitutional 44:1944 minutes, 19 seconds a New York state constitutionallymandated commission. Um you get various appointments. There are 12 people on the 44:2644 minutes, 26 seconds commission and you pick the the judges for the New York State Court of Appeals. 44:3044 minutes, 30 seconds So, judges uh or non or judges or non-judges apply from all over New York State. We go through all the 44:3844 minutes, 38 seconds applications and basically we have to nominate if it's if it's for an associate judge of the court of appeals, we have to nominate anywhere from three 44:4744 minutes, 47 seconds to seven judges and then the the the governor chooses from our list, right? 44:5344 minutes, 53 seconds But, you know, there are a lot of legal wrangling there. We go through their applications. We interview them. It's a 45:0145 minutes, 1 second good process. The worst is seeing a a judge running for reelection. Like, who knows who they're electing their judge. It makes no sense. 45:1145 minutes, 11 seconds You know, when you see the the the the person running for judge, especially in battleground counties like Nassau County. Here in New York City, 45:1945 minutes, 19 seconds it's predetermined pretty much by the party bosses, which brings problems in and of itself. So I think our process, 45:2845 minutes, 28 seconds the commission on judicial nomination process is the best process for choosing judges in New York. Some of these now 45:3645 minutes, 36 seconds that's just for court of appeals. So for for appellet division, I think it should be the same process right now that the 45:4445 minutes, 44 seconds the governor can choose pretty much anyone he wants to put on the appellet division. So you you hope that the 45:5145 minutes, 51 seconds governor will pick qualified people from for the appellet division, right? But for Supreme Court, you have to run for that position. So if you're in Nassau County, you're out 46:0046 minutes there campaigning to become a judge, right? 46:0346 minutes, 3 seconds Nobody knows who they're electing their judge. I think that's a silly process to have to be elected judge, right? Let's talk about mock trial team. 46:1146 minutes, 11 seconds Oh, let's talk about it. Let the people know about mock trials. 46:1546 minutes, 15 seconds This is a big This is a big deal. I know. Congratulations. You just won for Nassau County. You did, right? You just won. So, tell the people about mock trials. 46:2346 minutes, 23 seconds I love mock trial. I love mock trial. 46:2646 minutes, 26 seconds So, I am the mock trial coach of the Wheatley School that's in that's in Nassau County. That's um in in the 46:3546 minutes, 35 seconds Rosland area of Nassau County. And uh I I love teaching these kids how to try a 46:4346 minutes, 43 seconds case. That's that's such a thrill. So the the mock trial New York State runs a mock trial competition. 46:5046 minutes, 50 seconds Uh it's through the New York State Bar Association. They give us a very convoluted fact pattern very with 46:5746 minutes, 57 seconds nuances. That's the fun part is catching all the all these nuances. We have criminal cases, we have civil cases. And
47:0447 minutes, 4 seconds basically our mock trial team consists of um a plaintiff's well let's say it's a civil case. It'll be a plaintiff's 47:1147 minutes, 11 seconds team and a defense team. There are three lawyers on each team. Sometimes they could be the same lawyers. These are high school kids. 47:1847 minutes, 18 seconds High school kids, right? High school kids, eighth grade and up. 47:2147 minutes, 21 seconds It's amazing. It's amazing. And then the witnesses, we have six witnesses. But again, you could So, you could have 47:2947 minutes, 29 seconds anywhere from starters, six to 12 people because the people on the plaintiff's team can also be on the defendants's team. So, each week you have a different 47:3647 minutes, 36 seconds trial. You're told if you're the plaintiff or the defendant. So, so we're preparing two different teams on the 47:4447 minutes, 44 secondssame fact pattern looking at the same and each issue in the fact pattern could be argued either way and we get these 47:5147 minutes, 51 seconds kids prepared and when they but by the time we get into the later rounds and my team almost always gets into the later 47:5847 minutes, 58 seconds rounds because you know I'm not really good at many things. I'm really not I'm really not I'm a damn good mock trial 48:0648 minutes, 6 seconds coach. All right. I'm terrible at at almost everything except for the couple of things that I do. Right. Right. Right. I'm a I'm good at a few things.
48:1448 minutes, 14 seconds Right. I'm a good dad. 48:1648 minutes, 16 seconds I'm a good husband. I'm good at lobbying. I'm good at trying cases. And I'm a good mock trial coach. After that, 48:2448 minutes, 24 seconds I don't know where we go with it. I'm just good at five things. And it's a lesson on life. You could be so unskilled at everything, right? Which I 48:3148 minutes, 31 seconds am. But if you could be good at just a couple of things, you're good. So, my mock trial team always does well and uh 48:4048 minutes, 40 seconds I take great pride in it. Uh and and by the time we get into the later rounds, the team doesn't start out that great. Right. 48:4748 minutes, 47 seconds Right. No team does. Right. So, we're they gain momentum through the year. So, last year we went nine and0, you know, nine and0. Nice. 48:5648 minutes, 56 seconds And we beat so many qualified schools, but we just kept winning, winning. I'm sounding like Trump right now. Winning, winning, winning, winning, winning. And 49:0449 minutes, 4 seconds that's what we did. We don't do anything but win. But I I love this team. I love the kids. Uh I I just love I What can I 49:1449 minutes, 14 seconds tell you? I I end up We We practice in my house a lot or we practice and we do it on Sundays because that's really the only day I'm free, right? 49:2249 minutes, 22 seconds We do it Sundays. The kids put so much work into it. I put so much work into it, but it's it's a labor of love. It's my community service. It's good. I 49:3049 minutes, 30 seconds I do some other community service, but that's my main community service is giving back to these kids and and I just love coaching them and 49:3849 minutes, 38 seconds especially when it all comes together and we you could see when they're in court arguing these cases. All right. 49:4449 minutes, 44 seconds So, the cases involve the real rules of evidence. So they apply the rules of evidence. They try the case. We do an opening statement. We we uh do the 49:5349 minutes, 53 seconds direct examination of witnesses, cross-examinations, closing arguments and the legal arguments. That's where we're the 50:0150 minutes, 1 second masters of the law and masters of the facts. That's what I tell these kids. 50:0550 minutes, 5 seconds You got to be the master of the law. And they know the law so well. And I get on them. 50:1050 minutes, 10 seconds I get, you know, it's not everybody wins a trophy with me, right? They Some think I'm a little bit too tough on them. I get really tough on them because 50:1950 minutes, 19 seconds I want them to know the law and I want them to win every legal argument because that's what they're being judged on right in court. It's not whether or not the 50:2850 minutes, 28 seconds plaintiff wins or loses like the case itself. It's who did the who had the better performance. Okay?
50:3350 minutes, 33 seconds So the good judges will always say, uh, look, if I were a real judge in this case, I'd rule for the defense, 50:4050 minutes, 40 seconds but if I'm judging on performance, and it's a whole point system, right, I judge for the plaintiffs. I know you want me to shut up about this topic. I could tell you. He's like, "How how long 50:4950 minutes, 49 seconds is he going to go on about mock trial? I can't stop talking about it." So, you got to just say, "All right, shut up about the mock trial because I can't stop talking about it." Eat the clock, baby. 50:5950 minutes, 59 seconds All right. No, I'm not eating the clock. 51:0151 minutes, 1 second I just can't stop. I could tell you about each trial. I could go into depth, but the judges sit there and they say, "My gosh, these kids are better than the 51:0951 minutes, 9 seconds lawyers." And they are. They are. So, it's safe to say that some of them turn out to be attorneys. Yes. 51:1751 minutes, 17 seconds And you've been doing it for a long time. 51:1951 minutes, 19 seconds Okay. So, I've only been coaching official because we had a legendary coach at Wheatley. Yeah. 51:2451 minutes, 24 seconds Who passed away, but I'm the first. But in 20 in 2019, I took over the team as coach, as the 51:3251 minutes, 32 seconds attorney coach. We have a a teacher advisor coach also as well. But since 2019, we've we've won the Nassau County 51:3951 minutes, 39 seconds Championship two times. We've been in three championships and that and the school prior to that never won a championship. So, I'm I'm proud of 51:4851 minutes, 48 seconds you're doing good. I'm proud of the coaching that. 51:5151 minutes, 51 seconds Wow. With a career span in trial work, lobbying, media visibility, and volunteer commitments like mock trial, how do you manage stress, maintain balance, and avoid burnout? 52:0352 minutes, 3 seconds I think I'm much better at it than I than I used to be. I'm able, you know, I I meditate. Um, I I breathe, especially if I'm on the train, I try to meditate.
52:1452 minutes, 14 seconds Oh, yeah. Me, too. 52:1552 minutes, 15 seconds Breathe. Right. Well, you've needed to, you know, you know, you've had you've had a couple of curve balls thrown at you, too. So, look, we all do. 52:2452 minutes, 24 seconds And, um, I think it's important to just appreciate your family. We know we both have great families and, uh, just 52:3252 minutes, 32 seconds appreciate the the world in which we live. every day that we're here and we're able to talk and have a 52:3952 minutes, 39 seconds conversation, have dinner and laugh, you know, that's a great day. No matter what's going on in the world, what's no
52:4652 minutes, 46 seconds matter what's going on with the cases or the the lobbying work and I must say you have to have a great team around you and 52:5352 minutes, 53 seconds we have a great team. So, I have a lot of the things that would normally cause me stress, the small stuff. I I sweat 53:0153 minutes, 1 second over the small stuff. We have a terrific team. You know, Jackie takes care of everything that you could ever imagine. Joanie. 53:0953 minutes, 9 seconds So Joan and so I don't stress too much about about the work.
53:1553 minutes, 15 seconds You know, if you're in a heavy duty trial, and I do a lot less trial work than I used to, right? 53:2153 minutes, 21 seconds The trials are stressful, but they're also invigorating and fun and and and you know, you stay up all night. 53:2853 minutes, 28 seconds And so I haven't tried a case in about a year and a half, but I think I'm ready to. But then and then when I'm in the trial, I'm like, what am I doing here?
53:3853 minutes, 38 seconds I could be watching the Yankees, you know. 53:4053 minutes, 40 seconds Yes. So, over the last decade, what changes have you made in how your firm operates to stay ahead of the modern political and legal environment? 53:4953 minutes, 49 seconds Well, as you know, I've reinvented the firm a few years ago. Mhm. 53:5553 minutes, 55 seconds Uh so you know it's certainly in the vision that I that I see a real team effort 54:0354 minutes, 3 seconds a a collaborative approach of working on cases. Uh you know trying to I I think I'm much 54:1054 minutes, 10 seconds more efficient in getting to the place I need to be. Uh back back it seems like 54:1954 minutes, 19 seconds years ago I would do everything the hard way. Mhm. 54:2254 minutes, 22 seconds So now I'm trying to find the easier way to get to the finish line. Um and and certainly taking clients that I believe 54:3054 minutes, 30 seconds in and can have fun with and not taking certain clients that cause stress and 54:3754 minutes, 37 seconds and again don't appreciate the work that you do. 54:4254 minutes, 42 seconds Okay, we're winding down. What do you see as the major challenges for government relation practitioners within the next 5 to 10 years? 54:4954 minutes, 49 seconds Right. So, I I I believe the makeup of the government here in New York uh has gone far left. You know, I'm a centrist 54:5954 minutes, 59 seconds kind of person. I'm trying to make deals. I'm trying to bring people together. 55:0455 minutes, 4 seconds Uh I believe, and it's not because I'm a Republican, but I believe a two-party system works 55:1355 minutes, 13 seconds better. And I believe in New York, we only have a one party system. We used to have a two-party system. We used to have 55:2055 minutes, 20 seconds a Republican Senate. We used to have a Democratic assembly. That's over. 55:2455 minutes, 24 seconds And we had a Democratic governor. Uh, and that worked really well because you could kind of maneuver both sides
55:3255 minutes, 32 seconds because both sides were needed in the process in order to get anything done or to block stuff, right? 55:3855 minutes, 38 seconds It was easy when I had a Republican Senate and they said, "Don't even worry about it. We're not bringing it up." So, it passed through the Democratic, but
55:4555 minutes, 45 seconds that does we don't have that anymore. So you have to be a lot more creative and the look just the other day AOC was standing there with all these conservative Republicans.
55:5555 minutes, 55 seconds You got to make a lot more friends. 55:5755 minutes, 57 secondsYou got a lot and and you know what I find? No matter what political party they're in, I could make friends. I could I friends with the far left, right? 56:0556 minutes, 5 seconds I'm friends with the far right. I'm not an ideologue. I tell everybody if you want to be a contract lobbyist, don't be an ideologue. All right? You can't 56:1456 minutes, 14 seconds believe in any one thing. There aren't there are very few things that I can't lobby for. I could lobby for almost everything except for the Ku Klux Clan. 56:2556 minutes, 25 seconds I can't lobby for um against the death penalty. I don't believe in killing people. So, I can't lobby for anything like that either. Those are two examples 56:3456 minutes, 34 seconds of of groups or things that I I just would never lobby for even with a gun to my head. I wouldn't 56:4156 minutes, 41 seconds lobby for them. But other than that, you know, if if it's a insurance issue or this issue and you it's the retailers are against the wholesalers. All right. 56:5056 minutes, 50 seconds So, whoever's going to hire me as a good attorney, I'm going to make the right arguments. I see your eyes shifting. You have a bad poker face, Corey. Your eyes 56:5856 minutes, 58 seconds are shifting. That means All right, wrap it up. Shut. Just tell me to shut up. 57:0357 minutes, 3 seconds Just tell me that the podcast is over to shut up. We're wrapping. Don't worry. 57:0857 minutes, 8 seconds Yeah. Yeah. No, I saw your eyes moving there. Before we wrap, is there anything else that you would like to share that we haven't covered? 57:1557 minutes, 15 seconds Yeah, I I have such deep respect for you. That's why I came here. I was in an hour and a half of traffic. I I I won't 57:2357 minutes, 23 seconds even give away where we are because I know it's top secret, but you got to go into a tunnel into an alley. Make a right. There's a trap door somewhere you go through. So, look, I love being here. 57:3557 minutes, 35 seconds You get the three taps on the door. 57:3657 minutes, 36 seconds That's right. Three taps. I love you. I respect all the work that you've done in your life, the movie, the book. It's 57:4457 minutes, 44 seconds just so insane. So incredible. So anyone who hasn't read the book or watched the movie, your story from the first day I
57:5257 minutes, 52 seconds met you. So I really appreciate the fact that you've had me on on this show. And um look, we're we're like we're like brothers. 58:0158 minutes, 1 second That's right. Thanks for coming, man. We appreciate it. Where can the people find you? Gotham. 58:0658 minutes, 6 seconds Gotham GR.com. Gothamr.com or Schwarzdefense.com. Those are two websites. 58:1458 minutes, 14 seconds Your career really shows the power of law, politics, and media when used together to create change. You're my
58:2158 minutes, 21 seconds brother. I appreciate you. Thanks for coming and gracing us with your presence on Cory's Corner. And I'm happy you came. 58:2958 minutes, 29 seconds Thank you. I'm happy. I'm happy I came also. Thanks, Cory. Yes, for our listeners, if you found value in today's episode, please 58:3758 minutes, 37 seconds make sure you follow, subscribe, and support. This has been another episode of Corey's Corner. Until next time, keep 58:4558 minutes, 45 seconds pushing, keep grinding, and remember, it's not where you start, it's always how you finish. I'm Corey Piggeez, and I always keep it right, not real. Peace. 58:5558 minutes, 55 seconds I'm David Schwarz, the president of Gotham Government Relations. And right now, you're listening to Corey's Corner, where he always keeps it right, not 59:0359 minutes, 3 seconds real. Check out Cory's Corner on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcast.