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Gotham
In The News

At Gotham Government Relations, we take pride in staying ahead of the curve when it comes to policy developments and current events that impact our esteemed clientele and team members. "Gotham In The News" is your go-to page for comprehensive coverage of news articles and videos that directly pertain to our areas of expertise.

With Donald Trump looking increasingly likely to clinch the 2024 GOP nomination, discussions have already begun to take place on the type of Cabinet the former president could build if he wins the general election. "Stephen Miller has continued to be an ardent supporter of former President Trump's policies outside of office. He's also led the effort to overturn Affirmative Action by the Supreme Court," Denny Salas, a political strategist and senior vice president at Gotham Government Relations, told Newsweek. "He's likely well-positioned to become the next Chief of Staff if Donald Trump wins another term." Full Article: https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-second-cabinet-running-mate-2024-1866400

Newsweek: What Donald Trump's Second Cabinet Could Look Like

With Donald Trump looking increasingly likely to clinch the 2024 GOP nomination, discussions have already begun to take place on the type of Cabinet the former president could build if he wins the general election.

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A promising legislative proposal that’s not garnering much media buzz. A major project that needs to generate local buy-in. A bombshell corruption or abuse allegation. Public officials invariably encounter these scenarios from time to time – and there are countless public relations and communications professionals in the world of New York politics and government who know exactly how to sell a story, craft a compelling narrative or navigate a crisis. City & State’s Political PR Power 75 recognizes and ranks the leading firms and professionals in this field. The list, which has expanded from 50 in 2023, is based on such factors as a firm’s size, reputation and impact in New York’s public sphere over the past year. We asked firms to identify several key executives, highlight a handful of key clients and share their recent accomplishments. The list ranges from scrappy one-person shops to global behemoths with armies of employees. Some focus solely on communications, while others also provide related services such as campaign consulting, government relations or advertising and marketing. What unites them is that they all are consummate PR pros. Full Article: https://www.cityandstateny.com/power-lists/2024/01/2024-political-pr-power-75/393068/#gotham-government-relations

City & State: The 2024 Political PR Power 75

A promising legislative proposal that’s not garnering much media buzz. A major project that needs to generate local buy-in. A bombshell corruption or abuse allegation.

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The leading government relations firms across the five boroughs. Full Article: https://www.cityandstateny.com/power-lists/2023/12/2023-new-york-city-top-50-lobbyists/392390/?oref=csny-nav-trending

City & State: Gotham Government Relations Recognized as NYC's Top 50 Lobbyists

Gotham Government Relations Recognized as NYC's Top 50 Lobbyists

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Manhattan-based lobbying firm Gotham Government Relations cut all ties with Stuart Seldowitz on Tuesday after a viral video emerged showing him harassing a halal cart vendor in the Upper East Side. “I did have an argument with a food vendor,” Seldowitz told City & State. “It is quite possible that it's me. I mean, I've not seen the video, but I believe it's probably me.” Seldowitz, who worked in the U.S. State Department’s Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs and then served as Acting Director of the National Security Council South Asia Directorate in the Obama administration, was named Foreign Affairs Chair at Gotham Government Relations last year. “Gotham Government Relations has ended all affiliation with Stuart Seldowitz,” the lobbying firm announced in a statement. “The video of his actions is vile, racist and beneath the dignity of the standards we practice at our firm.” Full Article: https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2023/11/gotham-government-relations-cuts-ties-former-obama-administration-official-caught-harassing-halal-cart-vendor/392235/

City & State: Gotham Government Relations cuts ties with former Obama administration official caught harassing halal cart vendor

“By the way, I’ll represent the food vendor pro bono if he wants to bring a lawsuit,” Gotham Government Relations president David Schwartz said.

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For 60 years, the APBA has been a bastion of support, safeguarding the rights and welfare of New York City’s Auxiliary Police Officers. Throughout these years, they’ve represented their members and have been instrumental in ensuring that the sacrifices, courage, and contributions of the Auxiliary Police Officers are recognized. In the face of mounting challenges, changing political climates, and evolving societal needs, the APBA has been a steadfast beacon, adapting, fighting, and shielding its members while promoting the significance of the Auxiliary Police service to New York City’s communities. Full Article: https://apnews.com/press-release/ein-presswire-newsmatics/new-york-city-london-ac9ad9d2ca2cd75dbefcebdc9a3a6694

AP News: Gotham Government Relations LLC Joins Forces with The Auxiliary Police Benevolent Association of The City of New York

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, October 17, 2023 / EINPresswire.com / -- Gotham Government Relations LLC, a leading government relations firm, proudly announces its newest client, The Auxiliary Police Benevolent Association of The City of New York (APBA). Recognizing the recent decline and neglect of the Auxiliary Police Department in New York City, Gotham is committed to restoring and revitalizing this vital civilian branch of the NYPD.

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Latinos are on the ascent in New York. While there has still been no Latino governor or mayor of New York City, there are plenty of rising stars who could break through in coming years. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a progressive icon whose name recognition alone would make her a compelling candidate for a more powerful post. State Sen. Jessica Ramos’ name is in the mix as a potential contender for mayor of New York City. And Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado is a heartbeat – or a scandal – away from the governorship. Full Article: https://www.cityandstateny.com/power-lists/2023/09/2023-power-diversity-latino-100/390456/

City & State: Denny Salas Named on 2023's Power 100 Latino List

The 2023 Power of Diversity: Latino 100
The New York leaders with Latin American roots.

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NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Voters in New York City and Long Island are increasingly scrapping the two major political parties to register as independents – a trend that underscores the importance of candidates appealing to voters 50-plus, a new AARP New York-sponsored analysis of voter rolls shows. The number of independent voters in the region – those who registered without enrolling in a party – grew by 14.4 percent between the last presidential election in November 2020 and May 2023. That's nearly twice the 7.4 percent rate of increase among Democrats and 8 percent among Republicans, the study by Gotham Government Relations found. Full Article: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/more-downstate-voters-rejecting-major-160000119.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMipm3PbdX-Av2U_JdiQHooYFITLQ094jJN0w1GAt1ZkP3Zwai0WIXyXkFb9SaCNI7xYkc30clN1ksdrv10OmxO7Ax5SAudxabld3MFpEIYSq9xjWZYc18HCuX6VjvcPe7P5Okor-KR9_lkNFwB_Z994y9ZvrL17l5W0pU3dwaxV

Yahoo Finance: More Downstate Voters Rejecting Major Parties & Registering Independent

NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Voters in New York City and Long Island are increasingly scrapping the two major political parties to register as independents – a trend that underscores the importance of candidates appealing to voters 50-plus, a new AARP New York-sponsored analysis of voter rolls shows.

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Calone, a former prosecutor who works in the private sector, touted his business experience as being the best fit for the job while Romaine maintained that his decades of service as an elected official in the county and Town of Brookhaven makes him the ideal choice for voters. Full Article: https://www.danspapers.com/2023/10/calone-romaine-make-their-cases-to-long-island-seniors-at-aarp-forum/

Dan's Papers: Calone, Romaine Make Their Cases to Long Island Seniors at AARP Forum

Democrat Dave Calone and Republican Ed Romaine each argued why they are the best person to be the next top-elected official on eastern Long Island while making their case to the region’s largest voting bloc — seniors — during the AARP’s Suffolk County executive candidate forum on Oct. 10.

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Calone, a former prosecutor who works in the private sector, touted his business experience as being the best fit for the job while Romaine maintained that his decades of service as an elected official in the county and Town of Brookhaven makes him the ideal choice for voters. Full Article: https://politicsny.com/2023/10/11/calone-romaine-make-their-cases-to-long-island-seniors-at-aarp-forum/

PoliticsNY: Calone, Romaine Make Their Cases to Long Island Seniors at AARP Forum

Democrat Dave Calone and Republican Ed Romaine each argued why they are the best person to be the next top-elected official on eastern Long Island while making their case to the region’s largest voting bloc — seniors — during the AARP’s Suffolk County executive candidate forum on Oct. 10.

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And yet, the mayor need not look as far as Washington for an example of the government attempting to limit the medical choices of individuals needing health care. In a shameful deal with some of the city’s more powerful municipal labor unions — a deal opposed by many other municipal unions — he has sold 250,000 city retirees down the river by continuing to attempt to remove their earned traditional Medicare benefits, proposing to limit their choice by forcing them into a Medicare Advantage Plan. Full Article: https://www.nydailynews.com/2023/10/08/no-to-medicare-advantage-plan-nyc-owes-its-retirees-the-fair-coverage-they-earned/

NY Daily News: No to Medicare Advantage Plan

Mayor Adams has rightly been critical of a series of misguided decisions by the United States Supreme Court, expressing outrage at the high court for stripping away federal protection for a woman’s right to choose, in consultation with her doctor, concerning her reproductive rights.

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The bipartisan Right to Medicare Act would prohibit employers from forcing retirees enrolled in a retiree health plan in traditional Medicare to move to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, which are managed by private insurance companies. It would instead allow currently retired employees to opt into a Medicare Advantage plan if they choose to do so. Full Article: https://blog.aarp.org/fighting-for-you/aarp-backs-bill-protecting-choice-in-medicare-plans

AARP: AARP Backs Bill Protecting Choice in Medicare Plans

AARP wrote to U.S. House of Representatives lawmakers this week in support of a bill that would protect the rights of retirees to remain in the type of Medicare plan they are enrolled in.

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The forum will be held at Stony Brook University and is sponsored by AARP New York, WABC-TV and Schneps Media, the parent company of the Long Island Press, Dan’s Papers and Noticia. The forum will be moderated by Chantee Lans, WABC-TV’s Long Island correspondent and will offer voters the chance to hear directly from the candidates. The forum is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 10 at the Charles B. Wang Center, 100 Circle Rd., at Stony Brook University. RSVPs are required for in-person attendance at countyexecforumaarpli.com Full Article: https://www.danspapers.com/2023/09/aarp-suffolk-county-executive-candidate-forum-is-oct-10/

Dan's Papers: AARP Suffolk County Executive Candidate Forum Is Oct. 10

Republican Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine and Democratic ex-prosecutor David Calone will focus on issues facing voters age 50 and older during the next Suffolk County Executive Forum scheduled for Oct. 10.

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The forum will be held at Stony Brook University and is sponsored by AARP New York, WABC-TV and Schneps Media, the parent company of the Long Island Press, Dan’s Papers and Noticia. The forum will be moderated by Chantee Lans, WABC-TV’s Long Island correspondent and will offer voters the chance to hear directly from the candidates. The 50-and-older population is considered Suffok’s most powerful voting block since they accounted for nearly 90% of the vote in the 2022 June primary elections. The election is the first in 12 years without term-limited incumbent Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone on ballots. Full Article: https://www.longislandpress.com/2023/09/29/aarp-suffolk-county-executive-candidate-forum-is-oct-10/

Long Island Press: AARP Suffolk County Executive Candidate Forum Is Oct. 10

Republican Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine and Democratic ex-prosecutor David Calone will focus on issues facing voters age 50 and older during the next Suffolk County Executive Forum scheduled for Oct. 10.

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A bipartisan legislative push is afoot on Capitol Hill to prohibit all U.S. employers from forcing their retired workers into Medicare Advantage coverage — a proposal that could spell trouble for Mayor Adams, who’s trying to mandate the privatized health insurance program for New York City’s 250,000 municipal retirees. The anti-Advantage effort is expected to formally get underway Thursday, when Reps. Nicole Malliotakis and Ritchie Torres, both of whom represent parts of New York City, plan to co-introduce a bill that would amend U.S. social security law so that it’d become illegal for “public and private employers” to “involuntarily” shift Medicare-aged retirees into Advantage plans. Full Article: https://www.nydailynews.com/2023/09/14/reps-malliotakis-torres-introduce-bipartisan-bill-blocking-mayor-adams-medicare-advantage-switch-for-nyc-retirees/

NY Daily News: Reps. Malliotakis, Torres introduce bipartisan bill blocking Mayor Adams’ Medicare Advantage switch for NYC retirees (Exclusive)

A bipartisan legislative push is afoot on Capitol Hill to prohibit all U.S. employers from forcing their retired workers into Medicare Advantage coverage — a proposal that could spell trouble for Mayor Adams, who’s trying to mandate the privatized health insurance program for New York City’s 250,000 municipal retirees.

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On Sept. 1, 2023, former Congressman Bill Richardson (D-N.M.), died in his sleep in his Cape Cod summer home in Chatham, Massachusetts. He was the original author of the House of Representatives companion bill of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA). In a distinguished public career, Richardson served in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1980s and 1990s, was U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 1997 to 1998 and U.S. Secretary of Energy from 1998 to 2000 under President Bill Clinton. Full Article: https://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/supplement-regulations/remembering-bill-richardson-american-statesman-dietary-supplement-champion

NPI: Remembering Bill Richardson

On Sept. 1, 2023, former Congressman Bill Richardson (D-N.M.), died in his sleep in his Cape Cod summer home in Chatham, Massachusetts. He was the original author of the House of Representatives companion bill of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA).

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NEW YORK — Former prominent New York City union officials are putting pressure on the City Council to back legislation that would permit retired municipal employees to keep their traditional Medicare. Details: In a letter to City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Council members Thursday, 35 ex-labor leaders who either sat on or whose unions were part of the Municipal Labor Committee — an umbrella group for 102 public sector unions — urged the body to back a measure sponsored by Council Member Charles Barron that would change the administrative code to preserve health care insurance choice. The committee supported the Adams administration’s plan to force roughly 250,000 retirees onto a Medicare Advantage plan recently blocked by a Manhattan Supreme Court judge. Full Article: https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2023/09/former-city-union-officials-push-bill-seeking-health-care-choice-for-retirees-00114599

Politico Pro: Former city union officials push bill seeking health care choice for retirees

In a letter to the City Council, 35 ex-labor leaders urged the body to back a measure that would change the administrative code to preserve health care insurance choice.

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U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres on Thursday joined local health care advocates — as well as senior citizens and public sector retirees — to announce he will be introducing new legislation aimed at protecting the rights of seniors to access traditional Medicare coverage. His “Right to Medicare Act” comes as a response to New York City government’s continued attempt to involuntarily kick approximately 250,000 public sector retirees off the traditional Medicare plans they worked decades to secure and were promised, instead onto privately-run health care insurance plans through Medicare Advantage. Full Story: https://www.bxtimes.com/torres-legislation-seniors-medicare/

Bronx Times: Torres announces new legislation aimed at protecting seniors’ access to Medicare

U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres on Thursday joined local health care advocates — as well as senior citizens and public sector retirees — to announce he will be introducing new legislation aimed at protecting the rights of seniors to access traditional Medicare coverage.

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BRONX, N.Y. – U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres (NY-15) today joined local healthcare advocates and affected seniors and public sector retirees to announce he will be introducing new legislation – the “Right to Medicare Act” – aimed at protecting the rights of seniors to access traditional Medicare coverage. It comes as a response to New York City government, the largest municipal employer in the country, which continues to attempt to involuntarily kick approximately 250,000 public sector retirees off the traditional Medicare plans they worked decades to secure and were promised and onto privately run healthcare insurance plans through Medicare Advantage. “There is no topic as important to me than the defense of Medicare,” said U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres (NY 15). “There is no set of people to whom we owe a greater debt than our senior citizens. The two programs that enable our seniors to lead decent and dignified lives are Medicare and Social Security – both of which must be protected at all costs. The United States is the wealthiest country in the history of the world, and with great wealth comes great responsibility. For me, there is no greater responsibility than the protection of healthcare to those in greatest need – our senior citizens. This is a public good for our senior citizens that must be protected from privatization.” Full Story: https://ritchietorres.house.gov/posts/u-s-rep-ritchie-torres-announces-new-legislation-aimed-at-protecting-rights-of-seniors-to-access-traditional-medicare-coverage

U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres Announces New Legislation Aimed at Protecting Rights of Seniors to Access Traditional Medicare Coverage

BRONX, N.Y. – U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres (NY-15) today joined local healthcare advocates and affected seniors and public sector retirees to announce he will be introducing new legislation – the “Right to Medicare Act” – aimed at protecting the rights of seniors to access traditional Medicare coverage.

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U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres was in the Bronx with advocates on Thursday making a big push when it comes to health care for seniors. The rally took place in Riverdale, where Rep. Torres and other officials talked about the "Right to Medicare Act." Full Story: https://bronx.news12.com/rally-held-to-support-passing-of-right-to-medicare-act

News12-The Bronx: Rally held to support passing of Right to Medicare Act

U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres was in the Bronx with advocates on Thursday making a big push when it comes to health care for seniors.

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New York City’s largest municipal union is text-blasting its members urging them to bombard Council members with critical phone calls if they support a bill that would guarantee traditional Medicare coverage for retired municipal employees, the Daily News has learned. The text action from DC37 is part of the politically influential union’s support for an effort by Mayor Adams’ administration to make a cost-cutting, privatized Medicare Advantage plan the only health insurance option available for the city’s 250,000 municipal retirees. The texts, copies of which were obtained by The News, take aim at Intro 1099, a bill penned by Brooklyn Councilman Charles Barron that would require the city to offer its retired workers a premium-free traditional Medicare plan. Most of the city’s retirees currently benefit from such a Medicare structure, consisting of the universal federal program and a city-subsidized Medigap supplement. Supporters of Barron’s bill argue it would protect traditional Medicare coverage at a time when it’s under threat by the Adams administration’s Advantage push — but the DC37 texts say the legislation could put active union workers’ health insurance at risk. Full Story: https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/new-york-elections-government/ny-dc37-workers-call-nyc-council-members-with-calls-medicare-advantage-20230822-f2qaoqzx7remjdwmjkj777q4me-story.html

NY Daily News: NYC’s largest municipal union urges workers to confront Council members who oppose Medicare Advantage push

New York City’s largest municipal union is text-blasting its members urging them to bombard Council members with critical phone calls if they support a bill that would guarantee traditional Medicare coverage for retired municipal employees, the Daily News has learned.

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Historically, New York’s City Council has set nationwide precedents by adopting historic and landmark legislation dealing with such vital issues as campaign finance, anti-apartheid, human and worker rights, and women and senior citizen protection laws. It once again has the opportunity to protect the health and well-being of more than 250,000 retired city public servants. Intro 1099 now before the Council would allow a choice between traditional Medicare and a new Medicare Advantage Plan. This bill would protect the many thousands who have been told that some of their long-time oncologists, cardiologists, gynecologists, etc. will not accept advantage plans. Can anyone imagine the horror of hearing from your oncologist, whose expertise, caring and treatment has kept you or a loved one alive for much longer than anyone expected, that her medical group sadly will not accept Aetna Advantage? This fear and resultant stress, which is proven to bring on sickness and worse, is a heavy burden for so many seniors to endure. Council members are mistakenly being told that retiree benefits are subject only to the Taylor Law and collective bargaining. The historical facts as detailed below prove that the two largest union supporters of removing all city retirees from traditional Medicare — District Council 37 and the United Federation of Teachers — never before believed this, as evidenced by their own testimony before the City Council on prior legislation amending the exact section, 12-126 of the city’s administrative code, which they mistakenly now claim the Council is preempted from amending. On my first day working in the Council’s legal division in 1979, I met two people who I would grow to deeply respect, befriend and admire. One was then aide and future borough president and now again a Council member, Gale Brewer, and the other was Council Member Mary Pinkett. Our no door offices were only yards apart. Mary, prior to making history by becoming the first Black woman ever elected to the City Council, was the president of Local 371 and vice president of DC 37. Her husband Bill was an active member of the UFT. Mary always fought for the unions and increased worker protections and benefits. For years, the Council would, when necessary, amend section 12–126 of the administrative code to provide city government retirees reimbursement of their Medicare Part B premiums. But with her distinguished 25 year-plus tenure soon to end, Mary, as Governmental Operations Committee chair, wanted to guarantee full reimbursement for city retirees as promised, no matter who the mayor or speaker in the future might be. This led to the passage of Intro 580-A in 2001 with the outspoken support of DC37 and the UFT. When the final negotiations with the mayor on this bill occurred in early 2001, I along with Speaker Peter F. Vallone, and our chief of staff were the only three Council people in the mayor’s office during these weekly discussions. I’ve always clearly remembered these meetings as I had promised my long-time friend Mary, we’d do all we could to get this bill passed. That is why I was astonished when I read UFT President Michael Mulgrew’s June 30 letter to Speaker Adrienne Adams in which he claimed that the Taylor Law and collective bargaining disallows legislative action on Intro 1099 and only through collective bargaining can retiree benefits be granted or amended. Mulgrew wrote that this has been the policy for “more than half a century.” He must surely know that this is untrue as in 2000 and 2001 both union presidents strongly urged the Council to pass legislation and amend section 12–126 without a single mention of preemption. And even only 35 years ago, Bob Linn, Ed Koch’s Office of Labor Relations director and chief labor negotiator wrote Mayor Koch Feb. 26, 1988 that Medicare Part B “reimbursement is pursuant to local law, not any collective bargaining agreement.” On Jan. 31, 2000, Lee Saunders, administrator of DC37 testified before the City Council on Intro 580 which amended section 12–126 and provided for full Medicare Part B reimbursement. He stated “DC37 emphatically and unequivocally supports this legislation. Indeed, we view it as the fulfillment of a promise made to the men and women who spent their working lives in public service by the city a long time ago. The promise was that the city would do exactly what the bill calls for: fully reimburse retirees for the cost of Medicare part B payments.” Saunders did not mention any legislative preclusion or preemption to act because of any supposed restrictive language under collective bargaining or the Taylor Law, as this was one of numerous prior times the Council acted according to its legal authority to amend section 12–126. It was legal then and it’s legal now. At the same hearing in 2000, UFT President Randi Weingarten’s personal representative testified on behalf of “our 35,000 member retired teachers chapter and on behalf of the UFT and its 140,000 members urging the Council to adopt Intro 580.” She continued, “We know that the entire Council will vote positively on this important issue.” Again, not a single word of mention about collective bargaining or the Taylor Law was made by the UFT that day. In fact, the UFT was not even on the invited public witness list prepared by the committee’s counsel which my office then sent out under my signature. Yet they deemed it so important that they came down to City Hall to testify in support of Council passage. The Taylor Law and collective bargaining now touted by the UFT’s current long-time and hand-picked successor to Weingarten as precluding Council legislative action, was again, never raised. The following year, 2001, the Council finally adopted Intro 580-A and who came to testify at the hearing? Why none other than DC37 and the UFT, and they again both separately testified and urged the quick passage of the legislation by the Council with yet once again, not a single mention of any preemption. I urge all Council Members to consider sponsoring and adopting Intro 1099. The legality of Section 12-126 has now been upheld by the courts numerous times in the last two years. On Aug. 11, Justice Lyle Frank of Manhattan Supreme Court said, “that both the doctrine of promissory estoppel and the provisions of New York City Administrative Code Section 12-126 bars the actions sought to be taken by respondents.” Isn’t it time that the Council puts this action by the Municipal Labor Committee and OLR to rest? The MLC has never bargained for or represented retirees, and surely not for me as a non-union City Council employee. Giving retirees a choice to pick Medicare Advantage or not matters because, according to a 2023 Kaiser Family Foundation study, more than 2 million nationwide prior authorization requests (6%) were fully or partially denied by Medicare Advantage insurers in 2021. The highest percentage of denials which was double that at 12% was from none other than Aetna/CVS. Just one out of nine of the more than 2 million denials were actually appealed as the process is often difficult, especially for the elderly or infirm. Yet in 82% of those appeal cases, the denial was fully or partially overturned. Aetna after many times wrongly, cruelly, or greedily fully or partially denying 12% of all pre-authorizations then overturned and reversed their decisions 90% of the time when appealed. This was, of course, no help to the eight out of nine enrollees who couldn’t or didn’t appeal believing the initial determination was final. How many of those denials resulted in needless pain, torment or even death? Please do not be swayed by any MLC or union claim that this Aetna plan has been carefully negotiated and is different and better than all other Aetna plans. A zebra can’t change its stripes. And instead of touting the free meals after hospital stays or car rides (yes many who need, can already get that and it’s called Meals on Wheels and Access-A-Ride) that the Aetna plan will provide, how about letting us stay on traditional Medicare and continue to keep and choose our own doctors. Our lives may depend on it. Please remember that Aetna is a for-profit company, and however noble some unions may think their effort is, Aetna only makes additional money by denying pre-authorizations, whenever possible. They have already admitted to the state Supreme Court that death has occurred because of denials. The overwhelming majority of more than 250,000 city retirees are living on small pensions and Social Security and will have no choice but to switch to Aetna if the unthinkable happens. These are more likely to be Black, Hispanic and women retirees, whose salaries and thus pensions years ago were often unfairly kept lower. Please, Council think of them and all retirees as we battle the infirmities and diseases that older age inevitably and eventually brings. Do it for Mary. Altman was an attorney at the City Council for 38 years during which he served for almost 25 years as the legislative counsel to four speakers. https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-city-council-retirees-medicare-advantage-choice-20230820-ukkevtixunckljwiiejyej77nq-story.html?oref=csny_firstread_nl

NY Daily News: The City Council owes retirees Medicare choice: Let people pick if they want to switch to Medicare Advantage

Historically, New York’s City Council has set nationwide precedents by adopting historic and landmark legislation dealing with such vital issues as campaign finance, anti-apartheid, human and worker rights, and women and senior citizen protection laws. It once again has the opportunity to protect the health and well-being of more than 250,000 retired city public servants.

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A state Supreme Court judge blocked New York City from switching municipal retirees to a Medicare Advantage plan aimed at saving hundreds of millions of dollars in health care costs, delivering retirees a key victory in a hard-fought battle to keep their current coverage. “This is now the third time in the last two years that courts have had to step in and stop the City from violating retirees’ healthcare rights,” Marianne Pizzitola, president of the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees, said in an emailed statement. “We once again call on the City and the Municipal Labor Committee to end their ruthless and unlawful campaign to deprive retired municipal workers of the healthcare benefits they earned.” Mayor Eric Adams’ administration signed a contract with Aetna earlier this year for a Medicare Advantage plan that the city has said would save $600 million a year on retiree health care costs. (Retirees fighting the switch have disputed this figure.) The switch from retirees’ traditional Medicare plans was set to go into effect on Sep. 1, until Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Lyle Frank granted a temporary restraining order in July. Retirees have fought the switch, arguing that privatized Medicare Advantage plans will limit access to their medical providers, could come with higher out-of-pocket costs, and have been found to deny necessary care. Retirees currently enroll in traditional Medicare, along with a city-subsidized supplemental coverage plan known as Senior Care. A spokesperson for Adams said that the city plans to appeal the decision, and pointed to benefits of the Medicare Advantage plan that it negotiated alongside the Municipal Labor Committee, including a lower deductible, a cap on out-of-pocket expenses and benefits like fitness programs. (Pizzitola has said that these don’t amount to improvements, noting that once retirees meet their deductible with Senior Care they don’t have out-of-pocket expenses.) The city has also characterized the switch as an essential savings initiative. “It would save $600 million annually, especially critical at a time when we are already facing significant fiscal and economic challenges,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “This decision only creates confusion and uncertainty among our retirees.” The state Supreme Court ruling received bipartisan praise from New York City Council members on Friday, including Democrat Tiffany Cabán and Republicans Inna Vernikov and Ari Kagan. Retirees vote, after all. https://www.cityandstateny.com/policy/2023/08/new-york-city-retirees-score-major-victory-medicare-advantage-fight/389352/

City & State: New York City retirees score major victory in Medicare Advantage fight

A judge blocked a planned switch of their health benefits after months of acrimony.

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With handmade signs and buttons, a group of municipal retirees gathered on Broadway outside of City Hall Park on Thursday to show support for keeping their existing health care plans. The city is attempting to switch insurance plans for municipal retirees, potentially saving the city hundreds of millions of dollars – while angering many former employees. Retirees are fighting the move in court, and now they want the City Council to take action as well. “The city should be ashamed of themselves,” New York City Council Member Charles Barron said at the rally. Barron has introduced a bill in the City Council that would essentially preserve an option for retirees to keep current plans. “You got money for the (Police Benevolent Association). You got money for DC37’s leadership. You got money for the (United Federation of Teachers). Then you need to have money for the retirees.” City workers and their dependents are eligible for free health insurance after they retire. Previously, the retirees would enroll in traditional Medicare and would get Senior Care, a supplemental plan from EmblemHealth. The money that covers the premiums and various other benefits come from the Joint Health Insurance Premium Stabilization Fund, which is jointly controlled by the city and the leaders of municipal unions. The money in this fund is shrinking, and in 2018 former Mayor Bill de Blasio and the union leaders came up with a plan to cut spending on health care, as City & State previously reported. To do this, retirees will no longer get traditional Medicare plus Senior Care. Instead, they’ll get Medicare Advantage from Aetna, which will have lower premiums for the city to pay, saving the city an estimated $600 million. However, Medicare Advantage could also come with smaller networks to choose doctors from and higher out-of-pocket costs for the retirees. On top of that, there’s evidence to suggest that Medicare Advantage plans often deny plan holders care. As a result, retirees have been protesting the changes to their insurance, recently securing a legal victory when a Manhattan Supreme Court judge temporarily blocked the switch. The City Council bill to intervene and maintain the status quo for retirees is gaining bipartisan support. It currently has 14 sponsors, including Black radical socialists, DSA members and outer borough conservatives. But Barron’s bill faces long odds. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has said he will move ahead with the planned switch, and he has the support of the DC 37 municipal employees union leadership. “The city’s Medicare Advantage plan, which was negotiated in close partnership with the Municipal Labor Committee, improves upon retirees’ current plans, including offering a lower deductible, a cap on out-of-pocket expenses, and new benefits, like transportation, fitness programs, and wellness incentives,” mayoral spokesperson Jonah Allon said in a statement. “Further delay in implementing it will only cause greater uncertainty for our retirees and have a detrimental impact on our city’s budget.” City Hall has also said that the bill would interfere with the collective bargaining process and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams has expressed similar concerns, Politico reported. DC 37 leader Henry Garrido is strongly opposed, and has floated pulling the union’s support of lawmakers who back it. Barron himself won’t be able to advocate for the legislation much longer: He was recently defeated in a primary election and is set to leave office at the end of the year. Barron introduced his bill on June 22. It would require the city to provide retirees at least one Medicare supplemental insurance plan with benefits equal to or better than the plan they currently have, rather than being automatically switched to Medicare Advantage. “Money is not the problem,” Barron said. “Mayor Adams is the problem.” Republican Council Member Ari Kagan, a co-sponsor on Barron’s bill, also spoke at the rally. “We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of people who make our city better, safer, cleaner for decades,” Kagan said. New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees President Marianne Pizzitola, who led the rally, said that retirees won’t stop fighting the new health care program until it’s changed into something that they actually want to use. “You’re not going to bribe us with a perk, a ride to a doctor that doesn’t take this plan,” Pizzitola said. “We simply want our health care.” https://www.cityandstateny.com/policy/2023/07/we-simply-want-our-health-care-retirees-rally-city-hall-medicare-advantage-bill/388514/

City & State: ‘We simply want our health care.’ Retirees rally at City Hall for Medicare Advantage bill

Fresh off a recent legal victory, retirees are pushing the City Council to buck the mayor and union leaders.

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New York City was built on the shoulders of hardworking individuals who dedicated their lives to making this city great. Among them are our municipal retirees. Their years of service earned them a promised Medicare plan to meet healthcare needs in their golden years. Unfortunately, the Mayor pulled a blatant bait-and-switch by signing an executive order that shifts retiree health coverage to a Medicare Advantage plan. This move disregards retirees’ contributions and fails to deliver pledged financial benefits. Our retirees deserve better than a broken promise. Several groups of retirees have taken legal action against the mayor’s administration in an effort to prevent the City’s effort to diminish care for retirees. Recently, a judge temporarily blocked the switch while the case is pending in court—delaying the September implementation deadline for the mayor’s plan. We are encouraged by the ruling and hopeful that as the case moves forward in court, the justice system will hold the City accountable for promises made to the retired public servants who dedicated their lives to caring for New Yorkers. However, this is not the only avenue to halt this plan; we also support legislation that requires the City to offer Medicare-eligible retirees and their dependents plans with benefits equal or superior to their current health plan. Retiree health benefits, which our city promised to retirees during their working years, are a form of deferred compensation that retirees accepted as part of their pay packages. For decades New York City’s municipal workers were assured that at retirement they would get a Medicare plan that included at least one Medigap policy. Designed to cover the 20% of medical costs not covered by Medicare, these gap plans also ensure retirees can see any healthcare provider in the United States who accepts Medicare. This flexibility allows them to continue their longstanding relationships with trusted doctors, maintaining continuity of care. The City must honor its promise and reject any proposal that does not guarantee continuity and access to care. No municipal retiree should be asked to pay more or accept less than they were promised. The mayor defends the Advantage plan as a win-win, claiming it will save the City $600 million annually in healthcare costs while allegedly providing robust benefits to retirees. This argument is based, in part, on the plan’s higher federal government subsidies compared to traditional Medicare options. However, the data suggests a different reality. According to New York City’s Independent Budget Office, taxpayers would see no savings under the mayor’s plan. Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Justice is currently investigating eight of the ten largest Medicare Advantage insurers, including Aetna, for allegedly encouraging in-network physicians to falsify patient records, potentially defrauding the federal government of over $600 billion in the next decade. While Medicare Advantage Plans can be a great fit for many, we believe any changes in coverage for New York City retirees must be voluntary. The decision to replace traditional Medicare with Medicare Advantage could carry significant risk for retirees with specific and ongoing health care needs being covered by their current Medigap plan. AARP New York calls upon the mayor to reconsider his ill-advised move and instead prioritize honoring the commitments made to New York City retirees. It is our duty to provide retirees with Medicare-eligible plans that offer benefits equivalent to or better than what was initially promised. New York City retirees have played an instrumental role in building and elevating this great city. They deserve to enjoy their retirement years with the peace of mind that their healthcare needs will be met without unnecessary barriers or discrimination. Let us stand together to protect the promises made to our retirees and ensure they receive the health care they rightfully deserve. Beth Finkel is the state director of AARP New York https://www.amny.com/oped/op-ed-mayor-needs-to-reverse-decision-that-shifts-retiree-health-coverage-for-municipal-employees-to-a-medicare-advantage-plan/

amNewYork: Op-ed | Mayor needs to reverse decision that shifts retiree health coverage for municipal employees to a Medicare Advantage plan

New York City was built on the shoulders of hardworking individuals who dedicated their lives to making this city great. Among them are our municipal retirees. Their years of service earned them a promised Medicare plan to meet healthcare needs in their golden years.

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Retired municipal workers are ramping up pressure on city lawmakers to back legislation that would allow them to choose their health insurance instead of switching to a Medicare Advantage plan the Adams administration hopes to implement this fall. The pressure campaign follows a recent legal victory that temporarily paused the switch. The administration is exploring an appeal. “I think the judge’s decision was direct enough that it should move any City Council person that’s just sitting on the sidelines,” said Marianne Pizzitola, president of the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees, in an interview. Close to 200 former municipal workers, including Pizzitola, rallied near City Hall Thursday. The event brought together two members who are often at opposite ends of issues – socialist Charles Barron, who introduced the bill last month, and his Republican colleague Ari Kagan. The legislation — which would amend the administrative code to maintain health insurance choice for retirees —has 14 sponsors, including Kagan. That’s still far short of the majority needed to pass, but momentum is building. Council Members Robert Holden, a moderate Democrat, and Erik Bottcher, a more liberal Democrat, signed onto the bill recently. Council Member Gale Brewer also said she’ll back it. Council Members Sandy Nurse and Oswald Feliz said they need to review the court ruling. Jake Gardener, counsel to the retirees, said: “We’ve been fighting our own battles for two years and we’ve been successful so it would be great if the City Council stepped up.” Council Member Joe Borelli — co-chair of the Council’s Common Sense Caucus that includes Republicans and moderate Democrats, filed an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit. But Borelli said members should wait for the court to issue a final ruling before making a decision on the bill. City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams has said she doesn’t want to “unilaterally intervene in a process that intersects with collective bargaining.” A Council spokesperson declined to comment. Barron insisted the bill will not hurt collective bargaining. “Now that this judge ruled in our favor, hopefully…they can follow the same path as the judge,” he said in an interview about council members’ potential support. District Council 37, the city’s largest municipal union, and the city’s teachers union, oppose the bill. Dick Riley, a UFT spokesperson, said the union believes the Medicare Advantage plan “offers the best chance to maintain high-quality, premium free health care for our retirees.” Jonah Allon, a City Hall spokesperson, said the bill would interfere with the collective bargaining process. He said the Medicare Advantage plan improves upon retirees’ current options. https://www.politico.com/newsletters/new-york-playbook/2023/07/14/city-retirees-push-council-v-medicare-advantage-00106326

Politico: Momentum builds against Medicare Advantage

Retired municipal workers are ramping up pressure on city lawmakers to back legislation that would allow them to choose their health insurance instead of switching to a Medicare Advantage plan the Adams administration hopes to implement this fall.

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NEW YORK -- Retired New York City workers continue to fight to hold on to their Medicare benefits. Thursday, retirees gathered outside City Hall to speak out against the city's plan to change their health care. About 250,000 retired municipal workers will be impacted. They say the new privatized Medicare Advantage plan will limit their access to providers at higher costs. "We're very upset about it. We're very scared. We need our quality health care that we've always received through the city and through our unions," retired teacher Sarah Shapiro said. "We don't believe that our health care should be privatized." In a statement, a City Hall spokesperson said in part, "Further delay in implementing it will only cause greater uncertainty for our retirees and have a detrimental impact on our city's budget." https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/new-york-city-retired-workers-medicare-benefits-protest/

CBS News: Retired New York City workers speak out against plans to change Medicare benefits

Retired New York City workers continue to fight to hold on to their Medicare benefits.

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NEW YORK, N.Y. – AARP New York State Director Beth Finkel issued the following statement today in response to a New York City Judge's decision to temporarily block the City’s initiative to change the health care plans available to NYC retirees while the case is pending in court: “AARP New York applauds Judge Frank’s decision as a victory for New York City retirees. We are encouraged by the ruling to halt the City’s flawed attempt at diminishing care for retirees as the court considers the Mayor’s ill-advised effort – which would risk retirees’ long-term health and retirement security. “We strongly agree with Judge Frank that because this matter will impact health care for an aging and vulnerable population – most of them on fixed incomes - any lapse in care for City retirees could have deleterious consequences. “The City should stand by the commitments it made to its retired workers for their service over their long careers. The Mayor’s plan would increase City retirees’ health care expenses, reduce their choices, make it more difficult for them to continue visiting their existing doctors, and provide them with far too little information about many other essential plan specifics. “New York City retirees deserve to enjoy their retirement years with the peace of mind that their healthcare needs will be met without unnecessary barriers or discrimination. AARP New York is hopeful that as the case moves forward in court, the justice system will hold the City accountable to its promises to the retired public servants who dedicated their lives to caring for New Yorkers.” Contact: Erik Kriss, ekriss@aarp.org https://local.aarp.org/news/aarp-ny-applauds-court-ruling-blocking-cuts-to-nyc-retirees-health-benefits-days-before-crucial-deadline-ny-2023-07-07.html

AARP NY Applauds Court Ruling Blocking Cuts to NYC Retirees’ Health Benefits Days Before Crucial Deadline

AARP New York State Director Beth Finkel issued the following statement today in response to a New York City Judge's decision to temporarily block the City’s initiative to change the health care plans available to NYC retirees while the case is pending in court:

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A Manhattan judge is pressing pause on a controversial plan to push New York City government retirees onto a new privatized version of Medicare this fall – a major victory for critics of the switch. In a plan that city officials said would save some $600 million a year, municipal retirees were supposed to be moved from their existing coverage – a combination of traditional Medicare with supplemental coverage paid for by the city – onto a private Medicare Advantage plan run by Aetna this fall. City officials had scheduled the deadline to opt out for this coming Monday, but seniors who decided to stay on traditional Medicare would have had to waive their city benefits and pay for their health coverage themselves. A group of retired city workers filed a lawsuit in late May arguing that the Adams administration would be diminishing care for retirees and violating city law by making them pivot onto the new Aetna-run plan. On Friday, Judge Lyle Frank granted retirees’ petition to temporarily block the transition while the case is pending in court. “As this matter deals with health decisions of an aging and a potentially vulnerable population, mostly on fixed incomes, any lapse in care for these people could lead to deleterious impacts,” Frank stated in his order. “This is now the third time in the last two years that courts have had to step in and stop the city from violating retirees’ health care rights,” Marianne Pizzitola, president of the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees, one of the lead plaintiffs, said in a statement. “We call on the city and the Municipal Labor Committee to end their ruthless and unlawful campaign to deprive retired municipal workers of the health care benefits they earned.” Adams administration officials have argued that the new plan will not be inferior to retirees’ existing coverage, but retirees have expressed concerns that some doctors will not accept the new plan — and that patients will need prior approval from Aetna for more types of medical services. “We are extremely disappointed by this misguided ruling,” said Mayor Eric Adams' Deputy Press Secretary Jonah Allon via email. “The city’s Medicare Advantage plan, which was negotiated in close partnership with the Municipal Labor Committee, improves upon retirees’ current plans, including offering a lower deductible, a cap on out-of-pocket expenses, and new benefits, like transportation, fitness programs and wellness incentive.” https://gothamist.com/news/judge-blocks-medicare-advantage-switch-for-250k-nyc-retirees-days-before-crucial-deadline

Gothamist: Judge blocks Medicare Advantage switch for 250K NYC retirees

A Manhattan judge is pressing pause on a controversial plan to push New York City government retirees onto a new privatized version of Medicare this fall – a major victory for critics of the switch.

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Mayor Eric Adams and his administration are moving ahead with a plan to change health care insurance for many retired city employees. This means the city would eliminate traditional Medicare completely, making the privatized Medicare Advantage plan the only option available. The change is set to move ahead with a deadline of June 30 for those who want to opt out. But the city is now facing a lawsuit from retirees who say the Medicare Advantage plan won’t allow them to see doctors not included in its narrower scope. Marianne Pizzitola, a retired FDNY worker who is also the president of the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees, and Jake Gardener, a lawyer leading the class-action lawsuit, joined Errol Louis on "Inside City Hall" Wednesday night to discuss all this and more. https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/inside-city-hall/2023/06/28/nyc-organization-of-public-service-retirees-president-and-lawyer-discuss-insurance-change

NY1 News: NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees president and lawyer discuss insurance change

Mayor Eric Adams and his administration are moving ahead with a plan to change health care insurance for many retired city employees.

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Some help is now on its way for Nassau County seniors, officials announced. County Executive Bruce Blakeman was joined by AARP members in Glen Cove to announce an expansion of senior services. The services include a new service bus and a new liaison office that will help seniors get to useful resources -- such as health care and social service. It is paid for with state and local grant money. "This will create a more seamless way for people to get a good response to some of their issues," Blakeman says. The announcement comes after a recent report that found the senior population on Long Island has grown by over 100,000 in the past decade. Retiree Edda Podleska, of Glen Cove, moved from the Bronx to Glen Cova and says she has had to apply for a lot of senior services and the new services will help. She says even though she is older, she still wants to remain independent and young at heart Both Nassau and Suffolk counties have special government departments designed to help elderly residents. https://longisland.news12.com/nassau-county-adding-new-liaison-office-service-bus-for-seniors

Long Island News 12: Nassau County adding new liaison office, service bus for seniors

Some help is now on its way for Nassau County seniors, officials announced.

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WABC 7 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=T81QvTnAaTU

ABC News: Attorney David Schwartz Talks About Former Mayor Giuliani & The Indictment By Georgia Grand Jury.

NY Criminal Defense Attorney David Schwartz Talks About Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani & The Indictment By Georgia Grand Jury on WABC 7.

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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled a planned holiday to hold talks with the army’s chief of staff, as reservists continue to demonstrate against the government. The pair were originally scheduled to meet on Thursday, but growing protests regarding the government's judicial reforms have left military preparedness damaged. Shai Franklin from Gotham Government Relations unpacks the situation. Full Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1srKTEept9c&list=PLB21389F00AA91985&index=1

TRT World News: Israeli PM Netanyahu calls off vacation for meeting with Army chief of staff

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled a planned holiday to hold talks with the army’s chief of staff, as reservists continue to demonstrate against the government. The pair were originally scheduled to meet on Thursday, but growing protests regarding the government's judicial reforms have left military preparedness damaged. Shai Franklin from Gotham Government Relations unpacks the situation.

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New York, NY — New York City Comptroller Brad Lander released the following statement in response to the New York Supreme Court ruling on shifting retirees to a Medicare Advantage plan: “Today’s ruling is a win for the many retirees who fought for the health care that they worked so hard for and were promised. When the Medicare Advantage contract was submitted to us this spring, our office declined to register it because we were concerned that litigation raised doubts about the City’s authority to enter into the contract. Today’s decision shows we were right to do so. “As a matter of public policy, beyond the scope of our office’s specific Charter responsibility for contract registration, I was and remain seriously concerned about the privatization of Medicare plans, overbilling by insurance companies, and barriers to care under Medicare Advantage. It is vital that all seniors—and all New Yorkers—get quality health coverage as a basic human right. “At the same time, given the growing costs of health care for both retirees and active employees we cannot ignore that there are real cost questions facing the City when it comes to health care. It is time for all parties to come to the table to identify creative and effective solutions.” https://comptroller.nyc.gov/newsroom/statement-from-comptroller-brad-lander-on-new-york-supreme-court-ruling-on-medicare-advantage/#:~:text=When%20the%20Medicare%20Advantage%20contract,were%20right%20to%20do%20so.

Statement from Comptroller Brad Lander on New York Supreme Court Ruling on Medicare Advantage

New York, NY — New York City Comptroller Brad Lander released the following statement in response to the New York Supreme Court ruling on shifting retirees to a Medicare Advantage plan:

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Mayor Eric Adams’s exuberant self-regard stops just short of biceps-kissing. He has talked in public about the warmth of his own smile. Describing “Healthy at Last,” a book that he published in 2020 about his disciplined response to a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes, Adams told a podcast host, “Every time I read it, I find another nugget, and say, ‘Wow! This was a good point that I made.’ ” Adams once told an audience, “I get out of the shower sometimes and I say, ‘Damn!’ ” He has said that he is the face of a new Democratic Party. On a recent Sunday evening, Adams—who is sixty-two and was born in Brooklyn, although he has sometimes said that he was born elsewhere—was in a restaurant on the Upper West Side. His shirt was white and uncreased, and he wore a stud earring, an adornment that he adopted while running for mayor. He removes the stud ahead of events likely to have a more serious tenor, as if lowering a flag to half-mast. Adams ordered French fries and, unprompted, said, “This is going to be one of the most fascinating mayoralties in history.” He later added, “Anyone who believes there’s not a God, they need to watch my journey.” Adams is well into his second year in office, but his mayoralty still has a victory-night air. He often repeats a phrase that makes a parable of his electoral success, by linking it to stories about his troubled teen-age years which became central to his campaign: “Dyslexic, arrested, rejected—now I’m elected!” Adams likes to ask, “When does the hard part start?,” although there are members of his staff who wish that he wouldn’t. He has said that if God had found the Eric Adams story less compelling he “could have made me the mayor of Topeka.” (Michael Padilla, Topeka’s mayor, responded by saying that he, for one, values humility.) A politician without ego is unlikely to get elected. And a politician’s identity can buoy constituents, even before new policies have been enacted: Adams is the city’s second Black mayor, after David Dinkins, but its first working-class Black mayor from an outer-borough family. Yet Adams still seems unusual, in a democratic setting, for the extent to which he treats his own self—both his physical presence and his biography, as relayed in a few truncated scenes—like a civic asset, and a form of government. In the late eighties, when Adams was in the New York City transit police, he could bring a little order to a beery Coney Island subway car just by stepping onto it. His mayoralty attempts to reënact this stance. To borrow from the Jadakiss song that played as Adams approached a hotel-ballroom stage on Election Night, he runs a “The Champ Is Here” administration. The Mayor doesn’t paint a picture of a brighter future; he invites us to be inspired by him. When Hillary Clinton interviewed Adams, at the start of his term, she began with the softest softball: What were his priorities for the city? He replied not with his agenda but with his story, in which he overcame youthful “dark moments” to pursue “justice and safety.” (Becoming mayor, he assured Clinton, was “a natural transition for me.”) Mayor Adams attends all his budget and land-use meetings, which are largely held on Zoom, and at which he is likely to be seen bobbing on an exercise machine. He’ll ask sensible questions and then thank colleagues for “delivering good product.” He monitors municipal data, most often by reviewing spreadsheets on an iPad in the back of his mayoral Suburban. And he regularly confers with the half-dozen deputy mayors who have offices in the northwest corner of City Hall, near his, and who oversee the commissioners running the departments that employ some three hundred thousand people. But his overriding instinct is to find ways to be visible. Adams’s diary of official events seems far fuller than those of his predecessors Bill de Blasio and Michael Bloomberg. They might have been glad to skip, say, a Croatian flag-raising, or a mayoral forum on drones. New York is now led by someone who takes deep pleasure in the pleasure people take in seeing him. Adams recently told an audience, of his visits to an outreach center for unhoused people, “If you can see their faces when they walk down the line and they’re given food—and they see their mayor!” (Adams has dismissed less responsive constituents as “naysayers,” “haters,” and “little people.”) Adams also has a personal schedule, which includes cigar-bar time with his son, Jordan Coleman, and late nights at Zero Bond, a members’ club in NoHo. One spring evening, I saw Adams at a boxing event, in midtown, that pitted members of the Police Department against members of the Fire Department. He was drinking cocktails with Johnny Petrosyants, a friend who is a restaurateur and a convicted felon. When we’d met for dinner a few weeks earlier, Adams had agreed that he could be thought of as someone trying to embody New York. As one of his advisers told me, “To him, he is the city, because he’s running the city.” To sustain this ambition, Adams follows a self-care regimen that includes meditation, a diet rich in plants, naps in the car—and the kind of breathing exercises that he has ordered city schools to teach, and that he encourages his staffers to emulate. Rachel Atcheson, a close adviser, told me, without complaint, that under Adams’s influence she now sleeps with her mouth taped shut, “in order to force myself to breathe through my nose.” (Her dreams, she said, have become more vivid.) Adams defends his life-style enthusiasms but isn’t always earnest about them. When I sounded skeptical of Wim Hof, a Dutch ice-bath evangelist whose program Adams has started to follow, he laughed, saying, “You’re going to call my idol a lunatic?” Adams’s schedule keeps him in contact with voters and donors, and shows him to be comfortable in any room, ready to hear people out. But his daily zigzagging across the city doesn’t create confidence about his administration’s likely impact on sustained municipal problems. His old friend Norman Siegel, a civil-rights lawyer and the former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, recently said, “Sometimes I look at those events in the evenings and think, Why the fuck is he going to this thing?” Siegel recalled dryly suggesting to a mayoral-communications staffer that the staffer arrange a photo op of Adams sitting at his desk. At the eighteen-month point in de Blasio’s administration, tens of thousands of four- and five-year-olds had finished a year in a new program of free pre-K education. The Adams administration—working in admittedly more straitened times—has no equivalent achievement. Mayor Adams can point to any number of smaller initiatives—composting, free Internet in public housing—and can note a plan to create fourteen hundred new shelter beds for people who are unhoused, even as the city contends with an unprecedented influx of tens of thousands of asylum seekers. But if Adams stepped down tomorrow he might be remembered largely for a baffling redesign of the “I ❤️ NY” logo, and for his willingness to recognize—or, in the eyes of critics, to recklessly amplify—the fear of crime felt by some residents. Last year, Adams proposed, with wild inaccuracy, that the city was more crime-ridden than he’d ever known it. (Recent crime increases haven’t brought city crime anywhere close to the peak of the late eighties and early nineties.) At the restaurant, the Mayor picked at his fries, and talked, as he has many times, about his shock on learning, in his mid-fifties, that he was diabetic. “Everything broke at one time,” he said. “It was frightening.” He couldn’t see in one eye; his fingers tingled. Adams has claimed that six doctors he consulted said nothing about diet, and could promise only medication and future amputations. In his telling, he switched overnight to a plant-based diet, and within weeks he’d lost considerable weight and seen a “reversal” of his disease. “It’s empowering to know that you could not be imprisoned by medicine,” he told me. His remarks on this theme went in some odd directions, as his remarks often do. He talked up a company that sells at-home gut-microbiome tests. But he could also point me to policy—to changes that his administration has made to the menus of schools and hospitals. Food is a favored topic. It allows Adams to connect political action to personal anecdote, a rhetorical move that’s harder to pull off for most issues pressing on City Hall—say, the huge annual cost of police overtime (eight hundred million dollars) or inmate deaths in the dysfunctional jails on Rikers Island. An argument for eating more beans is where municipal politics looks most like the online inspirational videos that Adams enjoys. With food, he has a story about taking control and, against élite expectations, turning things around. He often sounds frustrated that people don’t characterize his mayoralty in exactly these terms. “Remember, our minds are hard-wired to hear stories,” Adams told me. He got ready to leave, having eaten perhaps four fries. He explained that he had two more dinners scheduled. That night, then, he was giving a number of New Yorkers the opportunity to tell a story about sitting down to dinner with the Mayor, which is almost the same thing as eating dinner with the Mayor. Adams eventually headed out to Brooklyn, where, among other things, he shopped for sweatshirts and visited a pop-up art gallery. At a party celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of hip-hop, he appeared onstage with Ice-T. Evan Thies, a key political adviser to Adams, recently described the months leading up to his client’s election as mayor, in 2021: “Within a year, we went from ‘Everybody hates the police—got to defund them,’ to the guy who wins is an ex-cop who is saying the opposite.” Thies’s sense of achievement is understandable. Of New York’s fifty-one City Council members, all but six are Democrats, and twenty-one are in the progressive caucus that considers police reform an urgent priority. The Mayor is a former Republican whose political character has been shaped largely by a police career. One can fairly think of his election as the N.Y.P.D.’s arrival in City Hall. If that points to potential virtues in an Adams mayoralty—indefatigability, perhaps; an alertness to working-class and outer-borough interests; trains running on time—it’s also easy to detect, in his administration, the N.Y.P.D.’s historical weaknesses. These include an immense appetite for deference, and a readiness to think of external scrutiny as an affront. Adams shares some rhetorical habits with Patrick Lynch, the combative, Trump-endorsing former head of the Police Benevolent Association, the biggest police union in the city. For Adams, criticism is “demonization”; investigation is “disrespect.” When I asked Thies about the mayoral campaign, he described a turning point, in 2018, when he heard Adams address a church congregation. Adams was then in his second term as Brooklyn borough president—largely a ribbon-cutting and mayoral-prep role. As Thies recalls it, Adams talked about how his diabetes scare, two years earlier, had led him to “a bigger-picture way of thinking about the world, and his place in it,” and how, as a police officer, he’d often scarfed down “a bunch of cheeseburgers from McDonald’s” without realizing “that this was a bad idea.” Thies was taken aback: “I thought, That might be the first vulnerable thing I’ve ever heard him say.” Adams, who joined the transit police in 1984, eleven years before it merged with the N.Y.P.D., has said that he felt the first stirrings of mayoral ambition in the early nineties. His former N.Y.P.D. colleague Corey Pegues, a drug dealer turned cop who, like Adams, grew up in South Jamaica, Queens, remembers hearing Adams talk about having “a twelve-year plan” to become mayor. Pegues told me, “Took a little more than twelve years. But, damn it, he did it.” In one of my conversations with Adams this spring, he said, “I never thought for one moment I was not going to be mayor. Never.” Adams retired from the N.Y.P.D. as a captain, in 2006. He went on to secure four two-year terms in the New York State Senate, representing a district in central Brooklyn. He was elected borough president in 2013 and 2017. But in six elections Adams had never faced a serious challenger, not even in a primary. Frank Carone, a lawyer and a Brooklyn Democratic power broker who became Mayor Adams’s first chief of staff, in 2022, recently explained how Adams had come to run unopposed in the 2013 primary. “We knocked some folks off the ballot,” he told me, in a businesslike way. “Some other folks, we spoke to.” Adams could be a powerful public speaker, but he had the unsmiling manner of a police officer who’s had about enough of your bullshit. As a first-term state senator, he made his mark by pressing for higher pay for state senators. (On the Senate floor, in Albany, he demanded, “Show me the money!”) A decade ago, he gave an address to graduating students at Medgar Evers College, in Brooklyn, in which, dispensing with celebration, he told them to smarten up. There was an echo of a billboard campaign that he’d launched in 2010, “Stop the Sag!,” which was ostensibly pitched at under-belted young men—“raise your pants, raise your image!”—but could also be described as a ploy for media attention. Adams, who around this time drove a BMW convertible and wore a thin strip of mustache, informed his audience that, as a public official, he met some of “the most intelligent, attractive ladies” in the city. He added, “And I’m not going to take you anywhere if you’ve got a tattoo on your neck with two cherries saying ‘Lick Me.’ It ain’t happening.” In 2018, Adams no longer had a mustache. He had recently bought an apartment with his partner, Tracey Collins, a New York City schools administrator. The long balcony of their home—toward the top of a thirty-one-story building in Fort Lee, New Jersey—offered a panorama of Manhattan’s skyline. It was minutes from one of the properties owned by Johnny Petrosyants and his twin, Robert, who in 2014 were convicted in a medical-billing-fraud case. Adams’s son had been brought up in Hackensack, New Jersey, where his mother, a former Daily News reporter, lived with her partner. Adams also owned two properties in Brooklyn: a co-op in Prospect Heights and a house in Bedford-Stuyvesant, whose basement apartment he kept as his own. By 2018, Adams and Thies were years into discussions about a mayoral run in 2021, when de Blasio’s second term would end. But they had barely discussed policy. “The message conversation really starts once you’re about to declare,” Thies told me, describing a path to City Hall that would have sounded familiar to a candidate running a hundred years ago. The first objective was viability: “It’s about building support politically, and knowing you’re going to be able to pay for a campaign—you know, the logistics, the machinery.” Adams, who had been registered as a Republican for several years at the turn of the millennium, and whose career had not been defined by sustained ideological commitments, was building an unusual coalition that came to include Black homeowners, Orthodox Jewish communities, and some key unions and real-estate interests. He’d set up an organization, One Brooklyn Fund, that accepted donations to finance events that promoted the borough—and promoted the borough president, too. Between columns of Brooklyn Borough Hall, he’d hung a banner showing his face. Adams had always presented himself as “a very in-control, powerful person,” Thies said. “Because he is! But that doesn’t always work in politics. You need to show you’re human—you’re like everyone else. You need to say, ‘I can lead you because I am you.’ ” Adams’s account of burger-scarfing was a useful “crack in the façade,” Thies continued. “That was the beginning of this process of unlocking his story in a way that we could then use.” Thies and Nathan Smith, a strategist who later became Adams’s campaign director, extracted more biographical material. “He wasn’t used to digging in his past like that,” Thies said. “It was ‘Eric, I know your family struggled when you were growing up. Tell me stories.’ ” In one conversation with Thies and Smith, Adams talked, laughing, about how his mother had always told him and his five siblings to be ready with a Plan B. Thies explained to me, “Eric said, ‘Sometimes she would send us to school with a garbage bag full of clothes, because she didn’t know if the marshals were going to come.’ Nathan and I were, like, ‘Oh, my God. That’s a striking visual.’ And it went into the stump speech.” So, eventually, did the phrase “I am you.” Thies also recalled Smith telling Adams, “Eric, you’re very attractive. Please smile more. Your base loves it.” Thies said that, in recent years, Adams has become “much more open—and, I think, happier and more centered.” He added, “There’s a little bit of therapy in running for office. It can make you reveal things to yourself about yourself.” Adams has thanked Thies for having “captured my voice.” Between 2018 and 2021, Adams appeared on dozens of podcasts with names such as “Plantstrong” and “Spiritual Shit,” and talked primarily about his response to diabetes. He sometimes recorded three or four episodes in a day. He attested to the power of turmeric, the importance of doing one’s own medical research, and the grim contents of his fridge at the start of 2016. “It was all processed,” he once said. “It was all heavy with sugar, heavy with fat, heavy with processed oil. And I just threw it all out.” He frequently allowed himself to be introduced as a vegan, and once or twice said that he was one. Adams proposed that, as mayor, he’d bring food issues into every classroom. “How many apples does it take to make a salad? That is math,” he said. Or, for geography: “Where does a banana come from?” When the pandemic began, Adams sometimes tied his food journey to that crisis. Before a vaccine was developed, he argued, rashly, that a diet like his enhances a person’s immunity, and that natural immunity is the “best defense against viruses.” (Unusually for an elected official, Adams had announced, at a public event in 2018, that he didn’t need a flu shot that year; he’d also said, falsely, that the “jury is still out” on whether the M.M.R. vaccine causes autism. Later, he didn’t hesitate to support the covid vaccines.) In pandemic-era interviews, Adams correctly noted that by mitigating preëxisting conditions he’d reduced his risk of severe illness from covid. But this led him to refer pitilessly to those less fortunate: an ambulance will be “taking your butt to the hospital, where you are going to die,” he said. The wellness conversations prepared Adams for the storytelling campaign to come. But a self-approving account of a personal transformation doesn’t exactly signal “I am you.” Adams’s clearer message was, as he once put it, “You could be the you you’ve always wanted to be.” When on the campaign trail Adams began describing himself as “perfectly imperfect,” it was with the implication that his imperfections were obstacles, such as dyslexia, that he’d already overcome. Later, in 2022, he had to deploy “perfectly imperfect” to stave off criticism, after Politico reported that Adams wasn’t a strict vegan: he ate fish. He initially denied this; he denied to me, untruthfully, that he’d ever claimed to be a vegan. His statements about diet continue to surprise. Adams told me, “If I see a piece of chicken, I’m going to nibble on it.” On the health podcasts, Adams was never coy about his political ambitions. But he also seemed to be claiming a place among inspirational speakers—to be a guru-in-training. In one conversation, Adams enthused about the way that, thanks to ted talks, YouTube, and podcasts, “an accumulation of believers are now at a centralized spot, out there in this place we call cyber.” He went on, “We’re going to start to see believers start to come together, and build these communities and these colonies. . . . That excites me—that I can go out and find other believers, and I believe our energy, our vibration, will start to deal with some of the major issues that have held us back.” If Adams was talking primarily about dietary views not embraced by the medical mainstream, he was also open to a broader agenda of woo-woo thinking. He once declared a “firm” belief in reincarnation, and described a previous life as an ancient Sumerian. Adams often brought up Joe Dispenza, the author of such books as “You Are the Placebo” (2014). Adams told me that Dispenza is still one of his favorite writers. Dispenza, a chiropractor by training, writes self-help books that draw on his scientific reading. “Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself” (2012) proposes an interconnectedness among people, across time and space, akin to quantum entanglement in particle physics. (Adams has publicly referred to quantum entanglement.) The book cites a paper that Leonard Leibovici, an Israeli medical researcher, published in the British Medical Journal in 2001. Leibovici had directed prayers, from afar, toward a randomized sample of hospital patients with infections. The results appeared to show that prayed-for patients had done better: shorter infections, fewer deaths. Dispenza doesn’t note that Leibovici’s paper was published in an annual holiday issue featuring experiments on absurd topics: unicycles, lost teaspoons. The absurdity in Leibovici’s paper, which was plainly satirical, was that he’d studied retroactive prayer: the measured infections had all run their course, fatal or not, years before Leibovici offered prayers. Dispenza tells readers the experiment shows that “our intentions, our thoughts and feelings, and our prayers not only affect our present or future, but they can actually affect our past.” Extending the self-help truism of creating a better future, Dispenza dangles the possibility of creating a better past. Afew weeks ago, I heard Adams speak at the Bethel Gospel Assembly, in Harlem. Adams, who has claimed a history of fighting in boxing matches, told the congregation, “I was so good in the gym—but I’d get knocked out in the ring.” In the spring of 2021, Adams made a campaign stop at Gleason’s, the Brooklyn boxing gym. As Adams’s hands were being wrapped ahead of a photo op, he was asked, “Have you ever boxed before?” “No,” Adams replied, adding that he’d sometimes punched a bag at his gym. The Mayor apparently reserves the right to mix incidents from his own life with material from his quantum lives: things that could have happened, or almost happened, or happened to someone he once met. All potentials exist simultaneously. An Adams untruth will not be outrageously grandiose and grifty, like those told by Representative George Santos. But Adams doesn’t just polish anecdotes. He is unusually ready to repeat things that are confirmably untrue, or that—in their internal contradictions, or avoidance of specifics, or mutability from one telling to the next—seem very likely to be untrue. There’s an echo of Donald Trump, whose messaging style Adams praised after the 2016 election. “All of those one-liners, it was nothing complicated,” Adams said. “Everybody else wanted to be so sophisticated and talk about their major plans of doing X, Y, and Z, and Donald was just A, B, C.” It’s a rare day when Adams doesn’t reference Desmond Tutu talking about the importance of fixing problems “upstream,” rather than “pulling people out of the river,” half-drowned. Tutu never said this. (The Mayor’s office noted that a Google search yields many attributions to Tutu.) Online, Adams has posted uplifting quotes falsely or dubiously attributed to E. M. Forster, Winston Churchill, George Eliot, Rosa Parks, and many others. Some people in New York politics seem to regard Adams’s untruthfulness as a quirk deserving little more than an eye roll—like de Blasio’s rooting for the Red Sox. “Cops sit in their patrol cars and they love to bullshit,” a veteran public official who has informally advised the Adams administration told me. But some of the Mayor’s autobiographical claims have a strange air of recklessness. Last year, after the murder of two police officers in Harlem, Adams made a speech in which he described having long carried, in his wallet, a small photograph of a police-officer friend who was murdered in 1987. A week later, Adams showed this crumpled keepsake to journalists. The Times recently reported that, in the days following the speech, City Hall aides had manufactured the wallet photograph by downloading an image from the Internet, then staining a print with coffee, to make it look old. Adams did not admit to the deception and attacked the paper for checking, before publication, whether he’d truly been the officer’s friend. Last summer, during a speech at a Dominican flag-raising ceremony in Bowling Green park, Adams ebulliently noted, “I may have been born in Alabama, but I’m Dominican, baby!” I heard Adams repeat the line six months later, at an event hosted by the New York congressman Adriano Espaillat. Adams’s mother was born in Alabama, but Adams was not—he was born in a Park Slope hospital. In 1968, when he was seven, the family moved to Queens. Adams’s mother, along with Adams and his siblings, began attending a local church. Adams has often said that they called it “the ‘Cheers’ church—everybody knew your name.” The sitcom “Cheers” débuted in 1982. Adams has said that, when he was six or seven, his father took him to Harlem on Saturdays, to hear a man giving fiery speeches. Only years later did he realize that the speaker was Malcolm X. In the first few years of Adams’s life, Malcolm X did make occasional high-profile speeches in Harlem, but he was not making regular Saturday appearances. When he was assassinated, in February, 1965, Adams was four. As Adams tells it, his adolescent years were marked by extreme highs and lows. He has often said that by the age of twelve he had an important role in New York’s networks of illegal gambling. Earlier this year, he declared, “I was one of the top illegal numbers runners in the city.” He has also said that when he was a teen he worked for tips as a squeegee guy—washing windshields at intersections—but couldn’t afford a squeegee. Adams once said to an interviewer, “When I played football for Bayside High School, we used to win championships all the time.” He told me that he never played football for Bayside. Adams has sometimes talked of the death of Clifford Glover, a ten-year-old shot by a police officer in South Jamaica, in 1973. Adams once said that, after the killing, he “was marching and leading the protests.” (The Mayor has also referred to the police killings of Randolph Evans, in 1976, or Arthur Miller, in 1978, as the start of his involvement in protests.) When Glover was killed, Adams was twelve; there’s no evidence that he led protests. Full Article: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/08/14/eric-adams-profile

The New Yorker: Eric Adams’s Administration of Bluster

The Mayor of New York City tells a personal story that is compelling and often untruthful. With a thin list of accomplishments so far, can he address the city’s problems?

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WABC 7 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=o63TcKk8ETQ

ABC News: NY Criminal Defense Attorney David Schwartz Talks About Daniel Penny Pleading Non Guilty

NY Criminal Defense Attorney David Schwartz Talks About Daniel Penny Pleading Non Guilty on ABC 7 NY

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Throughout his career, Denny Salas has been a stockbroker, a legislative researcher on Capitol Hill, a political consultant to members of Congress, a government affairs and political action committee manager for small-business manufacturing, a grant writer and development officer at a charter school, and a political candidate for local office. He serves on the NYPD’s 7th Precinct Community Council, as policy director for lower Manhattan’s United Democratic Organization, and as a county committee member and judicial delegate for the Manhattan Democratic Party. Recent accomplishments: Since Salas joined Gotham, he has helped deliver substantive victories. In Long Island, with AARP New York, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone issued executive orders installing age-friendly liaisons across relevant agencies to serve the 50-plus population. With the New York City municipal retirees, he helped lead the effort of having City Comptroller Brad Lander reject the mayor’s contract forcing municipal retirees into a Medicare Advantage plan, in addition to having City Council Member Charles Barron and Assembly Member Ken Zebrowski introduce legislation to protect the earned Medicare benefits of retirees. https://www.cityandstateny.com/power-lists/2023/07/whos-who-government-relations/388641/

City & State: Denny Salas named to City & State's Inaugural "Who's Who" in Government List

Since Salas joined Gotham, he has helped deliver substantive victories for our clients.

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CBS News YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=2MXlXAOmdao

CBS News - NY Criminal Defense Attorney David Schwartz Breaks Down Daniel Penny Manslaughter Charge

NY Criminal Defense Attorney David Schwartz Breaks Down Daniel Penny Manslaughter Charge on CBS 2-NY

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CBS News YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=JYc_DAXcsX4

CBS News - Man Acting Erratically On Subway Dies After Being Restrained. Legal Analysis With NY Criminal Defense Attorney, Former Prosecutor David Schwartz.

Man Acting Erratically On Subway Dies After Being Restrained. Legal Analysis With NY Criminal Defense Attorney, Former Prosecutor David Schwartz on CBS 2 NY.

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UAW is fighting back against strict Electric Vehicle Emissions Plan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXMMf7k8Fmc

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Vote on Netanyahu's Judicial Reform Bill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hQysth1B8Y

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Shai Franklin on how successful the US Treasury Secretary’s visit to China will be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJM_7yE3hMI

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Lauren Fix on why the EPA's Automobile Emissions Guidelines Won't Work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3UwHHlsJS0

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Will international community seek justice for Israel's latest attacks on Jenin?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cCKSVZRhUY

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New York, NY – The Comptroller’s Office declined to register the City’s contract with Aetna to transfer City retirees to a Medicare Advantage program for their health care coverage. A pending lawsuit, brought on behalf of retirees, questions the City’s authority to enter into such an agreement. Comptroller Brad Lander issued the following statement: “The Comptroller’s Bureau of Contract Administration carefully reviewed the City’s contract with Aetna and returned the contract to the Office of Labor Relations without registering it. Pending litigation calls into question the legality of this procurement and constrains us from fulfilling our Charter mandated responsibility to confirm that procurement rules were followed, sufficient funds are available, and the City has the necessary authority to enter into the contract. “As a matter of public policy, beyond the scope of our office’s specific Charter responsibility for contract registration, I am seriously concerned about the privatization of Medicare plans, overbilling by insurance companies, and barriers to care under Medicare Advantage. “I appreciate the work of the Municipal Labor Council and the Office of Labor Relations to negotiate improvements to the Aetna contract to address some of the concerns raised by retirees. However, the broader Medicare Advantage trends are worrisome. Recent investigations identified extensive allegations of fraud, abuse, overbilling, and denials of medically necessary care at 9 of the top 10 Medicare Advantage plans, including CVS Health, which owns Aetna. “As health care activist Ady Barkan wrote last month, noting that half of Medicare enrollees nationwide have been transferred from traditional Medicare to private Medicare Advantage plans: ‘Once corporations privatize every inch of the public provision of health care, we may never get Medicare back.’”

Comptroller Lander Declines to Register Medicare Advantage Contract Pending Litigation

New York, NY – The Comptroller’s Office declined to register the City’s contract with Aetna to transfer City retirees to a Medicare Advantage program for their health care coverage. A pending lawsuit, brought on behalf of retirees, questions the City’s authority to enter into such an agreement.

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Shai Franklin analysis of Prigozhin's video tantrum (TRT World)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOVgXH8HkAY

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Lauren Fix provides insight on car manufacturers removing the AM band from new models. Radio Interview: https://www.stitcher.com/show/tom-bauerle-show/episode/tom-talks-with-lauren-fix-about-car-makers-removing-am-radio-303326543

Bauerle Show: Tom talks with Lauren Fix about car makers removing AM radio

Lauren Fix provides insight on car manufacturers removing the AM band from new models.

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Has Trump’s indictment solidified him as the Republican presidential candidate for 2024?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-62_nNioCM

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Biden: Israel “can’t continue down this road.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU0FxKT7i78

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ABC News YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=_acQAa3fKxE

ABC News: Alec Baldwin To Be Charged In Deadly ‘Rust’ Shooting. Analysis w/NY Attorney David Schwartz

Alec Baldwin To Be Charged In Deadly ‘Rust’ Shooting. Analysis w/ NY Attorney David Schwartz

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Suspect In Violent, Unprovoked Attack In The Bronx Back in Custody After Being Released Without Bail

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AJYgGxBe-8

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The Arthur Aidala Power Hour With Guest Host Attorney David Schwartz & Guest Michael Cohen - Part 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYyzpz82bHA

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Gov. Hochul Goes On Bail Law Criticism. Analysis With NY Criminal Defense Attorney David Schwartz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C1CQktBJwo

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The Arthur Aidala Power Hour With Guest Host Attorney David Schwartz & Guest Michael Cohen - Part 4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRWk9BcmvrU

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The Arthur Aidala Power Hour With Guest Host Attorney David Schwartz & Guest Michael Cohen -Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdeCXYYc-TQ

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The Arthur Aidala Power Hour With Guest Host Attorney David Schwartz & Guest Michael Cohen - Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zhIN8xRCmo

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Corey Pegues on Going from Supreme Team Gang Member to NYPD Cop (Full Interview)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAOXxxz4tZ0

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Corey Pegues on NYPD Taking His Guns & Trying to Cancel His $150K Yearly Pension (Part 6)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNmrGcIJL6M

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The National Trial Lawyers is pleased to announce that David Schwartz of Gerstman Schwartz Law in Garden City has been selected as an NTL ‐ Criminal Defense ‐ Top 100 Trial Lawyer in the state of New York. This honor is given to only the top 100 attorneys in each state or region for their superior skills, qualifications, and results as criminal defense or civil plaintiff lawyers. Membership into The National Trial Lawyers provides recognition to these distinguished attorneys, and provides essential legal news, information, networking, and continuing education to trial lawyers across the United States. The National Trial Lawyers congratulates Mr. Schwartz for demonstrating superior qualifications, leadership skills, knowledge, and success. By combining resources, power, and influence, The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 is dedicated to preserving and defending justice for all. To learn more about The National Trial Lawyers, please visit: http://thenationaltriallawyers.org/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: THE NATIONAL TRIAL LAWYERS ANNOUNCES THE SELECTION OF DAVID SCHWARTZ AS AN NTL ‐ CRIMINAL DEFENSE ‐ TOP 100 TRIAL LAWYER IN NEW YORK

The National Trial Lawyers is pleased to announce that David Schwartz of Gerstman Schwartz Law in Garden City has been selected as an NTL ‐ Criminal Defense ‐ Top 100 Trial Lawyer in the state of New York.

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Gotham Cannabis Security – Your Reliable Security System (gothamcsc.com) NEW YORK, NY-- Gotham Cannabis Security & Compliance (GCSC) is a full-service, security firm committed to helping businesses safely thrive within the cannabis industry. With a unique combination of attorneys, public safety and compliance experts, international investigators, former law enforcement officials, and digital security experts, GCSC provides clients with the individual attention needed to ensure and protect their interests and where applicable secure government approval for their operations. GCSC’s unique and individualized approach to digital, legal, and structural safety is specifically designed to create a meaningful impact to any licensed cannabis operation in New York State.  With deep roots in law enforcement GCSC is proud to have strong relationships with all law enforcement agencies throughout New York because GCSC understands that security is critical not only to comply with regulations, but also to build the confidence of the host community. The GCSC expert team is led by President, Charles Ribando, a safety and security specialist with a distinguished career in law enforcement, Chief Technology Officer and digital services expert, Ed Eisenstein, Chief Legal Officer and prominent Criminal Defense attorney, David Schwartz, Esq., and Chief of Government and External Affairs, lawyer and lobbyist, Bradley Gerstman, Esq. The GCSC team of professionals specializes in providing businesses with the expertise and foresight needed to properly protect their product and financial interests in the following areas: Cannabis and Dispensary Services: recordings and color photography; immediate system outage notifications; on-site lighting, defense, and fortification; operations assessments; staff trainings Digital Security Services:  access control systems; backup power supply systems; commercial grade alarm systems (perimeter, duress, panic, and holdup); fire alarm & communication; HD security cameras at all points of entry/exit, vaults, and dispensing areas; intrusion detection software and motion sensors; network and system installation and integration; 24 Hour video surveillance and remote monitoring capabilities; failure notification system; still-photo imaging Digital Software Services: on demand crop data; Calculations (cost per gram); reporting systems—inventory & sales; METRC Compliance; management software for employees, patients delivery services, labeling, printing, packaging, and distribution, seed to sale compliance Business Protection & Consulting: compliance consulting; government relations support; legal protection and counsel; licensing assistance; operations advisement   Charles Ribando, President of GCSC stated, “the significance of our practice lies in the diverse expertise we offer clients operating within the cannabis industry. Gotham Cannabis Security & Compliance employs a multi-layered approach to protecting your interests as we handle all compliance requirements under one roof. After assessing both daily operations and the preparedness of your building, we will provide recommendations as it relates to on-site defense and fortification. This includes all specifications required by New York State for both manufacturing and dispensing facilities. Whether you’re growing or distributing, the future of your business depends on the safety of your product which is why at Gotham Security, we truly leave no stone left unturned.” Bradley Gerstman, Esq., Chief of Government and External Affairs for GCSC, stated, “from securing licensing and products, to physically and legally protecting your investment, our cannabis specialists know what it takes to succeed in this budding industry. With attention and adherence to all applicable regulations, we will design, implement, and execute security plans that protect your business at every stage of the game starting with the application process.” For more information please visit: https://gothamcsc.com/ ### Media Contact: Nicole Epstein 516-880-8170 nepstein@gothamgr.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE **GOTHAM CANNABIS SECURITY & COMPLIANCE ANNOUNCES FULL SUITE OF CANNABIS SECURITY SERVICES CATERING TO THE NEW YORK MARKET**

With a unique combination of attorneys, public safety and compliance experts, international investigators, former law enforcement officials, and digital security experts, GCSC provides clients with the individual attention needed to ensure and protect their interests and where applicable secure government approval for their operations.

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Seemingly every month, new, eye-popping figures are released as trade and investment between Israel and its new Gulf State partners skyrockets. The normalization associated with the Abraham Accords has provided an economic boon for Israel and its partners, the political turmoil in Sudan notwithstanding. But there has been a somewhat forgotten player that has yet to reap the rewards of its new relationship: Kosovo. While it isn’t recognized among the Abraham Accords series, the Trump administration served as agent for the Washington Agreement between bitter foes Kosovo (officially the Republic of Kosovo) and Serbia. On Sept. 4, 2020, Kosovo’s then-Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić signed and separately submitted to Trump declarations identical in wording and content, apart from their respective commitments regarding relations with Israel. Full Article: https://www.jns.org/kosovo-looking-for-piece-of-israeli-normalization-pie/

JNS - Kosovo looking for piece of Israeli normalization pie

Seemingly every month, new, eye-popping figures are released as trade and investment between Israel and its new Gulf State partners skyrockets. The normalization associated with the Abraham Accords has provided an economic boon for Israel and its partners, the political turmoil in Sudan notwithstanding.

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By Dana Kennedy Mayor Eric Adams’ former political rival Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa predicts that Adams might stand out at Monday’s Met Gala as much as Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez did when she wore her “Tax the Rich” dress last year. “He’s very much a message guy,” Sliwa said. “He wants to shine but he’s also the crypto king and his whole push now is to make New York to be the center of crypto. So he’ll be in a perfect, custom-made suit and wearing the Ferragamo shoes he loves but I wonder if also show up wearing a necklace with a Bitcoin on it. He’ll want to steal the show and he wants to generate money for the city the all the heavy hitters at the gala.” Maybe, but maybe not. City Hall is keeping a tight lid on what the city’s biggest fashion plate will be wearing to the gala — and who’s dressing him. They won’t even confirm or deny whether he’s attending. But several sources who have accompanied the mayor to what one called his his “home away from home,” the elite private club Zero Bond, say his many nights out with boldface fashionistas and other celebrities have just whetted Adams’s appetite for an iconic event like the Met Gala. “He’s been dying to go for years,” one of the mayor’s longtime friends told The Post. “So I’m sure whatever he’s planning to will be fabulous and it won’t be a conventional pinstripe suit. It might even be something great off the rack that he has tailored. I’ll tell you what, though, he’ll be dressing himself. People think he has a stylist. No way. I’ve been at his house when he dressed himself. He’s always been like this, even before he lost weight. He just has so much more of an ability to show off how he looks now.” Victor Mohan, of the city’s high-end Mohan Custom Tailors, has made “three or four” navy blue and charcoal gray bespoke suits for Adams since he was elected mayor, but isn’t involved in his Met Gala outfit. Adams first came to the shop in 2006 with the son-in-law of David Dinkins, but didn’t have anything made until this past November, right after he was elected mayor. Mohan said that an assistant of Adams’ at City Hall, who he called “the mayor’s fashion person,” arrived at the Madison Avenue store to scout it out. Mohan and Adams later pored over the materials they would use to make Mohan suits from scratch — fabric from Zegna, Loro Piana, Dormeuil and Scabal. The suits cost about $2,000 apiece, Mohan said. “In this climate where everyone has gone remote and everyone wants to go business casual, it’s good for people to watch the mayor and see how sharp he looks and how it good it makes you feel to wear a beautiful suit,” Mohan told The Post. “So the mayor isn’t just a great dresser, he’s an inspiring example to the city and what we hope to get back to.” Adams showed up at the Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors (sitting with Anna Wintour) Fashion Week shows in February. He’s also rubbed elbows with Mary J. Blige, Naomi Campbell, A$AP Rocky and Jon Batiste. He’s regularly spotted at Broadway shows (“Paradise Square,” “Plaza Suite”), hip bars and restaurants (Casa Cipriani, Brooklyn Chophouse) and parties like a recent Wells Fargo bash at One Vanderbilt, where he was pictured with Floyd Mayweather and model Cara Delevingne. ... Read the Full Article Here

NYC Mayor Eric Adams attending the Met Gala: ‘He’s been dying to go’

Mayor Eric Adams’ former political rival Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa predicts that Adams might stand out at Monday’s Met Gala as much as Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez did when she wore her “Tax the Rich” dress last year.

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Production managers who witnessed the power system in action call the technology a true “game changer” and a big step in helping meet the sustainability directives film and entertainment companies are striving to attain. New York, NY-- EcoSilent, whose mission is to power the future of the film industry with 1,000-Amp hybrid power systems that can deliver up to 12 hours of uninterrupted, silent and clean power to film base camps, along with its technology partner, ZeroBase Energy, LLC successfully conducted a proof of concept of their unique technology at SilverCup studios in NYC in December of 2021. EcoSilent’s vision is for a greener, cleaner New York, where noisy, dirty, diesel generators used in a variety of industries are replaced by highly efficient, clean, and silent hybrid powered generation systems that utilize state-of-the-art battery technology. As a result of the successful demonstration of technology and what they see as a large market potential, EcoSilent and ZeroBase Energy are producing the first commercial units which will be available in Summer 2022. Needless to say, film and entertainment companies are lining up to employ the first to come off the production line as EcoSilent looks to ramp to full scale production and begin to ween the industry from noisy, vibrating and ecologically damaging diesel generators. According to Mike Hartel, a long-time industry location manager, “The technology is truly a game changer for us and will help the film industry achieve its sustainability goals much faster than we previously thought.” Mark Lucas CTO of EcoSilent stated, “We are at an inflection point in history. We have the technology available to us to dramatically reduce the pollution footprint of an industry. This technology will better the quality of lives of the stakeholders within the film industry as well as the communities in which they operate”. Dani Strain, Chief Executive Officer at EcoSilent stated, “With each diesel generator we replace, we will be saving 50-100 gal./day of diesel fuel and 700 lbs./day of CO2. By 2026, should this technology be mandated in New York State, we will save 75% of all emissions driven by generators currently used in the film and construction industries.” John Brady, Chief Operating Officer at EcoSilent stated, “Our commitments in the film industry are solid and utilization of the technology will be immediate. Our team of New Yorkers is comprised of Industry leaders, savvy operational businessmen and businesswomen who are passionate about addressing the environmental challenges we face here in the state of New York.” Bradley Gerstman, Esq., EcoSilent Board Member and prominent New York State Attorney and Lobbyist stated, “As our elected leaders are advancing critical policies to meet New York’s ambitious climate change goals, EcoSilent and the Zerobase technology can credibly and pragmatically support New York’s movement toward green and clean energy.” For more information go to www.ecosilentpower.com ###

Ecosilent, Inc. Moves to Production of 1,000-Amp Hybrid Power Systems to Aid Film Industry’s Green Initiative after Successful Proof of Concept

Production managers who witnessed the power system in action call the technology a true “game changer” and a big step in helping meet the sustainability directives film and entertainment companies are striving to attain.

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The reported seven-and-a-half-hour gap in President Trump’s phone logs on January 6, 2021, is raising “intense interest” among the House Committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol that day. But whether it leads to any criminal charges is “the million dollar question,” say attorneys. “It does seem like the gaps are suspiciously tailored to the heart of the events. But we’re checking that out,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a Member of the House January 6 Committee, said Sunday. Criminal Defense Attorney and former Prosecutor Robert Schalk tells Political IQ, “Any time you’re talking a seven-hour window at the exact moment that the Capitol was being stormed, it’s a slap in the face to common sense that there’s not one phone call in and out of the White House.” We do know from previous reporting that the President did make calls to at least a few members of Congress during that 11:17am to 6:54pm window, including Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), Rep. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). That has led to the suspicion that Trump was using disposable, or “burner,” phones—which Trump quickly denied, but former NSA director John Bolton retorted wasn’t true, saying Trump had previously mentioned burner phones in his presence. Are Insufficient Phone Logs a Crime? But is having that gap in the Presidential phone logs—even during the January 6 attack—a crime? “The answer on its face is, no. There’s no crime to have that type of gap,” says Criminal Defense Attorney and former Prosecutor David Schwartz. “Is it common practice to have those phone calls logged and recorded? Absolutely.” However, depending on whom the former President called during that time period and what was said, Trump potentially could be facing a handful of crimes, including conspiracy or obstruction of justice, according to Schalk. There might also be criminal prohibitions against destroying records relevant to Congressional or federal investigations, or impeding or influencing investigations, which could lead to fines or imprisonment of up to 20 years. But to prove any of that, says Schalk, “There would have to be witnesses saying that they conspired to go off the grid with their phone calls because what was being discussed potentially would have resulted in a crime.” Which gets back to finding out who Trump called, if anyone, and what they said to each other. To do that, investigators will have to work backwards, according to Schalk. People who spoke by phone with the President would have to be subpoenaed or come forward voluntarily and give up their phone records, “kind of like peeling back the onion and working from behind.” The House Committee’s Subpoena Problem Several Trump White House Staffers have been subpoenaed by the January 6 Committee, including Presidential assistants Molly Michael and Nicholas Luna. But when it comes to getting some of the more high-profile witnesses to testify, the Committee’s subpoenas have been hit or miss. Former White House Adviser Steve Bannon, for instance, has been indicted on two counts of contempt of Congress for ignoring his subpoena. The maximum penalty for contempt of Congress is a $1,000 fine and up to a year in prison. “At some point it’s got to go in front of a judge and he’ll be compelled to testify, and he’ll have to testify truthfully,” says Schwartz. Or, he adds, “He could also plead the 5th Amendment during that testimony, so there are a lot of barriers still involved here.” ... Read the Full Article Here

$1M Question: Will Trump’s Phone Logs Gap Lead to Criminal Charges?

The reported seven-and-a-half-hour gap in President Trump’s phone logs on January 6, 2021, is raising “intense interest” among the House Committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol that day. But whether it leads to any criminal charges is “the million dollar question,” say attorneys.

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Lawrence Ray convicted on federal sex trafficking, extortion charges

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMGUinPT0vY

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Lawrence Ray convicted on federal sex trafficking, extortion charges

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMGUinPT0vY

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Justice Department Investigating Hunter Biden Business Dealings, Taxes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfIHs9wtOIA

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Jussie Smollett Sentenced To 150 Days In Jail. Legal Analysis with NY Attorney David Schwartz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEL7M0F1-04

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NEW YORK, NY- New York based lobbying firm Gotham Government Relations & Communications is once again setting itself apart with another area of practice, and this time, they’re focused on energy and infrastructure. “Whether you’re hoping to break ground on a new development project, expand your facilities in New York State, retrofit your fleet, or introduce a new energy platform, navigating the legal, legislative, and regulatory worlds of energy and infrastructure can be challenging,” began Brad Gerstman, Founding Partner at Gotham Government Relations. The attorneys, government specialists, and regulatory experts at Gotham have begun to advise energy companies, technologists, and providers, as well as real estate developers, construction companies, and subcontractors on a wide variety of concerns as they pertain to economic development, green energy incentives, adaptive land use, manufacturing, and job creation. In addition, they will continue to represent major developers and construction companies in all areas of business including proposals, planning, government outreach, and private capital. Working in tandem with their legal firm, Gerstman Schwartz LLP (“GS”), Gotham brings together integrated, multidisciplinary teams to advise project developers, investors, and industry participants on the legal issues that surround renewable energy. With regard to bidding, Gotham is fluent in competitive bidding proposals. “Members of our team have a history of actively participating in the selection process, and therefore, we understand better than anyone the criteria that distinguishes a winning submission,” said co-founding partner David Schwartz. “As we rapidly move away from fossil fuel in favor of green and renewable energy, we’re more eager than ever to continue guiding clients through the labyrinth of requirements, incentives, and regulations unfolding on both the State and federal level. Regardless of the project or plan, we are committed to providing businesses with the tools they need to secure every strategic advantage possible,” concluded Gerstman. About Gotham Government Relations Gotham Government Relations and Communications is a nationally recognized firm known for its unique approach to solving problems. Through an integrated strategy that includes lobbying, law, communications, social media, grassroots efforts, and industry expertise, they masterfully craft solutions designed to achieve client goals. Most recently Gotham was named one of "The Top 50 NYC Lobbyists 2021" by City & State. For additional information, please see http://gothamgrstg.wpengine.com/ ### Download the Full PDF Article Here

Gotham Government Relations is Changing the Game for Businesses Operating in Energy and Infrastructure

NEW YORK, NY- New York based lobbying firm Gotham Government Relations & Communications is once again setting itself apart with another area of practice, and this time, they’re focused on energy and infrastructure.

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A legal settlement in Connecticut this week between Remington Arms Company and the families of nine victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre marks the first time a gun manufacturer has been held liable for a mass shooting in the United States. But will this settlement have a profound impact on the gun industry? “I don’t think a new precedent has been set here because it’s really limited to the Connecticut law,” David Schwartz, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, tells Political IQ. “But I think a lot of states will be running to copy that Connecticut law.” Settlement Exposes Remington Target Marketing Strategy On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed 20 first graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newton, Connecticut using a Remington Bushmaster AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, among other weapons. The families’ lawsuit against Remington focused on its marketing practices. The plaintiffs argued that Remington had violated Connecticut’s Unfair Trade Practices Act, and alleged wrongful death by the gunmaker for selling military style assault weapons to the civilian market. As part of their settlement, the plaintiffs demanded (and received) access to Remington’s internal memos that will reveal how the AR-15 was marketed and advertised to consumers. “We can’t wait to share those documents,” Nicole Hockley, mother of six-year-old victim Dylan and co-founder of the charity Sandy Hook Promise, said during the news conference following Tuesday’s settlement. What’s already been revealed in discovery, according to David Pucino, Deputy Chief Counsel of the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, is the process the marketers at Remington went through “from violent fantasy made explicit,” to “implicit, more neutral” messaging. They’d start with a proposed ad slogan like, “Ice The Perp, Save The Hostage,” and end with a neutralized, final ad, “Rescue The Hostage,” rejecting the “Ice The Perp” line. Pucino tells Political IQ that the implicit message is that “you will, in buying this gun, take on the responsibility for shooting down mercenaries and placing yourself in military scenarios.” He further hopes to see whether the emails received in the settlement reveal what, if anything, Remington understood about the risks of gun ownership versus the messaging the industry put out that owning a gun keeps your family safe. And as a gun control advocate, Pucino is optimistic that targeting the marketing will make a difference. “I would imagine that every gun industry executive who’s responsible for advertising now is going to be looking very closely at their ads,” he says. “And my hope is that they’ll be more responsible.” Adds Schwartz, “Hopefully they’ll just change the way they do business. They’re still going to sell a lot of guns. Do they really need to market it that way?” For the record, attorneys for Remington have not been commenting on the case to the media. Repercussions on the Gun Industry Schwartz believes the fear of lawsuits in just one state alone could have a chilling effect on the gun industry. “I think they’ll see the writing on the wall where this could turn into thousands and thousands of lawsuits,” he said. And it wouldn’t necessarily be limited to mass shootings. But several states, including California and New Jersey, are considering consumer protection measures similar to Connecticut’s. And according to Pucino, while every state has some version of a consumer protection law, New York has adopted a law that specifically targets the gun industry. “It’s broader in that it’s not just about sales and marketing practices,” he says. “And that could potentially open the gun industry to lawsuits.” Mark Oliva, spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), a gun industry trade association, argues that the New York law punishes retailers for the “criminal actions of third parties.” He says it would put some 8,600 jobs at risk in the Empire State. Gun Industry Response Remington filed for bankruptcy in 2020. It was four controlling insurance companies that settled the Sandy Hook suit. The gun industry is framing Remington as a one-off. “This settlement orchestrated by insurance companies has no impact on the strength and efficacy” of federal law, the NSSF’s Oliva said in a statement. He believes that if Remington had brought the case to trial itself, it would have prevailed. But Schwartz argues that the settlement “is going to put a chill through the insurance companies that insure these [gun] companies, because it’s the insurance company that’s doing the payout.” Federal Gun Control Legislation Hits Walls Attempts by Congress to pass gun control legislation have mostly fizzled, including two bills to expand background checks that passed in the House but died in the Senate just last year. In the days immediately after Sandy Hook, a USA TODAY poll showed that just over half of Americans (58%) wanted stricter gun control laws, an uptick from previous polls. Since that 2013 massacre, there have been more than 2,400 mass shootings in the United States. Heading into this year’s midterms, however, gun control is not on the political radar, even among Democrats. “I think federal action is really important during a national crisis,” says Pucino. “I think that’s what our Constitutional system best can do,” but he sees the real battle occurring at the state level right now. There are currently 21 states that have measures in place making it legal to carry concealed without a license. Read the Full Article Here

Will the Remington Arms AR-15 Settlement with Sandy Hook Families Change the Gun Industry?

A legal settlement in Connecticut this week between Remington Arms Company and the families of nine victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre marks the first time a gun manufacturer has been held liable for a mass shooting in the United States. But will this settlement have a profound impact on the gun industry?

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David Schwartz Talking About The Illegal Cigarette Trade in NYC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmBBGIqboCY

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Close to 3,000 NYC Employees To Lose Job After Missing Vaccine Mandate Deadline.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xRJkAOshIw[/embedyt

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NEW YORK – January 24, 2022 – (Newswire.com) New York-based lobbying firm Gotham Government Relations & Communications is setting itself apart with its newest areas of practice: Gotham Ventures and Gotham Tech. “The world is changing, and we’re committed to evolving with it,” began Brad Gerstman, Founding Partner at Gotham Government Relations. Gotham Ventures is an area of our firm specifically designed to help movers and shakers disrupt, progress, and transform their industries without the interference of unnecessary regulation.” As one of the first lobbying firms to take on this area of focus, Gotham will utilize Gotham Ventures to navigate startups through the complex political and regulatory landscapes known to slow innovation. Offering regulatory, media, and political support, their integrated strategy and diverse range of expertise will help clients to focus on what matters most: market growth for their business. Similarly, the rollout of their second new area of practice, Gotham Tech, will ensure this same level of support for those pioneering the technology of tomorrow. “With Web 3.0 at the core of an extensive technology movement, it is clear that a struggle between possibility and regulation has emerged,” explained Gerstman. “In seeking to create a secure space that connects users and software without the use of intermediaries, Web 3.0 is ushering in an entirely new approach to commerce and exchange. Unfortunately, existing policies, government agencies, and legal foundations cannot keep pace. As a result, those operating within this new phase of the Internet are being required to comply with ill-fitting structures that often slow, prevent, and stifle innovation.” Whether navigating Web 3.0 or cryptocurrencies and blockchains, the experts at Gotham Government Relations will now offer clients individualized plans, advice, and inside understanding to successfully assimilate new technology into either their current or prospective business models. “Strategy is what we’re known for,” finished co-founding partner David Schwartz. “Clients seek out our services not only because of our expertise but because of our multifaceted approach to solving problems. It’s what we do best, and it’s what we will continue to do with these new areas of practice.” About Gotham Government Relations Gotham Government Relations and Communications is a nationally recognized firm known for its unique approach to solving problems. Through an integrated strategy that includes lobbying, law, communications, social media, grassroots efforts, and industry expertise, they masterfully craft solutions designed to achieve client goals. Most recently, Gotham was named one of “The Top 50 NYC Lobbyists 2021” by City & State. For additional information, please contact Brad Gerstman, ESQ. at (516) 880-8170 or email bgerstman@gothamgr.com. Media Contact: nepstein@gothamgr.com Press Release Service by Newswire.com Original Source: Gotham Government Relations Paves the Way for a New Generation of Business With the Launch of Gotham Ventures and Gotham Tech Read the Full Article Here

Gotham Government Relations Paves the Way for a New Generation of Business With the Launch of Gotham Ventures and Gotham Tech

New York-based lobbying firm Gotham Government Relations & Communications is setting itself apart with its newest areas of practice: Gotham Ventures and Gotham Tech.

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By CITY & STATE | JANUARY 18, 2022 The communications pros winning elections and burnishing reputations across New York. 38. Nicole Epstein, Bradley Gerstman & David Schwartz Senior Associate; Partner; Partner, Gotham Government Relations and Communications Education 853/4410 School Coalition, New York Association of Grocery Stores Company highlights: Placing critical stories in the press to bring much needed attention to the serious issue surrounding the lack of parity in education funding for kids with disabilities in New York. Read the Full Article Here

The 2022 Political PR Power 50

The Gotham Team placed among the communications pros winning elections and burnishing reputations across New York.

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Lawsuit alleges Buildings Department rife with racism By Kathianne Boniello A city Buildings Department chief allegedly bragged about knowing his local “neo-Nazis” and claimed black people shouldn’t be bosses, according to a shocking discrimination lawsuit filed by 10 black agency inspectors. Jerry A. Wiggins, 54, of Long Island, allegedly used a hand gesture — rubbing the back of his wrist with two fingers — to symbolize skin color differences; claimed DOB vehicles were “greasy and smelled” after being used by black employees; and slammed their “attitudes, work ethic or productivity,” according to the legal filing. Wiggins, and DOB Marshal Salvatore Agostino, were cited in the court papers filed by the black DOB inspectors and investigators — who claim rampant racism in the department allowed white and light-skinned coworkers to get unearned promotions or escape discipline, while blacks were “passed over … or pushed out because of their race.” Eric Taylor, 56, who is black and one of the few people in the case who has since left the DOB, joined the department in July 2017 as an investigator probing illegal conversions of buildings, tenant harassment and construction-site safety. “I loved it,” he said of the work. He was eventually transferred to Agostino’s unit, where “we were given a cold shoulder. The environment was very tense. They did not want us there, these non-black inspectors and bosses. “I never worked around such a racist and discriminating group of individuals,” he added, noting Agostino wanted black subordinates to call him “sir.” “I never saw any white counterparts talk to him in that fashion,” Taylor said. He and other black investigators were denied proper uniforms, including boots needed to visit construction sites; passed over for promotions handed to white or light-skinned workers who failed civil service exams; and targeted if they became ill, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit. One of the workers believes she miscarried due to the “unnecessarily high burdens and stress she experienced while working with DOB.” Another said they had their department vehicle taken away after having knee surgery. Taylor — who is battling prostate cancer — was given a surprise field evaluation about six weeks before he was fired in October 2018. He wasn’t given a reason for the termination. Read the Full Article Here

Lawsuit alleges Buildings Department rife with racism

A city Buildings Department chief allegedly bragged about knowing his local “neo-Nazis” and claimed black people shouldn’t be bosses, according to a shocking discrimination lawsuit filed by 10 black agency inspectors.

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District: Displaced Prospect School students to start classes Monday By Keshia Clukey The 2018-19 school year will begin Monday for kindergarten and pre-K students of Prospect School displaced because of severe damage from a lightning strike, Hempstead school district officials said Wednesday. The district had been awaiting approval from the state Education Department on its lease with the Diocese of Rockville Centre for St. Catherine of Sienna School in Franklin Square, where the students are to remain through June. The approval came Wednesday morning, setting off a flurry of activity as school staff and teachers prepared their classrooms for 530 kindergartners and at least 72 pre-K students, said Nicole Epstein, a spokeswoman for the district. Interested Prospect School parents and guardians can tour the Franklin Square school, located at 990 Holzheimer St., on Friday, said principal Carole Eason in a letter sent to parents Wednesday and posted on the district’s website. On Monday, kindergarten students will be picked up at 7:30 a.m. from their home schools, and pre-K students from their assigned bus stop, according to the letter. The distric scrambled to find a new location after an Aug. 7 lightning strike set the roof of Prospect School on fire. Damage from the blaze and water used by firefighters made the building unusable this school year. Repairs are expected to be completed by mid-March of 2019. All other students in the district began classes Sept 5. District officials have been providing updates to parents through emails, letters, the district’s website and fliers posted in the community. The Village of Hempstead also sent out a robocall to residents in English and Spanish, officials said. Read the Full Article Here

District: Displaced Prospect School students to start classes Monday

The 2018-19 school year will begin Monday for kindergarten and pre-K students of Prospect School displaced because of severe damage from a lightning strike, Hempstead school district officials said Wednesday.

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Bus companies feeling the impact of remote learning By Connor Linskey Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, many school bus drivers have been getting paid while others have not. Although the health crisis caused schools to close, many bus drivers have been getting paid and are working to deliver meals as well as information packets. Local private bus companies such as Rolling V Transportation in South Fallsburg and Mid-City Transit in Middletown can still serve districts while schools are closed due to COVID-19. Despite President Donald Trump signing a $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package that includes a provision aimed at ensuring school district employees remain on payroll during school closures, anxiety continues to build among student transporters, especially those who aren’t getting paid or have been recently furloughed. School district funding allocations in many areas were reallocated as soon as schools closed. This caused many drivers to be laid off, which denied them from earning health benefits. When schools reopen this fall they will face the difficult task of retaining bus drivers who have left to find other jobs. Nicole Epstein, a spokesperson for the New York School Bus Contractors Association, pointed out in April that about half of school bus drivers in the state had not been paid during the pandemic. A shortage of bus drivers is nothing new for schools in New York State. Many schools look to hire each year, however they are seeing a greater impact because of the pandemic. New York Association of Pupil Transportation Executive Director David Christopher noted that part of the problem is the driver demographic. Many school bus drivers are retired and their age and medical condition may put them at a greater risk of contracting the virus. Like every transportation company in the nation, Orange County Transit LLC in Maybrook has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company buses students in the Wallkill and Valley Central school districts. Wallkill paid the company a negotiated discount. At this time, Valley Central had not paid Orange County Transit LLC, however the two are trying to reach a settlement. In preparation for the upcoming school year, the transportation company is working with all the school districts they serve, the Orange County Health Department and guidance from the state. Students will wear masks while being transported. Deep cleaning procedures will take place in order to keep students and drivers safe. “Every day going into this is going to be an adventure and a challenge for everybody including the children,” said Orange County Transit LLC Owner John Mensch. “We are all asked to do our best but we gotta follow the guidelines and that’s what we’re doing. Until we actually physically go back I don’t know what it’s gonna be like and if we’re even gonna be able to stay open if people get sick.” Mensch said his company has not laid off its drivers during the pandemic. Michael Pacella, assistant superintendent for business at the Pine Bush Central School District, noted that the district has been paying their bus contractor Birnie Bus Service, Inc. during the pandemic at a lower negotiated figure. Read the Full Article Here

Bus companies feeling the impact of remote learning

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, many school bus drivers have been getting paid while others have not.

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