Albany’s budget talks are stalling, New York City’s new mayor is recalibrating his approach to the governor, and Washington’s airport crisis has hit home with a deadly runway collision. On this episode of From the Lobby, host Joanna Pasceri sits down with Jack O’Donnell, managing partner of O’Donnell & Associates, to unpack a turbulent week in New York and federal politics — from the climate-target protests rocking the Capitol and the New York for All immigration fight, to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s retreat from a property tax hike threat, the underwhelming gubernatorial bid of Republican Bruce Blakeman, fresh scrutiny over Congressman Mike Lawler’s campaign spending, and bipartisan efforts to break the TSA funding stalemate.
Joanna Pasceri
What’s happening with budget talks? How is Washington responding to the pressure to fund TSA? And on the campaign trail, is Governor Hochul’s opponent already doomed? Hi, everyone, and thanks for joining us from the lobby with Jack O’Donnell. This is where we make sense of a hectic week in politics and government with Jack O’Donnell, managing partner of O’Donnell & Associates. He’s tracking the moves and giving us an insider’s take. Jack, welcome back from the lobby.
Jack O’Donnell
Joanna, great to be with you again this week.
Joanna Pasceri
Let’s start with that budget battle. Governor Hochul hitting the road with appearances in western New York this week talking affordability and again pushing for changes to the state’s climate targets. Protests over the changes are getting heated in Albany with several arrests yesterday. What does all this say about negotiations on the issue?
Jack O’Donnell
I mean, look, this is an important issue and certainly one, as you mentioned, the arrests, the protests, an issue that a lot of folks care about. I think there are a lot of New Yorkers who sort of are where the governor is on this, that these climate goals are very important and that it is essential that the state take real concrete steps towards achieving them. But at the same time, not at the risk of bankrupting folks already under a lot of pressure, not at the risk of forcing businesses out of New York and not at the risk of further damaging the attractiveness of New York’s business climate. So I think the governor being in the middle here is where a lot of New Yorkers are.
But we’ve talked on this podcast and in our Monday Morning Memo a few times, a lot of the Democratic Party’s energy right now and liveliness comes from that left. And the further left, the louder they are. So I think that’s kind of what you’re seeing here, that there are some groups, some people, some activists who care really deeply about this. And there are members of the state legislature who feel the same way. But I also feel like there are a bunch of legislators who are kind of in the middle on this, too, that they’ll sign a letter and don’t want to look like they’re out of step, but at the same time recognize where the state is. So I think the governor is going to get most or all of what she wants on this issue, but it’s going to take a little more time to kind of work through.
Joanna Pasceri
We’re also hearing immigration policy has become a sticking point in these talks. What’s causing the slowdown? Can we get this done?
Jack O’Donnell
Well, hopefully it’ll get done eventually. Increasingly, I’m leaving Albany now and increasingly pessimistic about when that might be. Immigration, this New York for All proposal and sort of how much, how little the state interacts with ICE and interacts with Homeland Security — man, it is just a really complicated issue. I think if you ask people if they want ICE to have access to all their information and be going to schools and arresting people, most people would say no. At the same time, if you said, do you want your police force to make sure ICE can arrest a violent murderer who is hiding in your community? Most people would say yes.
So trying to find that line and then being able to translate that line into legislative language or something that is going to work and at the same time be a little bit flexible. How do we protect New Yorkers from violence while also protecting some of our neighbors and friends who are here more recently? It’s just another delicate balance, Joanna.
Joanna Pasceri
Well, turning to New York City now, Mayor Mamdani has a new approach. He’s dropped the threat of a property tax hike and is now focusing on finding cuts to his own budget to deal with the deficit. What’s changing here?
Jack O’Donnell
A couple things. He still has a little more work to do on those cuts. But we talked about this when he made the threat and the first announcement — for a guy who ran just an incredible political operation, a really transformative campaign, he kind of rolled out some of his governing, at least on his dealing with New York State, much more in a traditional or retread way. And I don’t think it was effective.
For the first time in a long time, New York has a governor that is interested in working with the mayor. We’ve seen that over the last couple mayors with this governor, with Kathy Hochul working with Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams and now Zohran Mamdani. So it’s a different relationship and not one that is going to respond well to threats. I think we’ve also heard, at least privately, that the governor herself was not pleased at how this was rolled out and the threats, and I don’t think they were effective. And so you see him redialing his strategy here, and more to come as this process plays out.
Joanna Pasceri
Let’s shift now to the governor’s race. The GOP trying to prove differently, but most polls show Republican candidate Bruce Blakeman still way behind Kathy Hochul in electability and in fundraising. Doesn’t look promising. Is there still a path forward for him?
Jack O’Donnell
I still think it will get closer as we go through the year and get closer to Election Day. A lot more voters will pay attention. But no, I mean, it isn’t much of a race. Not seen a lot of liveliness or aggressiveness from Bruce Blakeman. And we have not seen him much around the state. We have not seen him really picking some issues to get at to make it a race.
And so I’ve talked to a number of Republican elected and party officials across the state who privately are not pleased with the way the campaign has gone. And I think that’s reflected in the public polling, the independent polling that you’ve seen. Anybody can find a poll that’ll tell you what you want to hear. That’s not the same as an independent or objective poll. You add a few extra from your side to the survey and you can get some numbers. But the president is not very popular in New York, and Republicans have picked a candidate who is not well known and has not adjusted well to the campaign trail. And you’re seeing the results of that.
Joanna Pasceri
Another name in the headlines, Congressman Mike Lawler. Reports out this week say campaign money was spent on luxury items like limos, high-end meals, even boat charters. How damaging is this report, especially in this crucial election year?
Jack O’Donnell
It certainly doesn’t help, Joanna. And we see this often. The fair side of me says, look, if you look deeper, is the boat charter a fundraiser? We’ve got several state legislators who will do fundraisers on these boats that go up and down the Hudson outside of Albany. Are the hotels at conventions or meetings or for donors, big meetings where you raise money? There’s some people getting AOC for some similar stuff. So I don’t know that in the real world it is a big deal, but it is a big deal in a campaign and in a district that, even if Lawler is the favorite, we expect to be close. If we can’t trust you with how you spend your campaign money, how can we trust you with federal dollars? So every hit hurts a little. And we’ll see how much that little matters in November.
Joanna Pasceri
Let’s head to Washington now. Major airports are a mess. Travelers are frustrated with gridlock, and there’s been a tragic collision on a New York City runway. What’s being done to solve this problem and get TSA agents paid?
Jack O’Donnell
Yeah, what a terrible tragedy. And just feel terrible for those pilots and their families and other passengers. But you’ve got to be looking twice about whether you want to fly somewhere. That’s damaging for the economy and difficult for real people here. And I feel like when real people start to feel the pain, that’s when they start forcing elected officials to make better decisions and make some compromises.
Hopefully some of that’s moving. We definitely have seen reports that there are discussions underway. We heard from some Republicans in the Senate on a possible deal. There’s been some work by what’s called the Problem Solvers Caucus, which is half Democrats, half Republicans, some moderates, including New York’s own Tom Suozzi, with some proposals to try to get things moving. It’s certainly not moving quickly, and it’s gonna hurt until the folks in Washington can find a way to work together. But this is another one where you’ve got the far right and the far left and they are very far apart. But again, hopefully the public being engaged and saying something leads to some movement.
Joanna Pasceri
We’ll look forward to reading more about it in next week’s Monday Morning Memo. Jack, always great to hear your perspective. Thanks for joining us.
Jack O’Donnell
Joanna, great to be with you.
Joanna Pasceri
From the lobby, a lot is still up in the air. Budgets, campaigns, policy fights. From New York to Washington, D.C., we’ll keep watching where it all lands. And if you want to read on it each week, check out Jack’s Monday Morning Memo, his no-paywall newsletter that gets to the heart of what’s happening. Sign up is easy — just head to odonnellsolutions.com. Thanks for listening, everyone. We’ll see you next time from the lobby with Jack O’Donnell.
