In the conversation, Joanna Pasceri and Jack O’Donnell discuss several key issues. They delve into the New York Police Benevolent Association’s (PBA) campaign for state retirement benefits after 20 years of service, which was vetoed by the Governor. The PBA’s billboard campaign is debated as potentially ineffective. They also discuss a court ruling declaring unconstitutional a new state law moving local elections to even years, with concerns about partisanship and turnout. Additionally, they touch on former President Trump’s upcoming rally in New York City, questioning its strategic value. Lastly, they mention a tight presidential race and the potential impact of upcoming congressional elections, with a focus on swing districts in New York.
Summary of this Episode
Guests
- Jack O’Donnell: Managing Partner at O’Donnell and Associates
- Joanne Pasceri: Director of Communications at O’Donnell and Associates
Major Topics Covered
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- Analysis of Recent Political Developments: Examine the key political events and decisions that have occurred in the past week, assessing their implications for both local and national landscapes.
- Impact of Policy Changes on Constituents: Discuss how recent legislative or executive actions are affecting various communities, highlighting both positive outcomes and areas of concern.
- Upcoming Legislative Sessions: Preview the agenda for upcoming legislative sessions, focusing on critical bills and debates that are expected to take center stage.
- Political Strategy Insights: Provide an insider’s perspective on the strategies political parties are employing in response to current events, including campaign approaches and public messaging.
- Engagement Opportunities for Citizens: Highlight ways in which citizens can become more involved in the political process, such as upcoming town halls, public forums, or advocacy initiatives.
Full Transcript of the Episode
Note: This is a generated transcript. Please excuse any typos.
Joanna Pasceri 00:00
Welcome back, everyone. Thanks for joining us from the lobby for our Monday morning minute, the podcast version of Monday morning memo, our popular weekly newsletter. It’s when we check in with Jack, managing partner at O’Donnell and Associates and author of our memo for a closer look at the issues written about this week. Clash with New York’s executive chamber is our top story for October 14. The Police Benevolent Association in New York State is going on the attack over a retirement bill the Governor vetoed. So let’s bring in Jack to talk more about it. Welcome Jack.
Jack O’Donnell 00:37
Hi, Joanna, thanks so much for having me on Monday morning minute.
Joanna Pasceri 00:42
Excited to talk about this week’s memo, the PPA wants full state retirement benefits after 20 years of service, instead of the current 25 years. For State Park Police and University Police, I would say, like second rung law enforcement officials. And this year, the PPA took a bold move over this issue, buying up billboards that read, “Help Wanted”, new governor needed. What do you think of this tactic, and was it more a hindrance than a help?
Jack O’Donnell 01:12
Well, it’s, you know, it’s an interesting tactic, and I’ll say maybe not. Second year, ancillary, right? Law enforcement. I mean, look, I think they have watched as retirement benefits and decreases in your service requirements continue to expand throughout law enforcement. Law enforcement is always, or almost always, I should say, politically popular, and so we’ve seen a steady expansion of their benefits. You know, I think people, and we’ve seen this with our own clients, we’ve seen it more broadly, is that people get frustrated, and they weren’t making any progress, seemingly being nice, so they decided to take it the other way. This is an interesting time where law enforcement is one of the biggest issues of the day in politics across the state. It was a big issue in the governor’s re-election campaign, so it’s a big deal when some of these law enforcement folks are are challenging her that said, I can’t imagine that this sort of public spat is going to move their issue forward, and I think they saw that in the veto.
Joanna Pasceri 02:35
So why do something so visible and volatile like that?
Jack O’Donnell 02:40
You know, I guess two answers to that right, one, one is right is to change the dynamic. Right? I mean, one of the things the governor has said is, this was vetoed three other times, and without any any changes to the bill or broader negotiations. You know it was very likely to be to be vetoed again. So you know you need to try to change that paradigm and change the conversation if you’re going to advance so at the same time, you know the folks who lead these law enforcement unions are subject to their own membership. You know who can be very frustrated with the process and and want to see something happen, and so you put those two things together, and you get people to blow up like this again. I don’t, I don’t think in this case it’s going to be that effective. But you know, this isn’t the only case, right? We’ve seen and we’ve covered this, even though it seems to have died down a little on the Transport Workers Union have been very critical of the governor, the folks who work on the subways, and that’s an ongoing fight. So more to come on this Joanna.
Joanna Pasceri 03:54
Where do you think this issue goes from here? And do you think the relationship between the two are forever marred?
Jack O’Donnell 04:00
Well, you know, they’re back at square one in January, right? I mean, that’s one of the things about Albany, is that if your bill doesn’t get done, you’ve got to just kind of start over. And I think they’re going to have to find some way to kind of reset, or they’re just not going to get the benefits they’re looking for.
Joanna Pasceri 04:21
Also, this week, a controversial election issue, a new state law moving local elections to even years, was declared unconstitutional in court. So what’s the reasoning behind this issue? And is it now dead in the water?
Jack O’Donnell 04:35
Yeah, this is another really sort of delicate one. I mean Democrats in the legislature pass this law with the goal, they say,of expanding the electorate. We see much higher turnout in presidential years and then in other even years, and we see the least. Are now in odd numbered years. And so the sponsors, the supporters of this legislation, have said, that’s not good for democracy, and so we should move the election so more people are voting. Those odd numbered years are when local elections are, you know, municipalities, counties and things like that, towns, villages, and the turnout is much lower, and so the sponsors have pushed this as a way to get a much higher turnout. A lot of the folks who lead local governments have pushed back really hard on that, because it’s hard enough to get anyone to pay attention to your town issue or your village or your water board issue, but it’s much harder when there’s a presidential election on to get people to cover those things and and to be very blunt, a lot of folks think this is a effort by Democrats to just win a lot of those elections by getting that other turnout, Democratic turnout spikes in in those even number years. And so a number of folks on the other side of it has seen it as blatantly partisan. So I think this has the ways to go in the court, it was struck down at the Supreme Court level, which, as you know, is the trial court level here in New York. But there are a couple appeals to that and and sort of the crux of the argument is the state constitution allows the counties to set their local elections. And to be clear, this, maybe it’s not clear even when I when I tried to explain it, but this only applies to most offices, not to all of them. There are constitutionally mandated offices that it would take a constitutional amendment to actually change. So there’s going to be a lot more written on this, both in terms of what the courts do. We know Democrats are going to appeal it, and then they’re also moving that legislation to try to do a constitutional amendment, and that may be what it takes to get this done.
Joanna Pasceri 07:12
So this new state law remains on hold until something changes.
Jack O’Donnell 07:17
Correct, correct, and we’ll see how quickly the courts move, because that’ll have a big impact on when or if anything takes effect.
Joanna Pasceri 07:26
Well, Turning now to the presidential campaign trail, former President Trump announcing he is holding a rally in New York City this month. We’re a state that’s really not in play in this race. So what’s the strategy here? Does he really have a chance to win New York State?
Jack O’Donnell 07:42
I don’t think so. Joanna, I mean, I think there are a lot of folks, and certainly a lot of folks in professional politics, that have a lot of questions about why Donald Trump does the things he does, and people who work for him that get very, very frustrated with that at the same time, that’s one thing that his supporters love about him, that he sort of is unorthodox, does things that you don’t expect of a traditional politician that said, I do not see the electoral benefit to this other than you know, it’s an opportunity for Donald Trump on a very big stage in the media capital of the world to kind of poke poke at Democrats. You know, some Republicans will have justified this as as an attempt to help the congressional races that are in the New York City suburbs, couple house races that go a long way towards determining control of the House, but any real impact in those races, I think, is going to be negligible.
Joanna Pasceri 08:47
And just want to throw this in there. A new poll out today shows a dead heat in this presidential race. Do you ever recall a presidential race this tight?
Jack O’Donnell 08:57
Well, I think it’s not all that different from four years ago. What’s interesting is, I think if you look closely, eight years ago is when we really started to see Hillary’s vote trail off right around now, about three weeks out, and you start to see, maybe some people saw it at the time, but certainly in retrospect, warning signs about what the polls meant for who was going to win in 2016 but this is, this is a really tight race, and you know it’s, it’s just where the country is today. You see that not just in the presidential race. You see it in how close the House of Representatives is and how close the United States Senate is.
Joanna Pasceri 09:45
Speaking of which we are rolling out an election day digest in our Monday morning memo leading up to election day onthe high stakes congressional races in New York that could shift the balance of power in Washington. So what can our readers expect from this?
Jack O’Donnell 09:59
Yeah, we’re trying to go in a little more depth on the real swing districts in the state. Our Hallmark here is to try to present as much information, data intelligence for our readers. And so we’re going to try to really do that same thing on the most important races across the state.
Joanna Pasceri 10:21
Looking ahead to next week. What are some political happenings that you are keeping an eye on?
Jack O’Donnell 10:27
We’re going to continue following the race for the White House, the race for the House and the Senate. You know, it certainly looks as if the Republicans have have taken the lead in the polling, including in Montana, which would give them, if those results hold a 5149 advantage in the Senate. We’ve seen some leaked internal Republican polls there that also show you know, Democrats ahead, but, but all of these races, or so many of these races within the margin of error, so we’re going to continue to watch that closely for for the next three weeks.
Joanna Pasceri 11:09
And would like to know what your favorite read is this week in our news links?
Jack O’Donnell 11:13
Yeah, there were some really, really good ones this week. One of them that maybe flew under the radar was called conservatives looked for more power and possible Senate GOP majority and and, like I mentioned, there’s a real good chance that that Republicans take control of the United States Senate. And I think the Senate, you’ve seen a lot more from the leadership on down, on the Republican side, much more centrist or or more moderate leadership there, and so Republicans, certainly conservative Republicans, are trying to position themselves to have almost a veto over what the majority does, sort of similar what the House Freedom Caucus has done in terms of holding the speaker’s feet to the fire. I’m trying to make sure conservative issues are front and center, because of the way that the Senate works differently from the house in terms of unanimous consent and and a lot of other things. This could really, really change how that body operates going forward. And so reading that and watching that closely.
Joanna Pasceri 12:22
Interesting perspective there. Well, Jack, thanks so much for the deeper dive into this week’s Monday morning memo. Are you getting the memo in your inbox each week? It’s very easy to subscribe. Just head to our website at O’Donnell solutions.com that’s O’Donnell solutions.com thanks for joining us for our Monday morning minute we’ll be back from the lobby with Jack O’Donnell.
