In this week’s Monday Morning Minute, Jack O’Donnell unpacks a high-stakes week in New York and Washington. NYC Mayor Eric Adams faces ongoing legal jeopardy as a judge weighs whether to drop federal charges—a rare situation with political consequences, including a possible special election. Meanwhile, Governor Hochul is battling the Trump administration over efforts to shut down congestion pricing, a vital funding stream for the struggling MTA. A growing fiscal crisis looms, with billions in needed transit investments at risk. Back in Albany, a corrections officer wildcat strike continues despite legal challenges, while in D.C., budget negotiations are gridlocked as Congress scrambles to avert a shutdown by March 14th. The episode closes with a tribute to Irish peace advocate Bic McFarlane and a reminder that more state budget hearings and federal developments lie ahead.
Summary of this Episode
Guests
- Joanna Pasceri: Director of Communications at O’Donnell and Associates.
- Jack O’Donnell: Managing Partner at O’Donnell and Associates.
Major Topics Covered
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- Mayor Eric Adams Legal Uncertainty: A federal judge is reviewing the DOJ’s request to drop charges against NYC Mayor Adams, with potential outcomes ranging from dismissal to a special prosecutor and even a special election if Adams steps down.
- Congestion Pricing Showdown: The Trump administration is working to shut down NYC’s congestion pricing plan—Governor Hochul and the MTA have responded with a federal lawsuit, setting the stage for a major legal battle.
- MTA Faces Financial Crisis: The loss of congestion pricing revenue could create a $15 billion hole in the MTA’s already underfunded $33 billion capital plan, threatening public transit upgrades and accessibility.
- Corrections Officer Strike Stalemate: A wildcat strike continues across NY prisons despite a federal injunction. The Governor’s office remains quiet on negotiations, and no resolution appears imminent.
- Federal Budget Deadlock: As the March 14th funding deadline nears, infighting among Republicans and tense negotiations with Democrats raise the risk of a government shutdown.
Full Transcript of the Episode
Note: This is a generated transcript. Please excuse any typos.
Joanna Pasceri (00:01)
Hi everyone and thanks for joining us from the lobby with Jack O’Donnell. Welcome to another edition of our Monday Morning Minute, the podcast version of our award winning newsletter, Monday Morning Memo. It’s when we turn to Jack, managing partner of O’Donnell and Associates and author of our Monday Morning Memo for more insight into the topics featured in this week’s newsletter. New York City Mayor Eric Adams on thin ice tops our memo this week.
Jack O’Donnell (00:12).
Joanna Pasceri (00:29)
A judge is still considering whether the federal government can drop charges against Adams and Governor Hockel for now is leaving him in office. So let’s bring in Jack for a deeper dive on this. Hi, Jack, and welcome to the podcast.
Jack O’Donnell (00:44)
Hi Joanna, interesting times in which we’re living, huh? Interesting times.
Joanna Pasceri (00:50)
Never a dull moment. Never a dull moment these days. The mayor’s fate is now in the hands of a judge who will determine if the federal government can drop the charges against him. How is the court case playing out and when could there be a verdict?
Jack O’Donnell (01:07)
Well, interesting. You know, just like everything else going on in the world, what’s happening in New York City is very unusual. So as we know, the Department of Justice made a decision to drop the case against Eric Adams in spite of a number of resignations.
The Department of Justice asked the judge to drop the charges and the judge basically said, let me think about it. And the whole thing is very unprecedented. We also had the acting assistant attorney general appear in person in New York City courtroom, which frankly never happens. You had the mayor appearing in person in the courtroom. Just sort of strange goings on, but the the judge, although a lot of folks are really saying he doesn’t have an enormous amount of leeway here to make different decisions, has said that he basically wants to explore what his options are. So he appointed a new attorney, a former US Solicitor General, to weigh in and provide a different.
Joanna Pasceri (02:28) you
Jack O’Donnell (02:31)
Point of view considering the prosecution and the defense right now are on the same side. that sort of exploration of the case, that exploration of options is due, I believe, on the 7th of March. And then the judge set aside March 14th to hear oral arguments on this if necessary.
So, we’re going to hear more then, but until then, we’re all kind of really on hold here, holding our breath to see what the judge decides.
Joanna Pasceri (03:12)
What do you think happens next if the judge decides the charges should stay against Adams?
Jack O’Donnell (03:20)
Well again, this is pretty unprecedented. I think the only option, and this would be a little unusual, or very unusual, is that the judge could appoint a special prosecutor. Whether that, I mean a decision of that magnitude would be immediately appealed also by the Department of Justice. But I think…you know, be hard for the judge to order the department to continue with the prosecution when they’ve been very clear that they don’t intend to go forward. sort of changing things up and bringing some other parties into this, which again would be totally unprecedented, seems to be the only possible path.
Joanna Pasceri (04:07)
The governor decided against removing Adams from office for now, instead has increased oversight into the mayor’s office. Once a verdict is rendered, how do you think Hochul will respond?
Jack O’Donnell (04:19)
Well, I think it depends a lot on what happens here. If the Department of Justice and the judge agrees with them and the charges are dropped, I expect to see the governor kind of move forward with her kind of middle of the road plan, which is what she announced last week, sort of kind of oversight of the mayor’s office, some additional powers.
For some of the mayor’s partners in city government to basically stand up for New York City residents under the premise that if he’s too tied to the Trump administration, Eric Adams won’t. On the other hand, if they move forward with a trial and he’s convicted, mean, that changes everything, right? A trial, whether he’s acquitted or convicted would would be a lot more definitive and more of a guide for some of these folks.
Joanna Pasceri (05:19)
You did describe this very well in the memo this week, but if Mayor Adams has to leave office, what is the process for selecting a successor?
Jack O’Donnell (05:28)
Yeah, well, the key date here, I think, is March 26th, which before that period, if the mayor’s office is deemed vacant, then there would be a special election. It would be a nonpartisan election. It would happen in about 80 days.
And that would mean that there would be no primary. So Democrats, Republicans, blanks, conservative working family would all vote. And it would be a rank choice election, which is a pretty interesting New York City innovation. But that’s what would happen next.
Joanna Pasceri (06:14)
And that is the top vote getters. Then move forward. There’s a certain threshold for that, correct?
Jack O’Donnell (06:19)
not well one of one of them would win so what happens in in rank choice voting as you go in and say Joanna Pasceri is my number one and and Jack O’Donnell is my number two and until one candidate gets fifty percent of the vote they just keep removing the bottom person and then their their second votes go to whoever’s left until until they push someone over over fifty percent.
Joanna Pasceri (06:49)
Quite a process, indeed. Another week, another controversy between New York and DC. Now the Trump administration is following through on its threat to shut down congestion pricing. Governor Hockel is fighting back. Who wins?
Jack O’Donnell (07:05)
Well, usually the federal government wins a lot of these fights. know, President Trump has been very clear that he wants to end congestion pricing. He appointed Mark Molinaro, former congressman from the Hudson Valley, to a department of the Federal Highway that has a lot of sway over.
On the program like congestion pricing most of the at least the republican members of congress in new york at the very clear they want to end congestion pricing and the governor of new jersey and and new jersey bipartisan congressional diet delegation have have been very clear they want to end this and there are even several members democratic members of the state assembly in state senate you know who were happy to see this go that said, once again, and we keep using this word way too much these days, but the federal government rescinding this approval is unprecedented. And the MTA and Governor Hokel were very prepared and have already filed a lawsuit in federal court saying that it’s too late for the Trump administration to do that.
Joanna Pasceri (08:03) .
Jack O’Donnell (08:24)
once again will be kind of waiting to see what the court’s do the other thing that that republicans have up their sleeve is that you know between the president and the senate in the house they control all the the levers of the federal government and so after they had made these threats there was speculation of of different levers are mechanisms they would use to end congestion pricing so we even if
Joanna Pasceri (08:29)
Jack O’Donnell (08:51)
a judge says they can’t do it this way by rescinding the approvals it’s quite possible that they could threaten to zero out other transportation funding or or find some other levers of government to try to push their policies so we’ll see what happens but you know usually the federal government wins out at the end
Joanna Pasceri (09:13)
So what do you think the potential fallout would be for the MTA if they can no longer depend on revenue from this?
Jack O’Donnell (09:20)
Yeah, this would be another big hit to the MTA that’s already suffering from a long period of disinvestment. But also, the MTA has proposed a capital plan over the next five years that was vetoed by the state legislature and an obscure state board, the public authorities board because there was no funding behind it. So even in the $250 billion state budget, that MTA plan is facing a $33 billion gap already. If you add this other $15 billion that they expect to get from congestion pricing, pretty soon you’re talking real money here. And this is real repercussions. You know, the MTA needs to buy new buses, they need to buy new trains, they need to put in on the elevators and and make stations and the eighties a couple of compatible you know they’re under a consent decree did to do some of that and i think riders are are crying out for for uh… this investment so on the last time the mt a kind of walked away uh… more the state government uh… walked away we had uh… that infamous summer of hell uh… in the transit world in in New York city so
Joanna Pasceri (10:24)
Jack O’Donnell (10:44)
I think everybody is trying to avoid that, how they pay for it remains to be seen with or without congestion pricing.
Joanna Pasceri (10:53)
Another headache for the state now week two of a corrections officer strike across dozens of New York’s prisons. You outline the demands COs are making in our memo this week. Does the governor negotiate at all?
Jack O’Donnell (11:07)
well I do think that there are ongoing talks between the governor’s staff you know the the department of corrections and and some of the at least the union that that represents the corrections officers what what makes this really complicated is that this is not a authorized strike the union didn’t start this it’s what we call wildcat strike and now there’s a federal injunction under New York’s Taylor law that says on that’s ordering these folks back to work or or otherwise the strike is is illegal so sort of complicated about can you even negotiate and how that goes and I also don’t you know for at the governor’s level that that that she wants to do that you know or give them that that kind of attention so you know this is a really tough one especially since some of their their demands are things that I don’t expect the the the Hochul administration to do. So I don’t know. I don’t see this ending anytime soon.
Joanna Pasceri (12:13)
Well, let’s turn now to the budget wrangling in Washington.
Funding runs out March 14th as you laid out in the memo, Republican lawmakers aren’t all on the same page, not to mention the Democrats. So can a solution be reached here?
Jack O’Donnell (12:29)
I, you know, for the difficulty that Governor Hochul is facing and dealing with New York City, with the state legislators, with corrections officers, and with the Trump administration, it all seems a lot easier than being Speaker Mike Johnson and trying to balance the really narrow Republican majority in the House.
I don’t know that anything can be reached, certainly not anytime soon. I think we’re going to come up against one of these other sort of last minute will they, won’t they, who’s going to blink first. Republicans have been out there already saying, what’s wrong with Democrats? They’re going to shut down government. And Democrats are really quick to point out that Republicans have the presidency and both houses of Congress.
Joanna Pasceri (13:22).
Jack O’Donnell (13:24)
Really it’s it’s their job to keep things open you know how this plays out we’re seeing a broader broader divisions among the republican majority around reconciliation and and kinda how that works in and the house bill versus the senate bill and you know how deeply you caught and how deeply you’re willing to spend it to to have tax cuts a lot of tough and difficult policy decisions. I suspect that with the popularity of President Trump and the way that most Republicans fear him or fear a primary, that they’ll get to a resolution. But I don’t think it’s going to be before March 14th, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some length of a shutdown.
Joanna Pasceri (14:17)
Stand by for more on that.
So what are you keeping an eye on this week for next week’s memo?
Jack O’Donnell (14:23)
Well, it’s still going, right? All these things. I think watching what’s happening in DC on Tuesday, there’s some Republican House votes around the House resolution about trying to move forward. Some of those are real tests on Speaker Johnson and kind of where we’re going with this bill. So we’ll be watching that while also budget hearings continue here in New York. Tuesday as the higher ed budget hearing and then a few more to come this week.
So really we’re watching the dollars and cents here.
Joanna Pasceri (15:02)
Do you have a favorite news link this week?
Jack O’Donnell (15:05)
You know, on a Saturday note at the end of our memo, there was a link to my friend, Bic McFarlane, who passed away this week playing some music. Bic was an Irish Republican nationalist, a hero, a freedom fighter, but also one of the biggest advocates for the peace process and peace and reconciliation in in Ireland and sorry to see him go.
Joanna Pasceri (15:39)
A nice tribute. check it out. Thanks so much for that deeper dive, Jack. News is breaking fast on both the state and federal levels. Stay up to date with our award-winning Monday morning memo. Information and insight all in one place. Check it out on our website or get it sent right to your inbox. Subscribe by heading to odonnellsolutions.com.
That’s odonnellsolutions.com. Thanks for joining us for this Monday Morning Minute. We’ll be back from the lobby with Jack O’Donnell.
