Former 'Jeopardy!' contestant challenges Rep. Hoyer, emphasizing age difference
Younger Democrats are calling out older ones in the party for staying in office for too long. A former 'Jeopardy!' contestant is now challenging Rep. Steny Hoyer and making their 50-year age difference a massive part of his campaign. Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky and former Romney presidential campaign advisor Kevin Madden join Chris Jansing to share their political analysis.
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Politico
9 minutes ago
- Politico
Watchdog group calls for probe of Andrew Cuomo's campaign
NEW YORK — A government reform group is urging campaign finance regulators to investigate Andrew Cuomo's relationship with a lobbying firm providing him free campaign services and to consider stripping the mayoral frontrunner of millions of dollars in public matching funds. Common Cause New York filed a complaint Tuesday with the city Campaign Finance Board, alleging consulting services provided by Tusk Strategies — a prominent New York City-based lobbying company — amount to thousands of dollars of in-kind contributions well above the city's stringent limits. The letter also notes Tusk paid for two mayoral race polls, which were released ahead of Cuomo's campaign launch and showed him leading the pack — helping to solidify the perception of inevitability that he relied on to secure early donations and endorsements. 'There is no indication that the spending for these polls, which appear to have been conducted in direct coordination with Cuomo's campaign, have been adequately reported to the Campaign Finance Board or counted against Cuomo's primary spending cap,' reads the letter. The complaint follows reporting by POLITICO that Tusk Strategies CEO Chris Coffey has worked as an unpaid advisor to Cuomo and handles outreach to the city's politically influential Orthodox Jewish leaders. His business partner, Shontell Smith, is Cuomo's political director and is being paid directly by the campaign. She has been working in 'a personal capacity,' according to a campaign spokesperson, and the letter notes she continues to be paid by Tusk. Common Cause alleged Smith's work for the campaign is 'effectively subsidizing' her pay and 'may undermine the intent of the CFB's strict spending limits.' 'As reported in POLITICO, Tusk Strategies and its principals have been actively involved in promoting and supporting Andrew Cuomo's mayoral campaign in ways that suggest coordination and in-kind donations that have not been properly disclosed,' Common Cause Executive Director Susan Lerner wrote in the letter. Lerner is demanding the regulatory board conduct a 'prompt and thorough examination.' 'We believe that such an investigation will lead the Board to the same conclusion that we have arrived at: the seriousness and the persistence of the violations by the Cuomo campaign demand that the campaign be required to refund all matching funds and be disqualified from receiving any further public funds,' Lerner concluded. Cuomo, who will take the debate stage Wednesday night as the overwhelming favorite ahead of the June 24 Democratic primary, has received $3.2 million in public matching funds. He's being assisted by a well-funded super PAC that is barred from coordinating with his campaign. Fundraising and spending for Cuomo's comeback bid have come under scrutiny since his late entrance into the Democratic primary. Campaign finance regulators have accused Cuomo and the super PAC, Fix the City, of improperly coordinating and last week fined him $675,000. The board in April withheld more than $600,000 in public matching funds on similar grounds. Regulators suspect Cuomo used a 'red boxing' strategy of passing information to Fix the City on his campaign website for preferred messaging and strategy. Cuomo's campaign and the super PAC have insisted they are adhering to campaign finance laws. In response to Lerner's charges, Coffey said his firm routinely conducts and releases polls. 'In all instances, the polls we have commissioned over the years are not done in coordination with, requested by, or shared with any campaigns. We've done at least four in the last 12 months on a range of political and public policy topics,' he said. He also said his work for Cuomo — both the Orthodox Jewish outreach and media advice — follow his career-long pattern of volunteering for political campaigns, which he said is 'in accordance with CFB rules.' 'As this election cycle progressed I began volunteering with the Cuomo campaign as well, just as I did with Chris Quinn's 2013 mayoral campaign,' Coffey said. 'I do not generally provide paid services to individual political candidates, and haven't in four years.' (Coffey ran Andrew Yang's 2021 mayoral campaign.) In his statement, he acknowledged Smith continues to work for Tusk's clients while being paid to consult for Cuomo's campaign. 'To suggest otherwise is demeaning, absurd and runs contrary to the experience of our clients. Ask anyone In the capital in the last four weeks,' Coffey said. In her letter, Lerner asked about the particulars of Smith's arrangement with the Cuomo campaign, whether Tusk disclosed or registered any campaign-related expenditures like the two polls and whether Cuomo has reported any coordination with Tusk or its partners. The head of Honan Strategy Group, which conducted the two polls in question, has penned op-eds touting Cuomo's strength with voters. Cuomo campaign spokesperson Rich Azzopardi knocked Lerner and the group's spokesperson Alexis Grenell as 'longtime Cuomo antagonists (who) know they can't beat Andrew Cuomo at the ballot box' and referred to this letter as 'cynical attempts at election interference.' He also cited other campaigns' work with lobbyists, though Coffey's arrangement is unique given that he is not being paid. 'Individuals are permitted to volunteer on campaigns without it being considered a contribution,' Azzopardi said. 'And for months, many entities — including an anti-Cuomo PAC with no discernable sources of funding, AARP, an outside group looking to support anyone but Cuomo, and apparently the Working Families Party — all did polls and publicly released them.' POLITICO obtained slides from the Working Families Party's poll over the weekend. The third party, which is running an anti-Cuomo slate, then followed up with further information about its survey. 'We understand early voting is in 11 days and our opponents will try any tactic possible to slow our momentum, but it won't work: New Yorkers know Andrew Cuomo is the only candidate in this race with the experience, record of accomplishment and vision to get the city back on track,' Azzopardi said. Tusk Strategies is also running a 501(c)(4) called 'Restore Sanity NYC' whose literature mirrors Cuomo's campaign messaging — including a photo of the renovated LaGuardia Airport, a project he oversaw as governor. The group's structure allows for its donors to be shielded from public view for the duration of the race while raising and spending unlimited amounts of money. A Tusk Strategies spokesperson said Coffey was walled off from being involved with Restore Sanity NYC's effort. An April 16 document reviewed by POLITICO memorialized the arrangement preventing Coffey and Smith from coordinating with the group while they are working on Cuomo's campaign.
Politico
16 minutes ago
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New Jersey mayor sues Trump ally Alina Habba over charges
The mayor of New Jersey's largest city is suing the Trump administration for 'malicious prosecution,' after federal prosecutors dropped a criminal charge against him for allegedly trespassing at an immigrant detention facility. Attorneys for Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who is one of the six Democratic candidates running for governor, say interim U.S. attorney Alina Habba 'directed and ratified the unlawful arrest' of Baraka. Then, they say, Habba acted as a 'political operative,' defaming him in inflammatory statements on social media and in TV interviews. 'Habba was not serving in a prosecutorial function when she acted with DHS agents in the scheme to arrest Mayor Baraka,' according to the lawsuit, filed Tuesday morning in U.S. District Court in Newark. The suit seeks an unspecified amount of 'compensatory damages for pain, suffering, stress, humiliation' and other purported consequences of the episode, in addition to punitive damages. Baraka was arrested for allegedly trespassing last month at Delaney Hall, an immigrant detention facility owned by a private prison company and recently opened under the Trump administration. The charge was later dropped for what Habba said was the 'sake of moving forward.' Habba has also charged Rep. LaMonica McIver, a New Jersey Democrat who visited the facility to conduct oversight on that day, with federal felonies for allegedly assaulting two federal agents.
Fox News
24 minutes ago
- Fox News
House Dems urge GOP to condemn DHS for handcuffing Rep Nadler staffer, order Noem to testify
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter Tuesday requesting House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to condemn the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for "forcefully" entering Rep. Jerry Nadler's congressional office and handcuffing a member of his staff. The letter, sent by Nadler and fellow House Judiciary Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., disputes DHS' claim that agents were doing a "security check" at Nadler's office. "We therefore urge you to bring the Secretary of the DHS, Kristi Noem, before our Committee immediately to answer our questions about her agency's irresponsible and dangerous actions," the House Democrats said in the letter. Nadler and Raskin said the video released from the incident reveals agents handcuffed a staffer and demanded access to "non-public areas" inside Nadler's office without "asking about the safety and security of his staff." "These types of intimidation tactics are completely unwarranted and cannot be tolerated. The decision to enter a congressional office and detain a congressional staff member demonstrates a deeply troubling disregard for proper legal boundaries," Nadler and Raskin said. The House Democrats are urging Jordan to condemn the incident and requesting DHS Secretary Kristi Noem testify before the House Judiciary Committee. "We call on you, as Chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary, to condemn this aggressive affront to the separation of powers and the safety of Members of Congress, our staff, and our constituents," Nadler and Raskin said. DHS previously told Fox News Digital the Federal Protective Service (FPS) officers who entered Nadler's office were responding to reports that protesters were inside Nadler's district office in Manhattan. There was a protest outside an immigration courthouse in the same facility as Nadler's office. "Based on earlier incidents in a nearby facility, FPS officers were concerned about the safety of the federal employees in the office and went to the location to ensure the safety and wellbeing of those present," a Homeland Security spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "Officers identified themselves and explained their intent to conduct a security check. However, one individual became verbally confrontational and physically blocked access to the office," the spokesperson added. "The officers then detained the individual in the hallway for the purpose of completing the security check. All were released without further incident." The House Democrats refuted the spokesperson's claim in the letter and criticized the incident as a larger issue within President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. "Sadly, this incident is part of a broader pattern by President Donald J. Trump and DHS of using unlawful, chaotic, and reckless tactics in communities across America, as they threaten and intimidate children, members of the clergy, students, as well as Members of Congress and their staffs," they said. Nadler slammed Trump for "sowing chaos" in a statement released Saturday. "The time is now to halt the use of these illegitimate tactics and to ensure that DHS complies with the law and with the norms of common human decency," Nadler and Raskin conclude in the letter. DHS did not immediately provide a comment.
