Limo crash puts spotlight on regulations — HTC flexes muscle in House midterm elections — DAVID PATERSON for Public Advocate? Presented by Facebook

You’re heard it before, right? New York is over-regulated. New York gets in the way of commerce. New York punishes and exploits the job creators.

Maybe it’s true. Maybe not. But here’s what we know for sure — over the weekend a limousine that was demonstrably unsafe, driven by somebody who should not have been behind the wheel, ran a stop sign in the upstate town of Schoharie and now 20 people are dead, including four sisters. And all the rules and all the regulations that are designed to prevent these kinds of tragedies were helpless in the face of what appears to be appalling negligence and greed.

There are still lots of questions about how it happened and why, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo summed up the situation succinctly, even as investigators pored through the wreckage and autopsies were being performed on the victims. The limo, the governor said, “was not supposed to be on the road.” The driver, Cuomo said, “did not have the appropriate driver’s license to be operating that vehicle.”

They came from the town of Amsterdam, most of them, and they hired a ride to take them to and from a party in Cooperstown because that is what government encourages us to do, rightly. Don’t drink and drive. Hire a ride. And so they did.

What they may not have known is that in the state of New York, so often portrayed as a capital of regulation and rulemaking run amok, it is possible for a company with a sketchy record to offer an unsafe vehicle for hire, and it is possible that this hulking beast of a car will be driven by somebody without proper training. Few people are aware that stretch limousines don't roll off the factory line that big — they're often SUVs or cars that have been chopped up and stretched, leaving them in a kind of regulatory no-man’s land, in which they don’t have to meet stringent safety standards. Inspection systems vary wildly among the states.

If this story tells us anything, it tells us once again — hardly for the first time — that all those rules and regulations have a story behind them, and exist for a reason, even when they are evaded and avoided. They exist because the past is littered with the remains of those who have died because of a wink and a nod, a corner cut, a procedure ignored, all in pursuit of an extra dollar.

The owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village didn’t bother to install rudimentary safety procedures — these things cost money — and so when a fire broke out on the factory floor in March, 1911, more than 140 workers died.

There was outrage, and then there was change in the form of rules and regulations.

But still, in a small town in Montgomery County this morning, scores of grieving relatives and friends are asking how it is that their loved ones were allowed to ride in a limo that was unsafe, driven to their deaths by an unqualified driver.

And none of the answers makes any sense.

IT’S TUESDAY. Got tips, suggestions or thoughts? Let us know ... By email: [email protected] , and [email protected] , or on Twitter: @nahmias , and @dlippman .

WHERE’S ANDREW? In New York City with no public schedule.

WHERE’S BILL? At the SAGE Center, where he’ll be signing legislation to allow people to attest to their gender identity on their birth certificates. In the evening, he’ll deliver remarks at the Latino/Hispanic Heritage Reception at Gracie Mansion.

FRONT PAGES

Today’s Tabloids: — New York Post: “Should never have been on the road”— Daily News: “$10M FOR NOTHING”— See Them: — Newsday: “LIMO TRAGEDY”— El Diario New York: “Que pasa con los almuerzos”— Translation: “What’s up with the school lunches”— See Them

Today’s Free Papers: — AM New York: “ARGH”— Metro New York: “TOUCHING A SERIOUS TOPIC”— See Them

Today’s Broadsheets: — New York Times: — 1 col., above the fold: “CLIMATE WARNING HITS SILENT WALL ON TRUMP’S DESK”— 1 col., above the fold: “TRUMP AIDE EYED DECEPTION PLAN TO TILT ‘16 RACE”— 1 col., above the fold: “Seeking Mercy From the U.S., At 2 Years Old”— Wall Street Journal: —1 col., above the fold: “Google Hid Data Breach for Months”— 4 col., above the fold: “U.S.- China Strains Deepen”— 3 col., below the fold: “Trade Fight Spurs Tariff Dodges, With 18,927 Options”— See Them

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I sleep with a gun underneath my pillow: a Walther PPK/S, the same one James Bond carried...[My wife] Margo prefers a shotgun. Although, once, she thought she heard something, got the shotgun out and shot through the door.” —Gristedes owner and former New York City mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis, in a New York Post article about how rich Hamptonites are installing panic rooms in their mansions and homes to protect themselves from MS-13.



A message from Facebook: Visit Facebook's Voting Information Center today Facebook is building the largest voting information effort in US history, starting with the new Voting Information Center, where you can find the latest resources about voting in the 2020 election. Our goal is to help register 4 million voters. Visit our new Voting Information Center now





2018 MIDTERMS

EXCLUSIVE: HTC HITS THE MIDTERMS — POLITICO’s Janaki Chadha: A new ad buy from the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council, a major player in city and state politics, is targeting a handful of highly-watched congressional races in New York and New Jersey. The $2 million campaign, which will begin running Tuesday, is looking to boost Democrats in five congressional races that are seen as potential pickups for the party in the midterm elections. For the union, which has had significant clout in local races, the seven-figure buy marks a shift towards wielding its influence at the national level.

The ads will target Republican incumbents Reps. John Faso, Claudia Tenney and John Katko in New York and Reps. Leonard Lance and Tom MacArthur in New Jersey. The union, which has about 40,000 members, says the $2 million sum—in which about a quarter of funding is coming from its national counterpart Unite Here—was prompted by federal threats to its priorities. Read more here .

WHAT ALBANY'S READING

CAMPAIGN FINANCE FILINGS BEGIN TO COME IN — Reports that will provide the first picture since July of what the financial race looks like in this year’s general election are going up online... Republican gubernatorial nominee Marc Molinaro reported raising $448,000 since mid-July, spending $1.1 million, and having $211,000 remaining in the bank...Those totals put him behind other major party gubernatorial nominees of recent decades: 2006 Republican candidate John Faso had spent $1.4 million during the comparable filing period, and 2010 nominee Rob Astorino spent $2.6 million. The Wall Street Journal is reporting , via a campaign spokeswoman, that Cuomo’s filing will show he has $9.2 million on hand.

—The Senate Republican Campaign Committee’s hard money account has received $1.5 million in contributions, spent $2.2 million, and has $2.3 million remaining. The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee hasn’t filed yet, but the Daily News says it’ll report raising $1.35 million. Among the individual races in which both candidates already have filings online, Sen. Carl Marcellino was outraised by challenger Jim Gaughran in what is shaping up to be a very expensive race, while Sen. Elaine Phillips has outspent challenger Anna Kaplan $409,000 to $93,000 in recent months. Democratic Assemblyman James Skoufis had $314,000 left in the bank compared to Republican Tom Basile’s $33,000 in the race to replace Sen. Bill Larkin. — POLITICO’s Bill Mahoney

— The widow of the police officer murdered by Herman Bell cut an “emotional campaign ad ripping Gov. Cuomo for Bell’s release from prison and then giving him the right to vote. The 30-second ad featuring Diane Piagentini is bankrolled by Cuomo’s Republican opponent, Marc Molinaro.” New York Post’s Carl Campanile]

HELLO, COLUMBUS: “New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said...Monday that he is nominating the controversial statue of Christopher Columbus in Manhattan to the National Register of Historic Places. The announcement came as the governor marched in the Columbus Day Parade, where hundreds of people lined Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, cheering and waving Italian flags...Inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places would protect the Columbus statue from further threats of removal, according to a spokesman for Mr. Cuomo..” Wall Street Journal’s Katie Honan

AVELLA STAYS IN — “Sen. Tony Avella said Monday he’ll attempt to retain his seat by running on two minor-party lines after losing a Democratic primary last month to former New York City Comptroller John Liu. Avella (D-Queens) was one of six members of the renegade Independent Democratic Conference – a group of Dems who had formed a partnership with Republicans to keep the Senate in GOP control – who lost primaries to a mainline Democrat in September. But, so far, Avella is the first only one to say he’ll stay in the race. ‘After listening to my fellow residents I cannot simply walk away from the battles we have fought together to keep our quality of life and maintain the character of our neighborhoods,’ Avella said...Avella... has the backing of the Independence and Women’s Equality parties.” [Newsday’s Yancey Roy]

SENATE DEMS HOPEFUL — “One seat. That's all it will take to win or lose control of the state Senate. With Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo the overwhelming favorite to win in November and Democrats poised to hold their supermajority in the state Assembly, the big question on Election Day is who will emerge with control of the 63-seat upper house of the state Legislature, which Republicans control by one vote. ‘We have one seat to defend and about a dozen that we can flip, and we only need to flip one,’ said Democratic Senate Campaign Committee Chairman Mike Gianaris. ‘We’re feeling pretty good.’” [TImes Union’s Dave Lombardo]

— Check out the paper’s interactive graphic here.

DAVID PATERSON AND DOUGLAS DURST WALK INTO A BAR...“Former Gov. David Paterson thought he was just going to dinner with high-powered friends. Instead, Tony James of the Blackstone Group and real-estate magnate Douglas Durst tried to talk him into running for mayor. ‘Now I’ll be suspicious of every dinner I’m invited to,’ Paterson told me after the gathering at Holy Ground, the new barbecue mecca in Tribeca. His friends suggested that Paterson run first for public advocate. The job will open up in January if current Public Advocate Tish James wins her election next month, as expected, for state attorney general. A flock of Democrats are said to be lining up for the special election to follow. But Paterson, who ran for public advocate in 1993 (and lost in the primary to Mark Green), said he told them, ‘I have name recognition already.’” [New York Post’s Richard Johnson]

WHAT CITY HALL IS READING

DE BLASIO TO HOMELESS: ‘I CAN’T DO THIS NOW’ — Park Slope Patch’s Kathleen Culliton: Mayor Bill de Blasio was stretched out in butterfly position at the Park Slope YMCA when a homeless woman asked him to provide more housing for people like her. ‘I'm doing my workout,’ video shows de Blasio telling the 72-year-old woman before he stands up and walks away. ‘I can't do this now.’ Nathylin Flowers Adesegun was one of dozens of VOCAL-NY advocates who appeared at the Ninth Street Y Thursday to demand the mayor make 30,000 affordable housing units available to homeless New Yorkers. ‘He made it clear that his morning workout was more important to him,’ Adesegun said. ‘Am I just supposed to stay homeless?’ Read more here .

— Last night the mayor insisted it was the YMCA’s rule against filming , and not the interruption of his butterfly stretch, that caused him to react so dismissively to a homeless woman

NYCHA’S BILLS: “A top-shelf law firm NYCHA hired to handle a federal investigation of its own failings has racked up nearly $10 million in legal bills, with the final toll set to climb much higher, the Daily News has learned.The authority hired the WilmerHale firm in the spring of 2016 to deal with a wide-ranging investigation by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s civil division that ultimately uncovered years of lies and coverups about NYCHA’s failure to provide habitable apartments for its 400,000 tenants.” Daily News’s Greg Smith

CHASED OUT: “Several enraged taxi workers chased New York City’s taxi commissioner away from a Sunday vigil mourning an Uber driver's recent suicide. Video captured at the Washington Heights gathering in honor of driver Fausto Luna shows activists shouting “Get out!” at Taxi and Limousine Commissioner Meera Joshi and as she heads toward a subway station. Joshi and the agency she runs reportedly became the target of drivers' pointed ire following the death of Luna, whose suicide marked the seventh by a professional driver since last November. "How many more? How many more?" one person can be heard shouting at Joshi in a video from the scene. [Patch’s Noah Manskar]

AMERICA’S MAYOR: “The former mayor’s firm, Giuliani Security & Safety, was awarded a $1.6 million contract by the governor of the state of Amazonas to crack down on rampant crime...‘Ideally, when you have a serious illness, you call in a specialist, right? That’s what we did,’ said Amazonas Gov. Amazonino Mendes. The murder rate in Manaus, the state’s capital, is much higher than New York’s was in 1990 at its peak.‘We sought out the best crime-fighting consultancy in the world. It’s called Rudolph Giuliani.’ Mendes said.” [Page Six’s Richard Johnson]

ODD JOBS: “This Brooklyn rabbi is being paid nearly $100K by the city” — An Orthodox rabbi who makes a city salary of nearly $100,000 as a “yeshiva liaison” for school buses gets a government car to commute to and from his Brooklyn home — plus a $59,000-a-year driver and gofer...Rabbi Moshe “Morris” Ausfresser, 75, works only four days a week, co-workers say, taking Fridays off for the Jewish Sabbath, even though the sabbath begins shortly before sunset. He keeps the car overnight. His personal assistant, Shersheial Borisute, chauffeurs the rabbi between his Borough Park home and the Office of Pupil Transportation in Long Island City...The OPT, a unit of the Department of Education, oversees bus transportation for 150,000 kids in public, private and religious schools.” New York Post’s Susan Edelman

STAT OF THE DAY: “The number of students attending Jewish day schools and yeshivas in New York City is nearly as large as the entire New York City-based charter school population, according to the New York state Department of Education. The number K-12 students attending Jewish day schools and yeshivas in the city now exceeds 110,000, an increase of more than 10,000 students in less than two years. There are about 114,000 students in the charter school population, and another 148,345 students are enrolled in other parochial or independent schools.” Jewish Daily Forward

TRUMP'S NEW YORK

TRUMP TROUBLES — "At Trump's big-city hotels, business dropped as his political star rose, internal documents show," by The Washington Post's David Fahrenthold, Jonathan O'Connell and Morgan Krakow: "...As a private company, the Trump Organization says little about its financial ups and downs. But The Washington Post obtained details from two of President Trump's landmark properties — his luxury hotels in Chicago and Manhattan — from small-time investors such as Roberts, who get details that the public does not. Those investors — and internal documents they provided — showed that revenue at both properties dropped noticeably as Trump's political career took off. The decreases have stirred tensions in the buildings and left many investors worried that the Trump brand may be curdling in the liberal cities where Trump built much of his empire. In New York, documents show that the ownership board at Trump's hotel considered the stunning idea of removing the Trump name from the hotel the president still calls his 'flagship.'" Read the story here .

— "US moves to take control of Manafort's Trump Tower condo," by The Associated Press: "The federal government is moving to take control of the Trump Tower condo of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. That property is one of several that Manafort agreed to forefeit under a plea deal last month with the office of special counsel Robert Mueller. In a court filing Friday, prosecutors said the government would take control and custody on or after Oct. 20 of the Trump Tower condo and a luxury estate in the Hamptons. Mueller's also moving to seize other New York properties of Manafort's as well as funds from different bank accounts." Read the story here .

— The NYT’s Vivian Yee and Miriam Jordan profile two-year-old Fernanda Jacqueline Davila , one of nearly 30 migrant children forced to appear in federal immigration court in New York on a recent day in September, as her family in Honduras struggles to get her back.

— A white supremacy group is taking credit for fliers posted in parts of Sunnyside Queens calling on people to turn in their undocumented neighbors to the government.

— Some of Hitler’s last remaining relatives are on Long Island . They like Angela Merkel, but they’ve got problems with Donald Trump.

— Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who once hired former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and who has been placed on the U.S. sanctions list “due to alleged involvement in murder, money laundering, bribery and racketeering,” and who allegedly “has close with Russian mob leaders and Russian president Vladimir Putin,” is having his assets frozen , including his Upper East Side mansion.

AROUND NEW YORK

— More than six months after Gov. Andrew Cuomo directed the Department of Labor to investigate Albany Medical Center for potentially illegal anti-union activity, labor and management are meeting periodically to hash out a contract for the newly unionized staff. Eight meetings have been scheduled between hospital officials and representatives of the New York State Nurses Association recently, according to a Sept. 5 email obtained by POLITICO, and a spokesman for NYSNA said negotiations are ongoing. [POLITICO’s Nick Niedzwiadek]

— Former State Supreme Court Judge Gregory Lasak is running for Queens D.A., he tells Denis Hamill.

— Former Rep. Anthony Weiner is set for early release from prison, after pleading guilty to sexting an underage girl

— Twitter denied it blocked tweets from GOP U.S. Senate candidate Chele Farley , who is challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand

— The deadline for employees to receive sexual harassment training was quietly extended as Cuomo continues to tout the new guidelines.

— State agencies were again directed to hold spending flat in their budget requests to the governor’s budget office for fiscal year 2020.

— Workers from Puerto Rico are suing an Eden farm over alleged hiring of Mexican workers to replace them.

SOCIAL DATA BY DANIEL LIPPMAN

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: David Cohen, Obama WH alum and NYU Law grad … Jason Kaplan, VP at SKDKnickerbocker … Julia Schechter, senior associate at SKDK … Dana Wolfe … TNR alum Gabriel Snyder … (was yesterday): Blain Rethmeier, managing director at Ditto PR and a Bush WH alum, turned 42. Playbook Plus Q&A … Steve Coll, dean of Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism and a New Yorker staff writer, turned 6-0 ... the Rev. Jesse Jackson turned 77 … Kristen Osborne of MSNBC PR … (was Sunday): Alice Lloyd, staff writer at the Weekly Standard, who celebrated in Tennessee this weekend … NYT’s Charlie Savage, a Pulitzer Prize winner … Nation editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel ... MTA chair Joe Lhota … (was Saturday): Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) turned 6-0

WEEKEND WEDDINGS -- “Julia Alschuler, Justin Goodman” – N.Y. Times: “Ms. Alschuler, 29, is the deputy director at the Combined Defense Project, a nonprofit environmental advocacy coalition, part of the Partnership Project in Washington. She graduated from Wesleyan University. ... The groom, 30, is the national press secretary for Senator Chuck Schumer of New York in Washington. He graduated from the Geneseo College. ... The couple met while working on the 2013 mayoral campaign for Christine C. Quinn, the former speaker of the New York City Council.” With a pic. NYT

— “Kimberly Tolman, Billal Dar”: “Ms. Tolman, 40, is a segment producer in Manhattan for ‘The View,’ which is shown on ABC. She graduated from Oberlin College. ... Mr. Dar, 36, is a finance director at A&E Networks, which is in Manhattan and owns cable and satellite television channels. He graduated from Syracuse University and received an M.B.A. from St. John’s University.” With a pic. [NYT]

— “Julia Schweizer, Lockhart Steele”: “Mrs. Steele, 30, is the senior strategist for brand, events and relationships at SYPartners, a consulting company in New York that helps business leaders develop diversity, inclusion and other programs. She graduated from the New School. ... Mr. Steele, 44, was the founder of Curbed Network, a collection of digital media properties, including Curbed.com, Eater.com and Racked.com, that was acquired in 2013 by Vox Media, and for which he was the editorial director until 2017. He graduated magna cum laude from Brown.” With a pic. [NYT]

— “Meredith Weber, Alexander Blitstein”: “The bride, 32, is the deputy director of the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, a New York-based nonprofit organization that provides legal defense and education to the climate science community. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania and received a master’s degree in arts administration from Columbia. ... The groom, also 32, is a data scientist in New York, where he recently completed the Metis Data Science Bootcamp, an immersive program in which students work independently on applied data science projects. He graduated from Binghamton University.” With a pic. [NYT]

— “Samantha Storch, Benjamin Malloy”: “Ms. Storch, 29, will be taking her husband’s name. She is the executive director for strategic partnerships and brand development at Makers, a New York company that helps other companies with pay-parity and gender-equity programs. She graduated from N.Y.U. ... Mr. Malloy, 30, is a manager at Burson Cohn & Wolfe, a public relations agency in New York, and is responsible for business development and corporate communications. He graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology. ... His father, a Democrat, is the governor of Connecticut.” [NYT]

— “Katherine Pontius, Eyal Ebel”: “Mrs. Ebel, 31, is the chief of staff at The Onion, the satirical website. She graduated from Indiana University. ... Mr. Ebel, 36, is a senior vice president at the Fusion Media Group in New York. He graduated from Tulane University.” [NYT]

REAL ESTATE WITH SALLY GOLDENBERG AND JANAKI CHADHA

MARKET WATCH — "New Condo Sales Plummet," by The Wall Street Journal's Josh Barbanel: "It is deal time for buyers looking to purchase an apartment in one of New York's new condominium buildings, many with high ceilings, large windows and a whiff of glamour, brokers said. As sales of new apartments have stalled this year, many developers are cutting asking prices and agreeing to go even lower — at a pace not seen in years, brokers said....The overall market in Manhattan is in a correction, brokers and developers said, as the supply of new apartments is increasing in many neighborhoods. The third quarter is usually a peak period for apartment sales, but new development sales plummeted in this year's third quarter, down more than 30% compared with the same quarter in the previous three years, according an analysis of sales records by The Wall Street Journal." Read the story here .

You can find the free version of Sally and Janaki’s real estate newsletter here: http://politi.co/2a1DgJk

THE HOME TEAMS, BY HOWARD MEGDAL

Chris Bosh, whose career has been upended by blood clots, said Monday he’d be open to joining the Knicks if doctors clear him. If he’s anything approaching what he was, that would be a huge addition.

Red Sox 16, Yankees 1: Luis Severino was buried under a barrage of Boston hits, while his pitching successors fared no better. Any Yankees series win involves a return to Boston now.

The day ahead: CC Sabathia is tasked with keeping the Yankees’ season alive tonight, Game 4 in The Bronx.

#UpstateAmerica: Hinerwadel’s in North Syracuse, which has hosted family clambakes for more than a century, is closing. It will continue to sell its classic salt potatoes in stores. The owner — fourth-generation of the family business — has cancer and also took a parting shot at Cuomo over the poor climate for small business owners (not the weather, despite the governor’s claims).

FOR MORE political and policy news from New York, check out Politico New York’s home page: http://politi.co/1MkLGXV



Follow us on Twitter Erin Durkin @erinmdurkin



Anna Gronewold @annagronewold