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The Week That Was 05-24-19

1. Out With The Old, In With The New Mr. Langworthy, 38 years old, will replace Ed Cox and become the youngest leader of the state’s party. Mr. Cox, Our Spin: who is a son-in-law of former President Richard Nixon and After losing eight seats in the state Senate in the was first elected chairman in 2009, is leaving to take a November 2018 election, the New York Senate GOP found position with President Trump’s re-election campaign. themselves changing offices in Albany as Democrats swept Langworthy became chair in Erie County, which into the majority for the first time in a decade. To make includes the city of Buffalo, in 2010. He supported matters worse for the GOP, Democrats won all four developer Carl Paladino’s long-shot gubernatorial statewide offices for the fourth consecutive election cycle, candidacy that year. Mr. Langworthy’s stature in the state’s and defeated three GOP members of Congress. As it goes GOP circles rose when Mr. Paladino—whose style has in sports, you can’t fire the players so you fire the coach. been likened to Mr. Trump’s—won the Republican The same goes for politics. You can’t fire the politicians, nomination. but you can elect a new party leader. FWC would like to Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, a Republican wish current GOP Chairman Ed Cox the best of luck in his from Canandaigua, called Mr. Langworthy “a proven next chapter and congratulate on leader who brings a track record of success, a spirited becoming the youngest leader of the state’s GOP party. tenacity and a renewed vision to this critical role.”

The Story: The Wall Street Journal The incoming chair of the New York State Republican Party, Nick Langworthy, said he would focus on local 2. Plan B? elections and building the party’s small-donor base when he formally takes the reins in July. The transition comes Our Spin: after a months-long campaign in which Mr. Langworthy Though Amazon has moved on from its plans to bring built support for his candidacy among county chairs a corporate campus to Long Island City, the city hasn’t statewide, and appeared to have secured the votes of a given up on the Queens neighborhood housing a majority of members of the party committee. megaproject just yet. City officials recently met with the “I think we are going to show a renewed fighting Economic Development Corporation as well as other spirit in a Republican Party here as we move forward after community leaders and developers to explore other this reorganization,” Langworthy, currently the Erie County opportunities for the site and zoning applications. Although Republican chair, said at a Tuesday news conference in what’s next is uncertain, what is certain is that shovels will Albany. “My election will represent generational change not be hitting the ground anytime soon. for our party.”

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The Story: refusal to release his taxes. The bill, which is expected to City Hall is moving on from the collapse of the be signed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a third-term Amazon deal and exploring a development plan on the Democrat and regular critic of Mr. Trump’s policies and Long Island City site that would have housed the e- behavior, will authorize state tax officials to release the commerce giant's headquarters, multiple sources told president’s state returns to any one of three congressional . City officials recently met with property committees. owners, developers and community leaders to discuss The returns — filed in New York, the president’s home forming a comprehensive framework for several waterfront state and business headquarters — would likely contain sites in the Queens neighborhood and charting a potential much of the same information as the contested federal path through the choppy political waters that sank the returns, though it remained unclear whether those original proposal. The effort is the first sign of how the de congressional committees would use such new power in Blasio administration will respond to the failure of its their investigations. The Legislature’s actions put the state highest-profile economic development proposal to date. in a bit of uncharted legal territory; Mr. Trump has said that “This area of Long Island City is a really key he is ready to take the fight over his federal tax returns to opportunity that people have been working on, including the Supreme Court, and it seems likely that he would seek the property owners, for a long time,” before the Amazon to contest New York’s maneuver. Republicans have called deal, said Elizabeth Lusskin, head of the Long Island City the effort in Albany a “bill of attainder” — an Partnership. “We still have room to grow and there are so unconstitutional piece of legislation aimed at a single many great benefits that can come out of growth done person or group — while also decrying the potential well.” invasion of privacy, suggesting that federal officials would On May 2, Economic Development Corporation and conduct improper “fishing expeditions.” Department of City Planning officials held a sit-down Still, for Democrats for whom the president’s steadfast meeting with owners and developers involved in three large refusal to release his returns has been a constant frustration, sites, two of which were part of the Amazon footprint, to the legislative action was being cast as both a victory for discuss how the properties could be built out under a states’ rights and the often unsung power of a state reimagined plan. Four days later, the city also met with legislature. Once signed into law by Mr. Cuomo, the local community boards to explore the idea of a working legislation would require the commissioner of the New group that would solicit feedback from various York Department of Taxation and Finance to release stakeholders before beginning any rezoning process. A returns to the chairmen of the House Ways and Means similar gambit was employed for rezonings of East Committee, the Senate Finance Committee and the Joint Midtown and the Garment District to overcome thorny Committee on Taxation for any “specified and legitimate political situations. legislative purpose.” Such a request would have to be made in writing, and only after a request for federal returns has Politico been made to the Treasury Department. In Washington, the House Ways and Means Committee 3. Pretty Please has unsuccessfully sought six years of the president’s personal and business tax returns. The Treasury Our Spin: Department said last week that it would not honor a Lawmakers in the New York State Legislature made congressional subpoena to hand over the president’s national headlines this week in their game of chess with the returns, saying the request lacked a “legitimate legislative Trump Administration by proclaiming “check” as they purpose,” though a leaked draft memorandum from the passed a bill that will allow Congress to obtain the I.R.S. suggested that such logic was flawed. President’s New York State tax returns. Democrats have The passage of the state tax bill is just the latest action long been frustrated by the President’s refusal to release his in Albany directed at Mr. Trump, who is deeply unpopular returns, maybe in the same way that your high school in his home state. While New York is a profoundly blue friends got upset when you refused to show your hand after state, the support was not unanimous in the Democratic-led they folded in poker. All the while, the bill’s passage does Assembly. Michael Benedetto, a Bronx Democrat, voted not have everyone giddy back in Albany; some have no, saying the bill troubled him. “We are traveling down a accused the state Dems of chasing “cheap headlines”. But path we should not be traveling down,” Mr. Benedetto said, maybe some members of the Legislature are really just calling the bill political in nature and meant to “get a few curious to know how well reality TV pays… job security as people.” On Wednesday, the state’s top Republican in the an elected official is at a premium these days. Senate, John J. Flanagan, was also outraged that Democrats had “wasted weeks on their singular obsession with getting The Story: a peek at President Trump’s taxes,” while other issues New York State lawmakers on Wednesday gave their languished. “It’s time for Democrats in Albany to stop final approval to a bill that would clear a path for Congress seeking cheap headlines,” Mr. Flanagan said. to obtain President Trump’s state tax returns, injecting another element into a tortuous battle over the president’s