Schumer pushes New York's agenda at DNC

Daily Point

Schumer’s pre-speech NY hustle

Naturally, Sen. Chuck Schumer, as Senate majority leader, is a big presence in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention. As always, he was making the rounds Tuesday pushing a multifaceted agenda. It was all in the lead-up to Schumer’s 9 p.m. slot Tuesday night when he is scheduled to address the hall in prime time for 8 minutes in support of the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz ticket.

On the home-away-from-home front earlier Tuesday, Schumer told reporters he wouldn’t allow the Trump-era cap on state and local tax deductions (SALT) to continue after it legally expires at the end of next year. After trying with allies in Congress to roll back the 2017 tax change — part of the bill that created a massive rollback in corporate taxes — no other position from Schumer would have sounded likely. It was a featured issue for Rep. Tom Suozzi in his first tenure in the House.

"One of the issues that people care about on Long Island is state and local deductibility," Schumer said, and "as long as I’m leader" it will be gone when it expires.

While prepping for the speech Tuesday afternoon, Schumer was also drafting a letter to FEMA on recent Long Island storm damage, aides said.

On a more poignant and symbolic note, he and others at the New York delegation’s breakfast meeting saluted the father of one of the Israelis slain in the Oct. 7 massacre that sparked the ongoing Gaza war. Itay Chen, 19, was believed to have been held hostage in Gaza, but he actually died the day of the attack. His remains were taken to Gaza after he was killed, Israeli authorities said.

Schumer said, "I met Ruby Chen, the father of Itay, a few days after the vicious massacre" when he visited Israel. The Chen family came from Brooklyn, he noted. "He got a huge standing ovation. He held up a picture of Itay," Schumer said of the young man’s father’s appearance at the New York delegation’s breakfast Tuesday. "We’re doing everything we can, negotiations are close, to get the hostages out." The Chen family wants Itay’s remains returned but Hamas is "viciously" using that as a bargaining chip, Schumer said.

More incidentally, Schumer popped in to visit the Maryland delegation Tuesday as part of the run-up to the big speech. "Can I crash this party?" he reportedly said. Of course, he gave a pep talk for Democratic Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks, the Prince George’s County executive running for a Senate seat against Republican ex-Gov. Larry Hogan.

Of Baltimore, Schumer said, "The damn Republicans are holding up money for that damn bridge," a reference to the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed in March after a ship struck a supporting pier. Hogan, needless to say, would not support Schumer as majority leader.

Given the election cycle in the Senate, Republicans are seen as having an advantage in November, so every seat counts big time. The Democratic majority now is at a bare minimum.

Elsewhere in Chicago, Schumer made it over to a New York tech business event where he talked up New York City’s role in technological development as rivaling Silicon Valley in importance. In his Senate role, he’d have a hand in relevant artificial intelligence legislation now under discussion.

Schumer, 73, has been in office since 1999. He’s next up for reelection in 2028.

— Dan Janison dan.janison@newsday.com

Talking Point

Looking ahead to the next convention

As all eyes are on the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, local advocates are eyeing another political gathering — the New York State AFL-CIO’s constitutional convention next week in New York City. That’s when union organizers and officials will make their endorsement decisions on key races across the state. In the lead-up to the labor convention, there have been some eye-opening union moves.

The Civil Service Employees Association has already endorsed Republican incumbent Rep. Anthony D’Esposito in CD4, one of the most closely watched races in the nation, The Point has learned.

"We know the respect you have for our workers and that you are the right person to represent the CSEA members in Congress," CSEA president Mary E. Sullivan wrote in a letter to D’Esposito.

That language is likely just as much about D’Esposito’s opponent, Democrat Laura Gillen, as it is about the current congressman. Gillen sued CSEA in 2018 while she was Hempstead Town supervisor, over a no-layoff clause for union workers.

But D’Esposito spokesman Matt Capp told The Point that he’s expecting CSEA will be "just the beginning of a more major push by unions to support Congressman D’Esposito."

"We’ve certainly seen a shift on Long Island of union support gravitating to D’Esposito and other Republican candidates," Capp said. "Their voting records have always been pro-union and that’s been quite plain."

In a statement, D’Esposito called organized labor "the economic backbone of our communities on Long Island."

"I have stood with them every step of the way during my first term in office," D’Esposito said.

The endorsement by CSEA, which represents more than 300,000 mostly active and retired government workers, came after the Long Island Federation of Labor — an umbrella group that includes the CSEA — chose not to endorse in the CD4 race. The CSEA makes up a significant portion of the Long Island and state federations of labor — and it’s unclear how the CSEA’s newly announced support of D’Esposito will affect statewide endorsements next week.

Other unions, meanwhile, are still in the decision-making process. Typically, the Building and Construction Trades Council of Nassau and Suffolk Counties endorses incumbents — as it is planning to do in CD2 with Republican Andrew Garbarino and CD3 with Democrat Tom Suozzi, as well as the majority of State Senate and Assembly seats.

But the council now is screening candidates in CD1 and CD4, along with two State Senate districts — SD1 and SD6 — and four Assembly seats, council president Matthew Aracich told The Point.

"I don’t know where this one is going to go," Aracich said of CD4. "We’re in the midst of a screening process now ... but I don’t think anybody’s sure with both CD1 and CD4."

Aracich noted that the council has had good relationships with Republicans D’Esposito, Garbarino and freshman Nick LaLota. Aracich pointed in particular to D’Esposito’s position on offshore wind. While D’Esposito was critical of the communications efforts regarding offshore wind in Long Beach, Aracich noted that D’Esposito was always "supportive of the jobs."

Aracich told The Point he hopes the council will make its endorsements before next week’s statewide AFL-CIO convention.

"This is a very quick moving target," he said.

— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Cartoonists' takes on the DNC

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