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Welcome to another edition of Ringside Politics with Jeff Crouere
Today’s Hot Topics:
1) A former aide to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo published a lengthy essay on Wednesday morning accusing the governor of sexual harassment and outlining several unsettling episodes, including an unsolicited kiss in his Manhattan office.
The aide, Lindsey Boylan, described several years of uncomfortable interactions with Mr. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, including an invitation to play strip poker on a government airplane and an email from another top aide suggesting that the governor thought she was a “better looking sister” of another woman.
Ms. Boylan, who worked for the state’s economic development agency at the time, published that email from December 2016, and said the governor began calling her the other woman’s name in professional settings, an experience she described as “degrading.”
2) President Biden recently announced the creation of a commission to recommend “reforms” to the judicial system. The commission will likely provide cover for the unpopular, divisive idea of court-packing. In a few months, no doubt, it will churn out a prepackaged recommendation to legitimize court-packing, while laying the groundwork for legislation to overhaul our judicial system.
Regardless of what Biden’s commission recommends, court-packing is a horrible idea. It destroys judicial independence and transforms judges into political actors.
Biden himself criticized court-packing last October, saying, “The last thing we need to do is turn the Supreme Court into just a political football, whoever has the most votes gets whatever they want. Presidents come and go. Supreme Court justices stay for generations.”
3) They’re not silent anymore: an increasingly vocal chorus of critics on both sides of the political aisle slammed Gov. Cuomo Saturday as news spread that a second former aide has accused him of sexual harassment.
Everyone from familiar GOP foes to his own second in command spoke up in favor of an independent investigation after Charlotte Bennett, 25, came forward to The New York Times to describe Cuomo’s allegedly creepy behavior.
At least one state senator didn’t mince words.
4) Senate Democrats will not be forced to confront an internal political battle over increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 following a decision by the primary keeper of Senate rules.
The Senate parliamentarian ruled that a plan to gradually increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 does not fit the complicated rules that govern budget bills in the Senate. House Democrats included the measure in a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill that is expected to be the first major legislative act for President Biden.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he is disappointed in the decision and pledged to pursue other legislation to increase the minimum wage.
“We are not going to give up the fight to raise the minimum wage to $15 to help millions of struggling American workers and their families,” Schumer said in a statement. “The American people deserve it, and we are committed to making it a reality.”
Today’s Guests:
1) Chad Rogers, Publisher of TheDeadPelican.com; Ringside All-Star – joins the show to take callers and share his unique, pessimistic outlook on the future.
2) Charles Mizrahi, Founder of Alpha Investor and Host of the Charles Mizrahi Show – joins the show to discuss the hot topics surrounding the week.
