DAYS THE BUDGET IS LATE: 31

BLAKEMAN’S DAY IN COURT: Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman’s battle to access the state’s new public campaign finance program made its way to an Albany County courthouse this afternoon.

The legal fight is over hypertechnical matters like whether duplicate copies of a “PCF-22” form submitted separately should be considered as a joint submission.

But the repercussions are significant. Blakeman is seeking to build momentum for his underdog campaign in a blue state, and a win would provide a $3.5 million boost to his effort, guaranteeing he’d be one of the better-funded state Republican candidates in recent decades. It would also give him bragging rights over the Democrats who call all the shots in Albany.

The GOP case rests on the idea that Democrats made the rules for joining the program impossible to follow. Blakeman lawyer Adam Fusco noted that none of the gubernatorial candidates who applied are likely to receive any money.

“There is a hidden ball trick,” Fusco said. “And everyone who tried to do this failed to do it correctly: 0-7. It sounds like my high school baseball career.”

Blakeman was booted from the program in March. During the same week in December, he received a letter saying he was accepted into the program and the Public Campaign Finance Board approved a new rule that gubernatorial candidates and their running mates must apply jointly.

The board never published the form they’d need to submit and never mentioned the need for a signature from Blakeman’s running mate, lieutenant governor hopeful Todd Hood. The requirement was also absent from a training Blakeman sat through in January and wasn’t mentioned in a recent update to the campaign finance handbook. But since the nonexistent form was never received, the board’s Democratic majority deemed Blakeman no longer eligible.

Democratic lawyer Chris Massaroni rejected the idea that the decision stemmed from partisan gamesmanship. Any serious campaign for governor should stay abreast of changing rules, he said.

“It wasn’t a sort of casual, quick determination,” Massaroni said. “It was a careful consideration that we have to apply the rules carefully, and we can’t appear to be giving exceptions. … If we start bending these election rules once, we don’t know where that’s going to end.”

Justice Denise Hartman, who was first nominated to the bench by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, seemed perturbed by the board’s failure to produce the form Blakeman was expected to file.

“This is very problematic that there was no joint form,” she said.

“Under the board’s own regulation, the board shall — it’s a shall — produce a joint form for the candidates. Why hasn’t that happened?” she later asked.

She also noted, however, that the fact Hood never even attempted to file anything at all was a “concern.”

Fusco is requesting the court to require the board to produce a form that Blakeman and Hood can jointly fill out and allow for a new “window for filing that form.”

Hartman promised to “hurry this along” and issue a decision in the next week or two. That will allow for arguments in a mid-level appellate court before the end of May, making it more likely the matter will be resolved before judges start taking summer vacations. — Bill Mahoney

From the Capitol

THE END IS NEAR: Gov. Kathy Hochul is bullish that a state budget agreement is on the verge of completion in the coming weeks, telling reporters today that a compact is close.

“Our teams are going to continue working day and night for the entire weekend,” she said in an impromptu gaggle.

The governor acknowledged, though, that sticking points remain over devising the structure of a pied-à-terre surcharge for high-value non-primary homes in New York City. She also indicated that more education aid is being discussed for the Big Apple as Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin push for additional revenue from Albany. And she said a potential rebate check program is “on the table” in negotiations with the Legislature.

The budget is now more than a month past its March 31 due date. The month-long impasse between Hochul and the Legislature stemmed from her push to weaken a 2019 climate law and to overhaul the state’s car insurance laws. — Nick Reisman

THE RINGS: In the same gaggle, Hochul teased a potential push for New York to get an Olympic games.

“We had a very productive meeting today to launch our exploratory committee for the Olympics,” she said.

But the governor quickly clammed up after that and wouldn’t go into detail. Her news, though, comes as New York officials have made various efforts over the years to bring the Olympics back to the Empire State. Lake Placid last hosted the winter games in 1980.

Democratic Assemblymember Bobby Carroll earlier this year pitched a potential Lake Placid-New York City winter games, similar to how Italy spread its Olympics between Milan and Cortina. — Nick Reisman 

FROM CITY HALL

ZO GO GO: In a speech this afternoon to the Regional Plan Association’s annual assembly — which has been described as a sort of Oscars for urbanists — Mamdani once again delved into faster buses.

With free buses not happening this year, the mayor said he’s focusing on delivering faster bus service through street redesign projects and a plan to speed up buses along dozens of corridors. The aim is to cut commutes by six minutes each way.

“I say that as someone who, when I went to Bronx Science and I got off the 1 train and I knew that I’d missed the bus, if I ran fast enough, I could catch up to it three stops later,” Mamdani said.

He also used the speech to suggest he would work often with the RPA, the same way as the group and Mayor Fiorello La Guardia did decades ago. “Together, they turned ideas into action, delivering on transitways, parks and a more livable New York City,” Mamdani said. “A century later, let us do the same.”

The RPA gave an award to Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia. New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill also delivered remarks and said that lack of investment in New Jersey Transit has “pushed it into really hard times.” — Ry Rivard

CONGESTION PRICING APPEALED: The Trump administration is appealing a court ruling blocking its attempts to end New York City’s congestion pricing program.

“Appealing congestion pricing once again is just a waste of everyone’s time,” said Sean Butler, a spokesperson for Hochul. “Sean Duffy can keep trying, but traffic will stay down, business will stay up, and the cameras will stay on.”

A Southern District of New York judge ruled against the Department of Transportation in March, finding that the federal government could not unilaterally terminate an agreement with state and city agencies that gave the go-ahead for the tolling program.

President Donald Trump’s social media posts did not help the federal government’s case.

“CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!” he posted in February 2025, on the same day that the MTA filed its lawsuit against the DOT.

Justice Department lawyers filed an appeal Friday to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. — Mona Zhang

IN OTHER NEWS

— BILLIONAIRE BOOST: Crypto billionaire Chris Larsen is pouring $3.5 million into a super PAC backing Alex Bores, escalating a high-stakes primary fight with AI regulations emerging as a key issue. (POLITICO)

— ACROSS THE AISLE: New York City Council Member Lincoln Restler’s wife, Anna Poe-Kest, is taking a senior role at the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget has drawn scrutiny as it places them on opposite sides of budget negotiations. (City & State)

— WASTE WARS: The Council has introduced a package of bills to curb dog waste after a winter surge, aiming to expand bag access, composting and outreach to pet owners. (THE CITY)

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