Dispatches from Planet Albany

New York politics is littered with marriages of convenience.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani have enjoyed an unlikely - but mutually beneficial - alliance for nearly a year, despite their ideological and stylistic differences. And those types of collaborations, which might not seem obvious at first glance, are critical to successfully wielding power in Planet Albany...

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a general agreement on the budget on Thursday morning, but Democratic state lawmakers are calling foul, arguing that major questions still need to be resolved.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie went so far as to tell reporters that he's never approaching the budget process like this again. For more on the legislature's grievances, we checked in with Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, a Brooklyn Democrat, who ha...

The intentions of organizations and individuals looking to influence state government could become clearer in the future.

Pending legislation would require interests that are lobbying state policymakers to declare whether they support something, oppose it, or their support is contingent on changes. The current rules just require a disclosure that you're lobbying on a specific bill or regulation.

Doug Clark, a co-managing partner of...

Finalizing a state budget requires varying degrees of compromise from the governor and legislature.

But knowing when and where you have to give and when your negotiating partners will give a little more or won't budget another inch, is a key aspect of executing this annual dance in Planet Albany. To understand the budget choreography, host David Lombardo spoke with two veterans of the state budget process, Shontell Plummer, a partn...

The state budget is three weeks late and a deal does not appear imminent.

Eventually all the pieces for a final budget will fall into place - seemingly all at once - but we wanted to explore how Gov. Kathy Hochul is approaching that point, as she utilizes one of her favorite tactics and one new one. To analyze these machinations we spoke with Nick Reisman, the Albany bureau chief for Politico New York. 

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The race for an open Assembly seat in Trump Country is getting an unusual amount of coverage because Republican Marc Molinaro has chosen to mount his political comeback in the district.

But Democrat Thomas Boomhower is hoping to disrupt the script and is running a longshot campaign, which will first require a primary win in June. He visited the studio to talk about the components of a potential upset, explain how his mom inspired h...

Now that campaign signatures have been collected and submitted for ballot access, we're entering the phase of the election calendar in New York when candidates wait to see if they'll withstand any administrative or legal challenges to their petitions.

To learn about this process we talked with Adam Fusco, one of the small cadre of election lawyers in the state, who explained how he looks for defects, navigating the courts, and why ...

The general consensus is tha state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli is the prohibitive favorite to be the Democratic nominee in November, when he seeks a fifth full term in office.

But we wanted to explore the variables and conditions that could lead to a Democratic outsider pulling off the biggest statewide upset in more than three decades, so we're checking in with Alex Elmasri, vice president of operations and growth for The Parkside Gr...

Tusk Strategies Partner Shontell Plummer responds to last week's Planet Albany Power Ranking discussion by explaining the ebb and flow of power at the Capitol and identifies who was underrated and overrated on the lists. 

She also takes a victory lap for her prediction of a budget that would be at least four weeks late.

And if you enjoy Dispatches from Planet Albany, please leave us a rating and consider becoming a recurring cont...

Who are the five most powerful people in Planet Albany?

That's the question for this episode, as host David Lombardo, Bloomberg Government Capitol reporter Raga Justin and Assemblymember Josh Jensen, a Rochester-area Republican, share their personal lists.

The only rules are they can't include Gov. Kathy Hochul, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins. Also, we don't define what constitutes p...

After following a traditional career trajectory for three decades, Marc Molinaro is mixing things up this year as he looks to return to the state Assembly, a chamber he left in 2012.

The decision is a head scratcher for most in Planet Albany, so we talked with the Greene County Republican about why serving in the Assembly is the right fit for him at this point in his life. We also explore the North Country congressional run that ne...

In the best of circumstances, a Republican bid to be governor of New York is going to be a longshot.

And the landscape has been less than ideal for the first three months of Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman's challenge to Gov. Kathy Hochul.

We explore the current polling (down 20 points), fundraising (outgunned and potentially excluded from public financing) and environment (Trump in the White House and Hochul on cruise contr...

Assemblyman Al Stirpe, a Syracuse-area Democrat, provides a reality check on budget negotiations and considers how the points of contention might play out in the coming weeks.

We discuss the prospects of a two-way agreement on immigration reform, the potential for a compromise on Gov. Kathy Hochul's attack on the CLCPA, and the lack of substantive disagreement on the money in the state budget. We also explore the possibility for pe...

Anthony Hogrebe is not a household name in Planet Albany, but as communications director for Gov. Kathy Hochul he plays an outsized role in shaping the discussions in and around the Capitol.

He visited the studio to explain what he does, how he uses (or doesn't use) Twitter and go through his Linkedin account. We also discuss the governor's press presence in Planet Albany and the challenges surrounding messaging a potential CLCPA b...