Gristedes owner offers to test socialist NYC candidate's ‘Soviet' style plan for city-run grocery stores — but there's a catch
The owner of Gristedes said he'd lend a supermarket to City Hall to test one liberal candidate's 'Soviet'-style plan for government-run grocery stores – if he'll pay for shoplifting losses.
John Catsimatidis, the billionaire mogul behind the Gristedes and D'Agostino food chains, pledged he would be 'helpful' after Democratic socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani unveiled a plan to create a network of city-run supermarkets.
'If they want to try an experiment, I will be helpful — as long as the city makes up the shortfall for shoplifting,' Catsimatidis told The Post.
'Will they allow people to shoplift? What will the policy on shoplifting be? I just want to know,' said Catsimatidis, who has previously grabbed headlines for encouraging his in-store staff to tackle shoplifters to hold them until police arrive.
Mamdani, who is currently polling second behind frontrunner Andrew Cuomo ahead of the June Democratic Party primary, has said he'd launch city-owned grocery stores to drive down grocery prices for New Yorkers.
'These stores will operate without profit motive, or having to pay property taxes or rent, and will pass those savings onto you,' Mamdani, who is now serving in the state Assembly, said in a TikTok video.
His plan, which calls for one store in each borough, would cost an estimated $60 million.
It has drawn condemnation from local grocery owners such as Jason Ferraira, a board member of the National Supermarket Association, who said it would create 'Soviet' markets where customers would have limited selection for items like bread and milk.
Catsimatidis, an ally and insider of President Trump, was open to the idea of negotiating with the unabashedly liberal candidate if he were to end up in City Hall.
'It could help the city feed the hungry. There's a deal to be made. We'll help make it happen,' Catsimatidis said, though he will not be voting for Mamdani for mayor.
Mamdani's team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Boston Globe
43 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Who is to blame for Andrew Cuomo's loss in New York City? It may be Andrew Cuomo himself.
He made no further public appearances that day last month, even with primary day weeks away. Cuomo, who dominated New York for a decade as governor, entered the crowded field of Democrats back in March with the force of a steamroller and a commanding lead in the polls. He wore down the Democratic establishment until it lined up behind him, strong-armed unions and seeded a record-shattering super political action committee that would eventually spend $25 million. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up But even some of his allies said that up close, the campaign sometimes looked more like a listing ship, steered by an aging candidate who never really seemed to want to be there and showed little interest in reacquainting himself with the city he hoped to lead. Advertisement New Yorkers took note. And on Tuesday, a campaign that Cuomo, 67, had hoped would deliver retribution four years after his humiliating resignation as governor ended in another thumping rebuke instead. Voters preferred Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state lawmaker whom Cuomo dismissed as woefully unqualified, by a comfortable margin. Advertisement Mamdani, a democratic socialist whose relentless focus on affordability and infectious campaign presence electrified younger voters especially, certainly deserves a great deal of credit for his victory. But a dozen allies and even some of Cuomo's own campaign advisers agreed in interviews that if he was looking to assess blame for a loss that could end his political career, he needed to look at himself. 'It was a creaky 1970s political machine versus a generational talent,' said Howard Glaser, a former Cuomo lieutenant who has since fallen out with Cuomo. 'He just couldn't see it.' 'He tried to force redemption on an unreceptive public,' Glaser added. The assessment now hangs over Cuomo as he deliberates whether to renew his campaign in the fall against Mamdani on a third-party ballot line. Some wealthy New Yorkers alarmed by Mamdani's left-wing views and others are urging Cuomo to keep running. But many of his allies said there would be no real point in carrying on if Cuomo treated the general election like the primary. People who worked on his campaign, who insisted on anonymity for fear of retribution, used words like 'entitled,' 'arrogant' and 'aloof' to describe the former governor's attitude. Another called the campaign 'astonishingly incompetent.' Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani campaigned outside Rockfeller Center in New York, on June 4. SHURAN HUANG/NYT Cuomo and his spokesperson disputed that his campaign choices -- good, bad or otherwise -- would have changed the outcome. Spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said that the campaign met its turnout goals in key districts and voting groups, particularly among Black and older voters who had a yearslong connection with the former governor. The problem, he said, was that Mamdani 'ran a campaign that managed to expand the electorate in such a way that no turnout model or poll was able to capture, while the rest of the field collapsed.' Advertisement In an interview, Cuomo dismissed the complaints of allies or advisers who said he should have shown up more around the city. 'None of these things explain the election outcome,' he said. 'They are either untrue or petty incidents that are of no consequence.' The contrast on the campaign trail between Cuomo and all the other candidates was stark. Under the rationale of protecting his polling lead, Cuomo skipped candidate forums and dodged the press as his rivals threw themselves into the city's maw with dizzying schedules. The former governor, who was born in Queens but lived most of his adult life in Albany and Westchester County, traveled in his Charger with an advance team putting out a buffer to prevent unwanted encounters with New Yorkers. Cuomo hired a platoon of consultants, but still leaned heavily on his longtime confidante, Melissa DeRosa, who had never run a city race. Mamdani built an enthusiastic volunteer army to spread his message; Cuomo largely outsourced his get-out-the-vote operation to labor unions and $25-an-hour canvassers. And in the end, Cuomo's message to an electorate hungry for change boiled down to: trust me, I've done this before. Some allies said it all contributed to an unhelpful image. 'All of us have a blind spot,' said former Gov. David Paterson, who endorsed Cuomo. 'His blind spot is that he doesn't really connect particularly well with, just, people.' For a time, it seemed Cuomo's return to power was a certainty. He began plotting a path back almost as soon as he resigned in August 2021 after sexual harassment allegations. He spent tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds fighting to clear his name in court, as he hungrily waited for an opening for public office. Advertisement New York Mayor Eric Adams arrived at his campaign launch rally a City Hall in New York on Thursday. Yuki Iwamura/Associated Press It arrived when Mayor Eric Adams was indicted on federal corruption charges and then persuaded the Trump administration to drop them. Cuomo, a master backroom deal-maker, exploited the opening deftly, nudging the mayor out of the primary while convincing business leaders, labor bosses and other Democrats that they should back him -- if not out of excitement than out of a sense of inevitability. 'I feel like people misunderstood my $250,000 for Cuomo for real enthusiasm,' said Mark Gorton, an investor who gave $250,000 to a pro-Cuomo super PAC. 'It was basically, 'Oh, looks like Cuomo is coming back. We don't want to be shut out. Let's try and get on his good side.'' At the time, polls showed Mamdani in second place, trailing by 20 points or more. Cuomo's allies openly pined for a two-man showdown. They figured Mamdani's socialist views and harsh criticism of Israel would act as a ceiling on his support. It turned out to be a fundamental miscalculation. In a race where a large majority of voters said the city was headed in the wrong direction and where many Democrats were looking for a change, Cuomo struggled. Cuomo launched his campaign with a 17-minute video, lecturing New Yorkers on how and why the city was spiraling to dark places. Mamdani's videos showed him spiraling across the city, riding the subways, embracing working New Yorkers and running into the icy waters off Coney Island to dramatize his call to freeze rents. Advertisement Stuart Appelbaum, the head of the retail workers union that formally endorsed Cuomo at the minimum wage rally, credited Mamdani for running a campaign about the future. 'Cuomo's campaign reflected the reality of New York from decades ago,' he said. Cuomo had another real problem. The same polls that showed him leading showed that he was also widely disliked by a large swath of Democratic primary voters who were put off by his moderate policies, domineering style or past scandals. By all appearances, Cuomo made little effort to reach them. Though it has been just four years since he resigned after 11 women accused him of sexual harassment, he offered no real contrition. He was not sorry, he said, because he had done nothing wrong. When he did venture to share a regret, he said he wished most that he had never resigned at all. Some of the governor's supporters and some of his own advisers had concerns about his low-key campaigning in real time, and pushed him to take up a more active public schedule. But Cuomo rarely strayed from his comfort zone in the pulpits of Black churches or at senior centers. Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the head of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, said she pleaded with the campaign to have Cuomo visit a mosque to build ties to Muslim New Yorkers. 'That was a very big thing,' she said. " They told me he was scheduled to go to the mosque, and then I found out he didn't. I was not too happy." Last Sunday, on the last day of early voting, Cuomo did show up at the Christian Cultural Center, a Black Brooklyn megachurch. But the Rev. A.R. Bernard, its pastor, said that after the former governor spoke 'brilliantly' for five minutes, he left rather than mingling with congregants. Advertisement 'He was not on the streets, where the people are,' he said. 'Maybe we have to be careful when we assume that we've got enough reputation, history and gravitas to float through an election like this.' Paterson described a different problem. 'Once I endorsed him, some of his campaign workers called me like I was an employee of his,' he said, demanding he show up in the spin-room of the final debate to promote Cuomo even though the candidate would not be there himself. 'I said, 'this is not my role,'' Paterson said. ''Thank you. Good night.'' This article originally appeared in
Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
Senators launch a weekend of work to meet Trump's deadline for passing his tax and spending cuts
WASHINGTON — The Senate launched a rare weekend session Saturday as Republicans race to pass President Donald Trump's package of tax breaks, spending cuts and bolstered deportation funds by his July Fourth deadline. Republicans are using their majorities in Congress to push aside Democratic opposition, but they have run into a series of political and policy setbacks. Not all GOP lawmakers are on board with proposals to reduce spending on Medicaid, food stamps and other programs as a way to help cover the cost of extending some $3.8 trillion in Trump tax breaks. The 940-page bill was released shortly before midnight Friday. Senators are expected to grind through the days ahead with procedural vote Saturday to begin considering the legislation, but the timing was uncertain. There would still be a long path ahead, with hours of potentially all-night debate and eventually voting on countless amendments. Senate passage could be days away, and the bill would need to return to the House for a final round of votes before it could reach the White House. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, opened the day's session with an impassioned defense of the package that he said has been misrepresented by its critics. 'Here's what American workers get out of 'One Big Beautiful Bill,' Moreno said as he began outlining the provisions. 'Read it for yourself.' The weekend session could be a make-or-break moment for Trump's party, which has invested much of its political capital on his signature domestic policy plan. Trump is pushing Congress to wrap it up, even as he sometimes gives mixed signals, allowing for more time. At recent events at the White House, including Friday, Trump has admonished the 'grandstanders' among GOP holdouts to fall in line. 'We can get it done,' Trump said in a social media post. 'It will be a wonderful Celebration for our Country.' 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But over the past days, Republicans have quickly revised those proposals and reinstated them. The final text includes a proposal for cuts to a Medicaid provider tax that had run into parliamentary objections and opposition from several senators worried about the fate of rural hospitals. The new version extends the start date for those cuts and establishes a $25 billion fund to aid rural hospitals and providers. Most states impose the provider tax as a way to boost federal Medicaid reimbursements. Some Republicans argue that is a scam and should be abolished. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said that under the House-passed version of the bill, some 10.9 million more people would go without health care and at least 3 million fewer would qualify for food aid. The CBO has not yet publicly assessed the Senate draft, which proposes steeper reductions. Top income-earners would see about a $12,000 tax cut under the House bill, while the package would cost the poorest Americans $1,600, the CBO said. The Senate included a compromise over the so-called SALT provision, a deduction for state and local taxes that has been a top priority of lawmakers from New York and other high-tax states, but the issue remains unsettled. The current SALT cap is $10,000 a year, and a handful of Republicans wanted to boost it to $40,000 a year. The final draft includes a $40,000 cap, but for five years instead of 10. Many Republican senators say that is still too generous. At least one House GOP holdout, Rep. Nick LaLota of New York, had said that would be insufficient. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Republicans dropped the bill 'in the dead of night' and are rushing to finish the bill before the public fully knows what's in it. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who sent his colleagues home for the weekend with plans to be on call to return to Washington, had said they are 'very close' to finishing up. 'We would still like to meet that July Fourth, self-imposed deadline,' said Johnson, R-La. Johnson and Thune have stayed close to the White House, relying on Trump to pressure holdout lawmakers.
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
What's in latest version of Trump's tax bill now before Senate
Here's the latest on what's in the bill. There could be changes as lawmakers negotiate. Tax cuts are the priority Republicans say the bill is crucial because without it, there would be a massive tax increase, totaling some $3.8 trillion, after December when tax breaks from Trump's first term expire. Advertisement Those existing tax rates and brackets would become permanent under the bill. It temporarily would add new ones that Trump campaigned on: no taxes on tips, overtime pay or some automotive loans, along with a bigger $6,000 deduction in the Senate draft for older adults who earn no more than $75,000 a year. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up It would boost the $2,000 child tax credit to $2,200 under the Senate proposal, or $2,500 in the House's version. Families at lower income levels would not see the full amount, if any. A cap on state and local deductions, called SALT, would quadruple to $40,000 for five years. It's a provision important to New York and other high tax states, though the House wanted it to last for 10 years. Advertisement There are scores of business-related tax cuts. The wealthiest households would see a $12,000 increase from the legislation, which would cost the poorest people $1,600 a year, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis of the House's version. Middle-income taxpayers would see a tax break of $500 to $1,500, the CBO said. Money for deportations, a border wall and the Golden Dome The bill would provide some $350 billion for Trump's border and national security agenda, including $46 billion for the U.S.-Mexico border wall and $45 billion for 100,000 migrant detention facility beds, as he aims to full his promise of the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history. Money would go for hiring 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, with $10,000 signing bonuses and a surge of Border Patrol officers, as well. The goal is to deport some 1 million people per year. The homeland security secretary would have a new $10 billion fund for grants for states that help with federal immigration enforcement and deportation actions. The attorney general would have $3.5 billion for a similar fund, known as Bridging Immigration-related Deficits Experienced Nationwide, or BIDEN, referring to former Democratic President Joe Biden. To help pay for it all, immigrants would face various new fees, including when seeking asylum protections. For the Pentagon, the bill would provide billions for ship building, munitions systems, and quality of life measures for servicemen and women, as well as $25 billion for the development of the Golden Dome missile defense system. The Defense Department would have $1 billion for border security. How to pay for it? Cuts to Medicaid and other programs To help partly offset the lost tax revenue and new spending, Republicans are seeking to cut back some long-running government programs: Medicaid, food stamps, green energy incentives and others. It's essentially unraveling the accomplishments of the past two Democratic presidents, Biden and Barack Obama. Advertisement Republicans argue they are trying to rightsize the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women and children, and root out what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse. The package includes new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many adults receiving Medicaid and food stamps, including older people up to age 65. Parents of children 14 and older would have to meet the program's work requirements. There's also a proposed new $35 co-payment that can be charged to patients using Medicaid services. Some 80 million people rely on Medicaid, which expanded under Obama's Affordable Care Act, and 40 million use the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. Most already work, according to analysts. All told, the CBO estimates that under the House-passed bill, at least 10.9 million more people would go without health coverage and 3 million more would not qualify for food stamps. The Senate proposes a $25 billion Rural Hospital Transformation Fund to help offset those reductions. It's a new addition, intended to win over holdout GOP senators and a coalition of House Republicans warning that the proposed Medicaid provider tax cuts would hurt rural hospitals. Both the House and Senate bills propose a dramatic rollback of the Biden-era green energy tax breaks for electric vehicles. They also would phase out or terminate various the production and investment tax credits companies use to stand up wind, solar and other renewable energy projects. In total, cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programs would be expected to produce at least $1.5 trillion in savings. Advertisement Trump savings accounts and so, so much more A number of extra provisions reflect other GOP priorities. The House and Senate both have a new children's savings program, called Trump Accounts, with a potential $1,000 deposit from the Treasury. The Senate provided $40 million to establish Trump's long-sought 'National Garden of American Heroes.' There's a new excise tax on university endowments, restrictions on the development of artificial intelligence and blocks on transgender surgeries. A $200 tax on gun silencers and short-barreled rifles and shotguns was eliminated. One provision bars money to family planning providers, namely Planned Parenthood, while $88 million is earmarked for a pandemic response accountability committee. Billions go for the Artemis moon mission and for exploration to Mars. What's the final cost? Altogether, keeping the existing tax breaks and adding the new ones is expected to cost $3.8 trillion over the decade, the CBO says in its analysis of the House bill. An analysis of the Senate draft is pending. The CBO estimates the House-passed package would add $2.4 trillion to the nation's deficits over the decade. Or not, depending on how one does the math. Senate Republicans are proposing a unique strategy of not counting the existing tax breaks as a new cost because those breaks are already 'current policy.' Senators say the Senate Budget Committee chairman has the authority to set the baseline for the preferred approach. Under the Senate GOP view, the cost of tax provisions would be $441 billion, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. Democrats and others say this is 'magic math' that obscures the costs of the GOP tax breaks. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget puts the Senate tally at $4.2 trillion over the decade.
