Politics

New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo is dismissing as “political” President Donald Trump’s Justice Department move to classify New York City, Seattle and Portland as “anarchy” jurisdictions and withhold billions of dollars in federal funds.  

A re-run of the race for a Southern Tier congressional district brought the Democratic candidate to Western New York for a week-long push. On Sunday, Tracy Mitrano was in Fredonia.

The Green Party candidate for president won’t be on the ballot in two battleground states, following court rulings last week. It's another example, the Greens say, of the difficulties third party candidates have getting on the ballot.

Michael Caputo, the East Aurora political consultant  embroiled in a furor over political meddling with the coronavirus response, is taking a leave of absence from his Health and Human Services communications post, the government announced Wednesday.

The ACLU of New York, Common Cause and other advocacy groups are asking New York to mandate pre-paid postage for absentee ballots in the November general election. But the state's budget office says doing so would require more federal funds.

Tuesday was National Poll Worker Recruitment Day and good government organizations such as Common Cause New York are encouraging young people to sign up to work at voting sites this fall.

Monroe County prosecutors are scheduled to present criminal allegations of campaign finance violations against Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren to a grand jury in September. The foundation of their case is laid bare in a 35-page report prepared by state Board of Elections investigators that concluded there was “considerable evidence” that Warren and associates of her 2017 re-election campaign and a political action committee supporting her campaign took steps to intentionally evade limits on campaign donations.

The political conventions are over and now the Presidential campaign is in the final sprint. Leading the covering of it all is NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith. She’s also co-host of the NPR Politics podcast. Keith has been reporting from the White House since 2014, covering the last two years of the Obama Presidency and Donald Trump since day one. She also appears regularly as a commentator on PBS News Hour.

Keith will join public radio listeners Monday evening at 7:30 p.m. for a special online conversation. It’s free, but you have to register advance. Click here to register.

New York’s attorney general is asking a state judge to force Eric Trump, the president’s son and a top official at the Trump Organization, to testify in an ongoing investigation into the president’s financial dealings before he took office.

Republicans from New York wasted no time going after Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the first day of the Republican National Convention in North Carolina on Monday, calling Cuomo’s critical comments toward the federal government’s coronavirus response a “terrible shame.”

Erie County's elections commissioners may meet with U.S. Postal Service officials this week to make sure the cutbacks at Buffalo's main post office on William Street and in Rochester aren't going to interfere with voting by mail in November.

Congressman Tom Reed is hopeful the House and Senate may work out and pass a federal stimulus package by early August. While both sides are far apart on dollar amounts and how to spend them, the Southern Tier Republican is also hopeful the finished package will include a child care assistance bill like the one he explained during his weekly conference call Tuesday morning.