Max Politics

New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang joined the show to discuss her approach to the office and efforts to root out corruption, fraud, and waste in state government. She discussed other priorities and focus areas including prison oversight, covid fraud, gambling integrity, and more. (Ep 434)

State Senator John Liu, a Queens Democrat and chair of the Senate's New York City education committee, joined the show to discuss the major education issues on the table in the 2024 state legislative session, his other top priorities, housing policy, and more. (Ep 433)

New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan joined the show to discuss how the Adams Administration is taking on the threats of social media on youth, studying long covid, working to increase life expectancy, and more. (Ep 432)

Dr. Christina Greer and Harry Siegel, co-hosts of the FAQ NYC podcast, joined the show to discuss Mayor Adams' 2024 State of the City address, Adams' broader agenda, performance, and standing, the developing 2025 race for mayor, and other New York political dynamics. (Episode 431)

Assemblymember Alex Bores, a Manhattan Democrat, joined the show to discuss his efforts legislating artificial intelligence opportunities and challenges, judicial reform to ensure better functioning courts, housing policy, and more. As a computer scientist and data engineer, he also discussed how government can better use data to inform decision-making. (Ep 430)

Political consultants and longtime Albany experts Shontell Smith and Liz Benjamin joined the show to analyze Governor Hochul's 2024 State of the State address, the governor's policy agenda, state government dynamics, and more. Smith, a former top official for the State Senate Democratic Conference, and Benjamin, a longtime journalist, dissect the governor-legislature relationship and much more. (Episode 429)

State Senator Zellnor Myrie, a Brooklyn Democrat and chair of the Senate elections committee, joined the show to preview the 2024 legislative session in Albany and discuss his top priorities, whether the Legislature will do anything significant on housing policy, and much more. He also touched on questions about whether he might run for Mayor in 2025. (Episode 428)

New York State Assembly Housing Chair Linda Rosenthal, a Manhattan Democrat, joined the show to preview the 2024 budget and legislative session in Albany, especially what may happen around housing policy negotiations. She also discussed her other top priorities and major areas of concern that the state will deal with. (Episode 427)

Professor Jeff Wice, director of the Census and Redistricting Institute at New York Law School, joined the show to discuss the latest in the ongoing saga of congressional redistricting in New York. In mid-December, New York's highest court ordered a new round of map-making from the Independent Redistricting Commission, likely to lead to another new set of congressional district lines for the consequential 2024 elections in New York, where party control of the U.S. House of Representatives will again hang in the balance. (Ep 426)

New York City Council Finance Chair Justin Brannan returned to the show to discuss how the Council is pushing back against Mayor Eric Adams' budget cuts and other fiscal choices. Brannan spoke with Max Politics the day after chairing an oversight hearing on the Mayor's November budget modification to the city budget, which included $1.7 billion in savings, including many program cuts. Topics include debate over revenue projections, city personnel policies and removal of budget vacancies, specific funding cuts to programs, fiscal management of the migrant crisis, and more. (Episode 425)