Prickly Politics

Prickly Podcast co-host Andrew Millman interviews Suraj Patel, a candidate for New York's 12th congressional district challenging incumbent Rep. Carolyn Maloney. In Prickly Politics Interviews, he talks about his "Family Opportunity Guarantee" and how he'd be a different Member of Congress compared to his opponent. Check back next week for the first Prickly Politics Explains...

Wondering what to look out for next year in New York City and state politics? We've got an insider's guide for what to watch in 2020 at the city and state level. For this episode of Prickly Politics, we take a look at marijuana legalization, environmental issues, and the budget. We also talk to City & State's City Hall report Jeff Coltin about what he thinks are the biggest issues facing the city.

New Yorkers voted to adopt Ranked Choice Voting for some city elections. This makes New York City the largest jurisdiction in the country to adopt the method. High profile political players like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Andrew Yang say this will increase voter turn out and make people feel like their vote matters more. While others worry the method is too complicated for voters to grasp. For this episode of Prickly Politics, Professor Boris Heersink helps explain how the method works and talks about how he thinks it’ll affect future elections. We also talk to Josh Silver, the co-founder of Represent.Us, which is an organization working to spread RCV nation wide. And City Councilman I. Daneek Miller explains why he is worried about how this will effect communities of color and immigrants. Natalie Migliore is back as guest co-host.

Can pension fund divestment help combat climate change? New York City and State are in the midst of a debate over that question. Pensioners worry divestment could harm their returns, while climate activists believe divestment will put the fund ahead of the curve. In this episode of WFUV's Prickly Politics, we talk with Assistant Speaker of the New York State Assembly Felix Ortiz, who authored the Fossil Fuels Divestment Act, about why he believes this is the next phase of climate policy. We also talk with climate activist Cata Romo from 350.org and Politico reporter Danielle Muoio. WFUV's Natalie Migliore joins as guest co-host.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called the closing of Rikers Island, "The end of mass incarceration in New York City." In this episode of Prickly Politics, we explore different approaches to prison reform and how Rikers has become a symbol of mass incarceration nation wide. WFUV's Eliot Schiaparelli joins as co-host for this episode.

New York schools are the most segregated in the nation, according to a study from UCLA. Our guests on this episode of Prickly Politics believe that's because of funding inequality.

Some are calling the decriminalization of sex work the new frontier in criminal justice reform. While others see it as the deterioration of our society's moral values. In this episode, we break down the issue of decriminalization of sex work and talk to some of the key players involved in the movement.

After the #MeToo movement, survivors of harassment and assault began to feel a sense of restlessness to share stories and take action. Many of the survivors we interviewed didn't know one another, but one person knew all of them: Alexis Grenell. Thanks to her, they formed the Sexual Harassment Working Group, and with now State Senator Alessandra Biaggi they forced Albany to reckon with its past and make real changes for the state's future...not next session, not after the next election. Now.

Erica Vladimer was pursuing her dream of working in education policy as a NYS Senate Fellow when she says she was forcibly kissed outside a bar by one of the most powerful legislators in Albany at the time, Senator Jeff Klein. Afterwards, she had an identity crisis and left government, until the #MeToo movement inspired her to come forward with her story. At the very same time, Klein found himself with a primary challenger who would eventually unseat him: Alessandra Biaggi.

While some trends have emerged, what we’ve learned so far is there is no “typical” victim of sexual harassment in New York State government. Many of the stories we’ve heard recount harassment in the Legislature and district offices, but today’s episode steps outside those confines and into a state agency. Patricia Gunning, a long-time sex crimes prosecutor and senior-level staff at the Justice Center, tells of the retaliation and hostile work environment she faced for confronting and then reporting her boss for creating a culture of harassment in their office.