Gov. Hochul Must Pick a Side: Does She Stand with Epstein Billionaires or Working-Class New Yorkers?

Advocates mobilize outside John Catsimatidis’s Upper East Side home to demand that Gov. Hochul listen to her constituents, not the Epstein class funding her campaign. And a plot twist: Catsimatidis speaks with the rally’s organizers.

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New York, NY –– Advocates from Alliance for Quality Education, Citizen Action of New York, Invest in Our New York, New York Communities for Change, NYC-DSA, Our Time, and Strong Economy for All Coalition mobilized for a rally and press conference Tuesday outside the Upper East Side home of Gristedes CEO John Catsimatidis, a billionaire donor to Gov. Kathy Hochul who appears in Jeffrey Epstein’s address book. The grocery store magnate, worth $4.8 billion, has made his fortune by shortchanging workers and polluting our climate — and used that money to buy influence with the governor.

Catsimatidis came out to speak with the organizers of Tuesday’s rally, repeating debunked right-wing talking points about billionaire tax flight and threatening to move to Florida if he’s forced to pay his fair share in taxes. He was joined by his friend Sid Rosenberg, the conservative radio host who was forced to apologize earlier this month for his anti-Muslim bigotry against Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

To organizers’ surprise, Catsimatidis found common ground after hearing from Alliance for Quality Education Co-Executive Director Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari about the plight of underpaid childcare workers — conceding that he supported higher taxes on the ultra-wealthy “if the money goes in the right place.” That’s right: Even billionaire John Catsimatidis agrees that the wealthiest New Yorkers should fund public goods like universal childcare.

This action spotlighted the nearly $1 million the governor has received from donors explicitly mentioned in files related to the Jeffrey Epstein case, including IAC chairman Barry Diller; Warner Music Group majority owner Len Blavatnik; LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman; and Paul, Weiss partner Brad Karp. A new one-page summary released Tuesday by the Invest in Our New York campaign lays out many of these ties in detail.

Despite overwhelming public support for making the wealthiest New Yorkers pay what they owe in taxes, the Senate’s and Assembly’s inclusion of progressive revenue raisers in their one-house budgets, and a grassroots movement that elected Mayor Mamdani to enact his affordability agenda by taxing the very rich, the governor has stubbornly refused to entertain the idea. This begs the question: Is Gov. Hochul listening to her constituents, or taking cues from the Epstein billionaires funding her campaign? 

Tuesday’s rally was the latest in a series of end-of-budget actions pressuring Gov. Hochul to make the wealthiest New Yorkers pay their fair share in taxes. 

Last week, state elected officials stood at the Capitol alongside unions, advocates and everyday New Yorkers calling on the governor to keep all progressive revenue raisers in the final state budget. Invest in Our New York also supported a phonebank anchored by the New York Working Families Party and rallied with Citizen Action of New York, VOCAL-NY, For the Many and DSA in Rochester and the Hudson Valley. And this past weekend, the campaign helped galvanize support for taxing the ultrawealthy at the No Kings Rally in Manhattan and the rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Bronx.

“Our action today at John Catsimatidis’s home highlights the tip of a very corrupt iceberg: Billionaires buy influence with corporate Democrats, who are then too afraid to tax their ultra-wealthy donors,” said Brahvan Ranga, Campaign Manager for Invest in Our New York. “The people of New York overwhelmingly want the very rich to pay what they owe in taxes. As the budget deadline nears, Gov. Hochul must listen to the working-class families who desperately need food and healthcare assistance, truly universal childcare, and security to plan for the future — not to a handful of billionaires who only care about themselves.”

“New Yorkers keep being told there isn’t enough for truly universal childcare, stronger public schools, accessible healthcare, and affordable housing, all while wealth at the top keeps growing and shaping the rules,” said Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari, Co-Executive Director of Alliance for Quality Education. “Gov. Hochul’s refusal to tax the ultra-wealthy and highly profitable corporations points to priorities that continue to leave our Black, brown, and lower-income communities under-resourced. This budget isn’t final yet. Even as leaders push past today's deadline, New Yorkers are pushing for a final deal that raises revenue, funds childcare, and delivers school funding and all the public goods that match what our communities actually need — but the governor is too busy protecting her Epstein class donors to care.”

“For far too long, the working class has had to carry the economy of this great state while the ultra wealthy sit in their penthouses relishing in all the benefits,” said Cleo Acevedo, NYC Organizer at Citizen Action of New York. “Kathy Hochul has the opportunity to stand with everyday New Yorkers by taxing the rich, saying no to the agenda of billionaires like John Catsimatidis and reinvesting those funds into our public schools, public housing, healthcare, and climate! The time for Gov. Hochul to act is now.”

“Gov. Hochul needs to pick a side: You can either be on the side of working New Yorkers or the side of people like Catsimatidis, who enriched himself by shortchanging his workers and hangs out with Jeffrey Epstein. New York is unaffordable because of people like Catsimatidis rigging the economy in their favor. The governor can either tax the rich and make New York more affordable or placate her billionaire donors, but she can’t do both,” said James Inniss, Interim Political Director at New York Communities for Change.

“The relationship between Gov. Hochul and Epstein billionaires like John Catsimatidis is emblematic of the rigged political system and rigged economy that New Yorkers hate so much,” said Charles Khan, Deputy Director at the Strong Economy for All Coalition. “Instead of raising needed revenue to help 500,000 New Yorkers keep their healthcare, prevent 200,000 New York families from going hungry, and create a statewide childcare program that's affordable and dependable, Hochul is defending and protecting the $12 billion tax cut for her Epstein black-book billionaire donors like Mr. Catsimatidis. Seven in 10 New Yorkers and the state Senate and Assembly get it — yet Gov. Hochul is once again threatening to put the needs of her excessively wealthy donors before those of working families.”

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