Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is touting his support for raising the city’s minimum wage to win over voters in the New York City mayoral primary, but his deep ties to Tusk Strategies—a lobbying firm that is fighting the EmPIRE Worker Protection Act on behalf of a front group for McDonald’s franchise owners—cast doubt on his support for workers challenging business interests.
The prominent lobbying firm is entwined with Cuomo’s campaign on several fronts: its CEO, Chris Coffey, is advising the campaign on communications, and firm partner Shontell Smith is currently the campaign’s political director. Tusk Strategies is also working with a Cuomo-aligned “dark money” group called Restore Sanity NYC that recently sent out mailers that echo the campaign’s messaging. The ties were first reported earlier this month by The City and the New York Times.
Tusk Strategies trumpets its political strategy work for some of its corporate clients, like Uber and FanDuel, but its lobbying for other large companies receives less promotional treatment. In New York, the firm lobbies for Coinbase, Instacart, and McDonald’s, among others, as well as a group called New Yorkers for Local Businesses that includes McDonald’s franchise owners.
Since the beginning of last year, Tusk Strategies has lobbied for the business group in opposition to a major state bill, the EmPIRE Worker Protection Act, that aims to prevent wage theft and strengthen the state's ability to enforce labor laws. The legislation would empower workers and labor organizations to initiate public enforcement actions against wage theft and labor law violations, a measure expected to bring in over $100 million to the Department of Labor annually, enabling the state to step up its labor enforcement efforts.
As a nonprofit, Restore Sanity NYC is not required to disclose its donors or the amount of money it has spent on disseminating messaging that mirrors the Cuomo campaign’s literature. It is also not allowed to endorse candidates, and its mailers are careful not to explicitly back Cuomo, though their intent is clear. The group’s registered address is Tusk Strategies’ office, and Coffey reportedly circulated a fundraising pitch deck for the group to help it fund multimillion-dollar ad campaigns reinforcing Cuomo’s messaging. The ongoing working relationship between Tusk Strategies and Restore Sanity NYC was confirmed recently by Politico.
According to the New York Times, Restore Sanity NYC has solicited funding from billionaire hedge fund magnate Paul Singer, a Republican megadonor and a $5 million donor last year to the super PAC supporting Donald Trump for president.
In a response to Sludge, Tusk Strategies’ managing director Alex Sommer referred to a statement it had previously given regarding its ties to Restore Sanity NYC. Sommer told The City that Tusk Strategies is a “vendor for the independent, issues based 501(c)(4) Restore Our Sanity, which does not advocate on behalf of candidates for any office, including mayor.”
The firm’s founder, Bradley Tusk, is a political strategist, lobbyist, and venture capitalist, whose investment arm has held stakes in companies like Coinbase and FanDuel that his political firm has lobbied for and advised in government affairs. Tusk was the campaign manager for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 2009 unexpectedly narrow re-election and helped lead the 2021 bid of Democratic candidate Andrew Yang, who finished in a distant fourth place. Tusk was formerly a top aide to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted in 2011 on 18 counts of federal corruption.
More than a dozen Democrats are running in New York City’s mayoral primary, where the early voting period starts on June 14 ahead of the primary election on June 24.
Last year, the Department of Justice concluded that Cuomo sexually harassed 13 women who worked for the state over eight years while he was governor. The findings were included in a settlement reached with his successor, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
On its website, Tusk Strategies highlights its work altering municipal and state regulations for clients to help them expand their businesses to more cities. Tusk’s work with Uber in New York City starting in 2011, which included blocking a temporary cap proposed on the number of Uber vehicles, became his calling card in helping companies run pressure campaigns. Tusk made a fortune reportedly worth $100 million by taking his Uber payment in equity, and he has reportedly bragged that politics is just a hobby.
Since the start of 2023, Tusk Strategies has lobbied for McDonald’s on “consumer issues/safety/protection.” The fast food giant is a member of several mammoth trade associations that lobby against worker protections, including the National Restaurant Association, which fights minimum wage increases, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a top-spending lobbying group nationwide that similarly fights pro-worker rules.
New Yorkers For Local Business presents itself as a group of small business workers, managers, and organizations advocating for policies to create jobs, but it is primarily backed by business interests, notably area McDonald’s franchises. The group’s PAC is funded by McDonald’s franchise owners and its three directors all share the names of people who own McDonald’s franchises or otherwise work for the company, the investigative newsroom New York Focus reported last year. Since then, the group’s PAC has continued to be funded exclusively by corporations and restaurant franchise owners, according to a review of state campaign finance disclosures. The coalition displayed on the group’s website includes the Partnership for New York City, employer group the Business Council of New York, and other local business lobbying groups. The NYLB registered with the New York Department of State in 2023 using the San Rafael, California address of a law firm that has worked to oppose labor-supported measures in the state.
Fighting the EmPIRE Worker Protection Act, sponsored by Democratic Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, has been the group’s top priority. The bill is supported by labor unions and community groups including New York Communities for Change, United Auto Workers New York, and the National Employment Lawyers Association/New York, and supporters called for its inclusion in last year’s massive state budget package. The bill’s state Senate sponsor, Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Democrat who represents a district in Manhattan, said in a statement that working New Yorkers lose $3.2 billion in wage theft every year.
Last year, the NYLB intensified its opposition to the EmPIRE Worker Protection Act by taking out ads in Politico New York Playbook the same day that it mailed a letter opposing the bill to Democratic state Senate and Assembly leaders, New York Focus reported. NYLB paid Tusk Strategies a total of $551,406 for reimbursed expenses in January-February 2024 and May-June 2024 for a multi-platform media buy and design services. The latter disclosure says Tusk Strategies sent a communication for NYLB to the entire New York State legislature focused on the EmPIRE Worker Protection Act. Also, three disclosures covering the first half of last year initially stated that Tusk Strategies was paid $60,000 by NYLB in lobbying compensation, but all three were amended in August 2024 to indicate zero dollars in compensation.
This week, the NYLB continued its push with prominent ads in New York Politico Playbook opposing the bill, as it sits in the Labor Committee in both chambers. The bill has the support of the majority of Democrats as co-sponsors in the state Assembly and Senate. Tusk Strategies has been paid $20,000 in lobbying compensation so far this year by NYLB for lobbying on "miscellaneous business" issues, and received nearly $93,000 for a media buy in March and April.
The NYLB did not respond to a request for comment on Tusk Strategies’ services.
“Passing the EmPIRE Act is a life or death situation for low income workers,” Sol Freire Figueroa, labor campaigns director for New York Communities for Change, which is advocating for the bill, told Sludge.
“While billions of dollars are being stolen in wages and benefits by unscrupulous employers, federal agencies are being dismantled and workers’ rights are on the line,” Figueroa said. “Retaliation is on the rise in all areas of the state and workers are being threatened with ICE raids and physical violence for speaking up. The EmPIRE Act will bring millions of dollars for the Department of Labor to help reinforce existing labor laws and create a new public enforcement option for workers to have their claims heard. This bill will help protect New York workers and law-abiding businesses in this critical moment.”
Some of Tusk Strategies’ other lobbying clients in New York are cable giant Charter Communications, car-sharing company Turo, fuel company Approved Oil, and the advocacy group New York City Charter School Center.
In 2023 and 2024, Tusk Strategies lobbied in New York for Coinbase on cryptocurrency issues, according to state lobbying disclosures. Its website’s “wins” section also touts its regulatory push in New York State for the trading platform Apex Crypto, which was later acquired. The firm bills itself as “New York's only political, regulatory, and communication advisory firm specializing in blockchain and crypto technology.” Tusk Strategies says its fintech clients included advising MoneyLion, the short-term loan company that was recently sued by New York Attorney General Letitia James on charges of pushing workers into high-interest loans using abusive tactics.
Sludge asked Restore Sanity NYC about its ties to Tusk Strategies in light of the firm’s lobbying for the NYLB and companies like Instacart and Uber that fight laws to reclassify more independent contractors as employees. Ebony Meeks-Laidley, one of the group’s three board members, said, “I helped start Restore Sanity NYC because New Yorkers are concerned that issues they care about aren’t being adequately addressed. With the city facing so many different challenges, we plan on giving a voice to those who feel they are being drowned out in critical policy debates.”
As head of the New York office for Empire Consulting Group, Meeks-Laidley lobbies for clients including American Airlines, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, hedge fund giant BlackRock, Exxon Mobil, and Wynn Resorts, among others, according to state lobbying disclosures. Meeks’ lobbying client DoorDash is also a member of the Flex Association, launched in March 2022 to beat back the labor-supported PRO Act.
Another Restore Sanity board member, Wayne Lair, is a lobbyist with Statewide Public Affairs whose current clients include the NYS Restaurant Association (the state chapter of the National Restaurant Association), Comcast, Cox, Home Depot, a fintech group, and several pharmaceutical companies.
At least four members of the Cuomo campaign staff hail from lobbying firm Mercury Public Affairs, Politico reported, with the firm being paid as a consultant. In New York, some of the firm’s lobbying clients include Pepsi, Accenture, Charter, Western Regional Off-Track Betting, and Wynn Resorts, according to the latest disclosures.
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