{"id":454,"date":"2026-07-17T22:12:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T22:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=454"},"modified":"2026-07-17T22:12:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T22:12:53","slug":"lasher-is-keeping-katz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=454","title":{"rendered":"Lasher is keeping Katz"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Democratic congressional nominee Micah Lasher isn\u2019t ready to give up on consultant Morris Katz.<\/p>\n

Read more Opinion: NYC\u2019s proposed horse-carriage ban is driven by emotion and propaganda<\/a><\/p>\n

At a Four Freedoms Democratic Club meeting on Thursday night, Lasher was asked whether he\u2019ll continue to work with Katz, the 27-year-old who\u2019s come under fire for his work with disgraced Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner. Lasher snapped that the question was \u201cridiculous\u201d and said of course he would.<\/p>\n

Katz has come under withering scrutiny in recent weeks for working with Platner, a Marine veteran and oysterman who electrified Maine crowds with his gruff left-populist speeches but also suffered an escalating series of scandals, culminating in an accusation of sexual assault by a former partner (which he has denied) that finally forced him to drop out of the race.<\/p>\n

Katz stood by his client through earlier scandals \u2013 including offensive Reddit posts, a Nazi tattoo and allegations that he mistreated former partners \u2013 but once Platner was accused of sexual assault, Katz reportedly tried to convince him to drop out and then helped wind down the campaign.<\/p>\n

But any association with Platner was too much for Erica Vladimer, the founding director of advocacy group Harassment-Free New York, which previously criticized Mamdani for sticking with Katz. Vladimer was also at the Four Freedoms meeting, and she wasn\u2019t happy with Lasher\u2019s answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more This week\u2019s biggest Winners & Losers<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a telling and terrible message the presumptive Congressmember-elect is sending to his campaign staff and future congressional employees,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cFor someone who touts decades of government and political experience on the campaign trail, I\u2019d expect him to remember just how pervasive and systemic sexual harassment and abuse are in the halls of power \u2013 not dismiss a question about protecting abusers as \u2018ridiculous.\u2019 Lasher didn’t just confirm he’ll keep working with Katz; he made clear that accountability for survivors isn’t even worth a serious answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Lasher doubled down in a statement to City & State, defending Katz while criticizing Platner. \u201cGraham Platner should not be anywhere near the Senate and I\u2019m glad he won\u2019t be,\u201d he said. \u201cBut anyone focused on blacklisting consultants four months before the most important midterm election of my lifetime should reexamine their priorities. My outstanding team of consultants, Morris Katz included, remains intact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before getting entangled with Platner\u2019s scandals, Katz was flying high. The consultant, who works with the progressive firm Fight Agency, played a key role in Mamdani\u2019s successful mayoral campaign and remains one of the mayor\u2019s top advisers. He also worked closely with Mamdani-backed congressional candidates Brad Lander and Claire Valdez, both of whom won their primaries.<\/p>\n

Read more The NYC Council passed a $10k bonus for paraprofessionals. Will the mayor sign it?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnyone focused on blacklisting consultants four months before the most important midterm election of my lifetime should reexamine their priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nLasher is keeping Katz - Business Relocation Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=454\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lasher is keeping Katz - Business Relocation Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cAnyone focused on blacklisting consultants four months before the most important midterm election of my lifetime should reexamine their priorities.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=454\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Business Relocation Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-17T22:12:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessrelocationdigest.com\\\/?p=454#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessrelocationdigest.com\\\/?p=454\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessrelocationdigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3174a35dc160ba2a2c93ee7892afb9e0\"},\"headline\":\"Lasher is keeping Katz\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-17T22:12:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessrelocationdigest.com\\\/?p=454\"},\"wordCount\":485,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessrelocationdigest.com\\\/?p=454#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessrelocationdigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/50595c8b919dc8a72023c3873013b005.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/businessrelocationdigest.com\\\/?p=454#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessrelocationdigest.com\\\/?p=454\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/businessrelocationdigest.com\\\/?p=454\",\"name\":\"Lasher is keeping Katz - 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