{"id":679,"date":"2026-09-01T10:12:03","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T10:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=679"},"modified":"2026-09-01T10:12:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T10:12:03","slug":"editors-note-spotting-samuelsens-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=679","title":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s note: Spotting Samuelsen\u2019s strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A few weeks ago, City & State ran a great op-ed by a former Central Park horse carriage driver, Anita McGill. She grew up in the industry \u2013 her family owned the Hell\u2019s Kitchen stables where the horses started each morning and went to sleep each night (standing up, of course). But she was breaking with her world. The streets were dangerous now, and it was time for the City Council to pass the ban on horse carriage rides.<\/p>\n

Read more Book excerpt: How David Dinkins\u2019 diverse coalition fell apart<\/a><\/p>\n

A week later, an item appeared in Politico. Somebody had dug up that McGill\u2019s husband had gotten in a car crash in a company vehicle on Christmas Eve, 2015. Another employee got in a car crash in a company truck in 2020. And McGill herself was reportedly once caught driving with an open beer in the car.<\/p>\n

Now I don\u2019t know for sure how that story got placed. But there\u2019s only one man I could think of who could have the means, the motive \u2013 and frankly, the desire \u2013 to drop this irrelevant piece of opposition research on a private citizen who was advocating for a piece of legislation. And that man is Transport Workers Union International President John Samuelsen.<\/p>\n

Read more State audit finds room for improvement in NYC\u2019s AI governance<\/a><\/p>\n

Samuelsen is a true New York character, a union boss straight out of central casting. But as Rebecca C. Lewis writes in this week\u2019s cover story, he\u2019s not just some goon \u2013 he\u2019s incredibly charming with his allies, incredibly tough on anybody he thinks is screwing his workers and a serious political strategist.<\/p>\n

Folks like McGill might think they\u2019d be safe from bomb-throwing. But if politics is war, Samuelsen is the field commander, and they\u2019d be better off avoiding enemy territory as long as he\u2019s around.<\/p>\n

Read more New York is still helping Dolly Parton give books to kids<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He\u2019s a savvy political operator, despite his brash style.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,20,47],"tags":[64,21,50],"class_list":["post-679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-note","category-new-york-city","category-opinion","tag-editors-note","tag-new-york-city","tag-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nEditor\u2019s note: Spotting Samuelsen\u2019s strategy - 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=679\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Editor\u2019s note: Spotting Samuelsen\u2019s strategy - 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