ICE freezes out frontrunners

Presented by
With help from Cris Seda Chabrier
NEW YORK MINUTE: Maya Wiley, who placed third in the 2021 mayor's race, is endorsing Zohran Mamdani as her top choice in the Democratic mayoral primary today.
'The next mayor of New York City must be a bold and principled leader who will fight the attacks from Washington while attacking the high cost of living in this great city. That next mayor is Zohran Mamdani,' Wiley said in a prepared statement, provided by Mamdani's team. 'He has a clear vision and has been unwavering despite all the attacks and threats. He built this campaign from the ground up and he can bring this city together to fight rich bullies, whether they're in Washington or on Wall Street.'
Wiley is expected to also rank Brad Lander and Adrienne Adams, per two people who were briefed on her plans and shared them with Playbook on the condition of anonymity until she makes her announcement.
Wiley was a City Hall lawyer during the first term of former Mayor Bill de Blasio — a political rival of Cuomo. Mamdani, a democratic socialist lawmaker, just received the support of Bernie Sanders. He consistently polls second and is trailing Cuomo by 10 points in a new Marist poll, but is tightening the gap with less than one week until primary day. (More on the poll below.) — Sally Goldenberg
BRAD TO THE BONE: Lander has been struggling for attention in the mayoral race. On Tuesday, all eyes turned to him as ICE agents arrested him outside an immigration courtroom — a spectacle that quickly became international news.
The New York City comptroller locked arms with a man named Edgardo and demanded to see a judicial warrant in an effort to stop the Spanish-speaking immigrant's arrest. Video showed agents forcibly separating the pair and arresting them — a potent visual of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown that mayoral race contenders have vowed to fight.
'This is a critical time to have a mayor who will stand up to ICE and stand up to Donald Trump and insist on due process and the laws of this city,' Lander said after he was released four hours later, without getting charged.
Lander has questioned Cuomo's commitment to standing up to Trump — something the frontrunner promises to do — against the backdrop of an incumbent mayor whose closeness to Trump has damaged him irreparably with Democratic voters.
Edgardo was not released, as far as Lander knew. And for that, he added, 'I really think I failed today.'
But Lander's arrest seized the day: Mamdani's big endorsement by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Cuomo's large labor rally in Union Square didn't get the play the two leading candidates wanted a week out before primary day, POLITICO's Emily Ngo reports.
Those two still had the top spots in an anticipated Marist College poll released this morning, showing Cuomo besting Mamdani by 10 points in the seventh round of ranked-choice voting. Lander comes in a distant third. We have more on the numbers below.
Candidates cuffed for protesting is nothing new — think Shaun Donovan in 2021, or Bill de Blasio in 2013. But Lander's chaotic hallway scene was a reminder that anything can happen in the runup to June 24.
Lander's name was the top trending search on Google Tuesday afternoon. MSNBC's Chris Hayes devoted the first half hour of his prime time show to the comptroller. And reality TV maven Andy Cohen posted 'FREE @bradlander !!!!!' to his 2.3 million followers on X.
Lander press secretary Dora Pekec said her aunt in Croatia saw Lander on TV there. He'll keep up the momentum with a jam-packed media schedule today, she said, including NBC national, NY1 and Pod Save America.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who'd previously kept her distance from the mayoral race, tried to play hero — she called it 'bullshit,' came to the federal building to free Lander, escorted him out of the building to cheers, and then sent a fundraising email off the whole saga.
Mayor Eric Adams unsurprisingly made it clear who he blamed, between Lander and the Trump administration.
'Today should not be about Brad Lander,' spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus said in a statement. 'It's about making sure all New Yorkers — regardless of their documentation status — feel safe enough to use public resources, like dialing 911, sending their kids to school, going to the hospital, or attending court appearances, and do not instead hide in the shadows.'
Five other mayoral candidates — Mamdani, Adrienne Adams, Scott Stringer, Michael Blake and Zellnor Myrie — showed up outside the federal building to demand Lander's release. Cuomo posted some strongly worded messages of support on X.
'I do want to thank the five mayoral candidates who showed up. … I only have five slots on my ballot so sadly I can't rank all of them,' Lander said to a crowd of hundreds at Foley Square, following a chant of 'Don't Rank Cuomo.'
After the rally, former Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou told Playbook she'd endorsed Lander earlier that morning, and texted him about releasing a statement.
'He didn't text back, and I was like 'What the fuck?'' Niou recalled. 'And then I got texts from organizers that were like, 'Brad just got arrested.' And I was like, 'Oh, my God, that's why he didn't text me back!''
Will it help Lander's campaign? 'I think that people are seeing Brad for who he is,' Niou said. 'He's an amazing, amazing person.'
Meanwhile Reps. Dan Goldman and Jerry Nadler plan to observe immigration court proceedings this morning at 26 Federal Plaza.
The Manhattan House members have congressional oversight responsibilities. They were previously denied access to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in the building. They'll be joined today by immigrant advocates. — Jeff Coltin
IT'S WEDNESDAY: Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.
WHERE'S KATHY? In New York City with no public schedule.
WHERE'S ERIC? In New York City, making an affordability-related announcement, appearing on Good Music, Good Times LIVE's 'The Reset Talk Show' and on PIX 11's 'News at 6', honoring Harry Nespoli's service to the city, holding a roundtable discussion with Indonesian community leaders, hosting a Juneteenth celebration and making a public service-related announcement.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'This may be the new Andrew Cuomo. Maybe he's had time to reflect. Maybe he's had time to grow.' — State Sen. James Sanders Jr., one of the 18 elected officials who once condemned the former governor but are now endorsing him for mayor, from POLITICO's thorough new report on the backers who demanded his resignation.
ABOVE THE FOLD
MAMDANI CATCHING UP: Cuomo continues to lead the Democratic primary for mayor, with one week left, but the gap between the former governor and top rival Mamdani is shrinking, according to a new poll from the Marist Institute for Public Opinion.
The survey of 1,350 likely Democratic primary voters conducted June 9 through June 12 found Cuomo outpacing Mamdani 55 percent to 45 percent in the seventh round of a ranked-choice voting simulation. Lander, the city comptroller, was eliminated one round earlier at 13 percent and every other candidate was stuck in single digits.
The matchup excluded undecided voters; when Marist included them, Cuomo led Mamdani 43 to 35 in the final round.
A Marist poll in May showed Cuomo leading Mamdani by 24 points in the fifth round, excluding undecided voters.
The poll, which has a 4.3 margin of error, found Cuomo leading in the first-round of voting with 43 percent to Mamdani's 31 percent.
Undecided voters stand to shift the election: 11 percent haven't chosen a first-choice candidate while another 11 percent do not rank either Cuomo or Mamdani on their ballots.
The survey underscores the degree to which this has become a two-person contest, as Cuomo and a super PAC boosting him flood the airwaves with ads portraying Mamdani as radical and lacking relevant experience for the job. The lefty lawmaker, who has exceeded expectations this cycle, is hitting Cuomo over the scandals and missteps in his gubernatorial record. Early voting began over the weekend, ahead of the June 24 primary.
Read more on the poll from POLITICO's Cris Seda Chabrier.
CITY HALL: THE LATEST
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: New York City members of progressive advocacy group MoveOn are endorsing Mamdani as their top choice and Lander as their second, pledging to fundraise for a Mamdani-aligned, anti-Cuomo PAC and loan them organizers in the mayoral race's final days.
'In a moment of crisis for our country, New York City needs a mayor who refuses to bend the knee to President Trump and prioritizes the working class over billionaires,' Mohammad Khan, political director of MoveOn Political Action, said in a statement.
The organization boasts millions of members nationally and more than 200,000 in New York City. — Emily Ngo
MORE FIX CASH: The super PAC boosting Cuomo's mayoral bid continued to rake in cash a week before the primary — raising more than $500,000 from nine donors in one day.
The latest filings were led by Estée Lauder Chair William Lauder, who contributed $250,000 — a check that matches the amount he previously gave the group.
Alex Karp, the CEO of Palantir Technologies, contributed $90,000. Investor Laurie Tisch, a member of the billionaire Tisch family, gave $15,000.
The super PAC, called Fix the City, has raised nearly $20 million to back Cuomo and spent more than $14 million on TV ads — including $5.4 million to blast Cuomo's chief opponent, democratic socialist Mamdani. The spot knocks Mamdani for being too far left and inexperienced to lead the nation's largest city.
The group last week received a $5 million donation from billionaire former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. — Nick Reisman
ENDORSEMENT WATCH: Dominique Sharpton — daughter of Al Sharpton who is part of his National Action Network— is endorsing Adrienne Adams for mayor, her campaign told Playbook. The elder Sharpton said he wasn't publicly endorsing anyone, but praised Cuomo and gave him a speaking slot at NAN on the first day of early voting Saturday. Adrienne Adams, a longtime member of NAN, will get her own well-timed speaking slot this Saturday, ahead of primary day, campaign spokesperson Lupe Todd-Medina said. — Jeff Coltin
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Rep. Tom Suozzi will endorse Mark Levine for city comptroller, adding to the Democrat's already hefty congressional support.
'As someone on the front lines of fighting to solve the tough issues New Yorkers face, I know how urgently we need a fighter like Mark Levine in the Comptroller's office,' said Suozzi, a battleground Democrat who lives in Nassau County and represents a part of Queens.
The primary for the city's fiscal watchdog is between Levine, the Manhattan borough president, and Justin Brannan, the chair of the City Council's Finance Committee.
Brannan was endorsed Tuesday by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and has the support of Rep. Nydia Velázquez.
Levine is endorsed by New York City House delegation members Adriano Espaillat, Goldman, Nadler, Ritchie Torres and George Latimer. — Emily Ngo
More from the city:
— Eric Adams barred Daily News reporter Chris Sommerfeldt from press conferences at City Hall for being 'disrespectful.' (The New York Times)
— DoorDash is secretly funding a labor union super PAC backing Adrienne Adams for mayor. (THE CITY)
— Mamdani refused to condemn calls to 'globalize the intifada' during a new podcast interview, arguing the phrase is an expression of Palestinian rights. (Jewish Insider)
NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY
CONSUMER RETORT: A consumer protection bill pushed by state Attorney General Letitia James will head to Hochul's desk.
The measure, which passed the Assembly on Tuesday, would expand the state's consumer protection laws to address issues like subscription cancellations, loan repayment and junk fees.
Business groups were opposed and argued the bill would open companies up to lawsuits. James' office addressed this concern by amending it to include a provision that lawsuits would be a final resort.
Hochul, a James ally, has not weighed in on the bill. She generally sides with the business sector's concerns, but she's staked out an affordability platform this year that's meant to address common consumer problems. — Nick Reisman
More from Albany:
— The state Assembly wrapped up session with a package of environmental themed bills. (City & State)
— Lawmakers have approved bills to regulate artificial intelligence, but one measure hangs in the balance. (Spectrum News)
— Rep. Mike Lawler has a better shot at defeating Hochul than Elise Stefanik, according to a poll conducted by Brock McCleary, founder of Harper Polling. (New York Post)
KEEPING UP WITH THE DELEGATION
VERY, VERY SALTY: New York House Republicans have said they'll withhold their votes on the final GOP megabill if there's not a hefty hike in the state and local tax deduction. They remained irate Tuesday after their Senate colleagues slashed what was negotiated in the House.
The Senate Finance Committee dramatically reduced the SALT provision in the text it released Monday, maintaining the $10,000 cap in the GOP's party-line domestic policy bill. The so-called SALT Caucus had fought mightily in House negotiations to quadruple that limit to $40,000.
Rep. Nick LaLota pulled the stats on his eastern Long Island district.
'The $10K SALT cap is outdated and unfair — just 16.3% of my constituents can claim it,' he posted on X. 'The $40K cap I fought for in the One Big Beautiful Bill brings real relief, making 92% of households in our district whole.
The pushback was even fiercer a day earlier.
Caucus co-chairs Reps. Andrew Garbarino of Long Island and Young Kim of California said the deal was negotiated in good faith with House Speaker Mike Johnson and White House representatives and must remain in the final bill.
Lawler of the Hudson Valley posted a gif of Roman ruler Commodus as portrayed in the blockbuster 'Gladiator' giving a thumbs-down, captioning it: 'DEAD ON ARRIVAL.' — Emily Ngo
More from Congress:
— Democrats spar over super PAC primary spending: 'Let's tie one hand around our backs.' (POLITICO)
— The Republican megabill faces grim polling for the GOP. (POLITICO)
— Senators, led by Chuck Schumer, used a closed-door briefing with law enforcement to push for more funding for lawmaker security after the fatal shootings in Minnesota. (POLITICO)
NEW YORK STATE OF MIND
— A federal civil rights lawsuit was filed on behalf of a man who was fatally beaten at Mid-State Correctional Facility. (Times Union)
— Four out of 10 New York City shelters lack air conditioning. (Gothamist)
— Long Island officials are doubling down on their anti-sanctuary policies. (New York Post)
SOCIAL DATA
SPOTTED: At P&T Knitwear for the Gotham Book Prize award ceremony Tuesday night, honoring 2025 winners Nicole Gelinas and Ian Frazier: Train Daddy Andy Byford … Howard Wolfson … Sarah Feinberg … Bradley Tusk … Charles Komanoff … Wendy Ettinger … Jefrey Pollock … John Crotty … Jennifer Cunningham … Cathie Levine … Mitchell Moss … Josh Isay … Ric Burns … Erika Tannor … Breeana Mulligan
WEEKEND WEDDING: Christina Thompson, a correspondent for Newsmax, on Saturday married Adam Pearson, an AVP at Golub Capital. The couple, who met in college at Wake Forest, wed at Chateau de Varennes in Burgundy, France. Pic ... Another pic
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Paul Tonko … NYC Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez … Dam Kaminsky … New York True's John Kenny … Dina Powell McCormick … Joanne Lipman … CNN's DJ Judd … Sophia Templin … Mary Ann Georgantopoulos … Dylan F. Pyne
Missed Tuesday's New York Playbook PM? We forgive you. Read it here.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

The Hill

5 minutes ago

• The Hill

Hogg's political group endorses Mamdani in NYC mayoral race

David Hogg's political group Leaders We Deserve is endorsing New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani ahead of Tuesday's Democratic primary. 'We are here talking to voters on the third day of early voting,' Mamdani said in a video posted on X after Mamdani and Hogg introduce themselves. 'And we're so excited to let them know that our campaign has just been endorsed by Leaders We Deserve.' 'We're really excited to support the campaign here to help make New York City affordable, help make sure that buses are faster and free at the same time and that no New Yorker has to pay for childcare,' Hogg says in the video. Mamdani is running in a crowded field for New York City mayor, with recent polling showing a tightening race, though former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is shown in surveys still leading the pack. Mamdani and City Comptroller Brad Lander have cross-endorsed each other as a bid to make sure Cuomo doesn't come out ahead in the Tuesday contest. New York City uses ranked choice voting, meaning that voters rank their candidates in order of preference; if no candidate outright receives more than half of the vote, the candidate with the least votes is eliminated and any voters who place the eliminated candidate as their first pick then have the second-choice picks distributed. The process plays out until one candidate receives more than half of the vote. The Democratic candidates are each hoping to take on embattled Mayor Eric Adams, an independent, in the general election. Mamdani has previously touted Hogg on social media, sharing a photo of the two of them during his campaign earlier this week. Mamdani's endorsement came on the same day that Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) announced he would be endorsing Cuomo, a noteworthy get as Cuomo courts Black voters in the city. Hogg's endorsement of Mamdani is his first one since he made the decision to forgo running for reelection as a Democratic National Committee vice chair amid controversy over his plans to back primary challengers to incumbents while serving as a DNC officer.

Fox News

23 minutes ago

• Fox News

Vance to meet with federal law enforcement, Marines in LA amid anti-ICE riots

EXCLUSIVE: Vice President JD Vance will travel to Los Angeles Friday morning to visit the city amid anti-ICE riots, Fox News Digital has learned. Upon arrival, the vice president is expected to tour a multiagency Federal Joint Operations Center and a Federal Mobile Command Center. There, the vice president is expected to meet with leadership and U.S. Marines. An official familiar with the plans told Fox News Digital that the vice president is expected to deliver brief remarks. Vance's trip comes in the midst of anti-ICE riots in the city. The vice president is expected to discuss how Los Angeles was destroyed in the midst of the violent protests against the Trump administration's immigration enforcement. Vance also is expected to discuss how California politicians had a choice, and chose to disregard federal laws and turn their backs on law enforcement. President Donald Trump ordered the National Guard to Los Angeles earlier in June to aid law enforcement amid the violent protests. The Trump administration also sent hundreds of Marines to support law enforcement. California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued the Trump administration for taking command of the National Guard, but a unanimous ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday said Trump is allowed to keep control of National Guard troops deployed to Los Angeles. The ruling stays the lower court order that ordered command of the troops back to California Gov. Gavin Newsom. A president hasn't made a decision about the deployment of a National Guard without the permission of the state's governor since 1965. Trump, in a Thursday night post to Truth Social, praised the Court of Appeals for its decision and said the decision was a win. "BIG WIN in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on the President's core power to call in the National Guard! The Judges obviously realized that Gavin Newscum is incompetent and ill prepared, but this is much bigger than Gavin, because all over the United States, if our Cities, and our people, need protection, we are the ones to give it to them should State and Local Police be unable, for whatever reason, to get the job done. This is a Great Decision for our Country, and we will continue to protect and defend Law abiding Americans. Congratulations to the Ninth Circuit, America is proud of you tonight!," he posted.

Politico

27 minutes ago

• Politico

America's biggest rail service faces peril from both parties after years of ‘Amtrak Joe' Biden

BENEATH THE EAST RIVER, New York — Twelve years after Hurricane Sandy's brackish floodwaters poured into some of the Northeast's busiest rail tunnels, the damage is still apparent from pooling water and crumbling casing. Political leaders who mattered most — from former President Joe Biden to the region's governors — all backed a $1.6 billion repair of the Amtrak tunnels connecting Manhattan and Long Island. But now Donald Trump is president and New York is taking a more adversarial approach to Amtrak. Even though repair work started last month on the Sandy-damaged tunnels beneath the East River, Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and members of her administration threw intense last-minute shade on the project. They suggested Amtrak cannot be trusted, doesn't care about its customers and compared its officials to a used car salesman. The sharp elbows suggest a new peril for the national railroad following the 'Amtrak Joe' Biden years, when the administration showered billions of dollars on the railroad and New York rail projects, including the separate $16 billion project to build new tunnels beneath the Hudson River connecting New Jersey and New York. Amtrak's leader recently stepped down in a peace offering to Trump and the railroad is facing major layoffs and renewed pressure to turn a profit. If Amtrak doesn't have the confidence of Northeastern Democrats like Hochul, whose state is home to the flagship New York Penn Station and its busiest passenger routes, it's not clear who Amtrak can count on. 'Am I confident?' Hochul said during a recent press conference. 'I don't know.' Hochul's recent criticism of the East River rehab, paired with open hostility toward Amtrak from officials at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, are yet another sore spot between the Democratic governor and the Trump administration over transit — one among many. Trump is trying to kill New York's signature congestion pricing program. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy recently seized control of the high-profile overhaul of Penn Station and handed it to Amtrak, under the supervision of former MTA head Andy Byford. But the tunnel clash adds animosity to what was once widely regarded as a slam dunk repair project by Amtrak to its own tunnels. Sandy flooded two of four East River train tunnels, leaving behind a salty residue that's eating away at the concrete casing. Since then, Amtrak has been working on a plan to fix the century-old tubes by closing them one after another for two-and-a-half years of repair work. The closures could prompt delays for Long Island commuters if something goes wrong in any of the other tunnels. Hochul worries those delays could shred public confidence in transit after the state is 'finally getting our footing.' 'The last thing I want to do is have a setback that can go on for years,' Hochul said. 'So I was very clear in my messaging to Amtrak: Don't screw this up.' As the tunnel repair project loomed, Hochul and the MTA asked Amtrak to rip up its closure plans and take a different approach known as 'repair in place,' which would shift the work to nights and weekends and keep the tunnels open during peak commuting times. In doing so, she and her allies have used rhetoric that would have been hard to imagine when Biden was president. 'Amtrak's track record for us is a little terrifying,' MTA CEO Janno Lieber said, citing unrelated problems with Amtrak's system that caused massive headaches for New Jersey commuters last summer. Lisa Daglian, the head of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, cited a history of Amtrak system problems to suggest that if something went wrong with the East River tunnels, the 2017 'summer of hell' transit crisis in New York City would look like a 'warm spring day.' In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy and members of the state's congressional delegation have expressed frustration with Amtrak, but for other reasons and in more muted terms. Murphy, a Democrat, stepped in to broker a peace between Amtrak and NJ Transit last summer after the two railroads got into a spat over who was to blame for massive delays for Garden State commuters. Now, every few months, Murphy gathers NJ Transit and Amtrak leaders in front of cameras to field reporters' questions about their joint work. Not so in New York. New York's criticism of Amtrak intensified shortly after Duffy announced in mid-April that it would be in charge of Penn Station, a move that sidelined the MTA and Lieber, who has his own particular vision for what should happen there. It's hard to know if the tunnel flare up aimed at Amtrak is part of a tit-for-tat, but it's a theory few people are discounting given that the MTA and Amtrak had been talking about the tunnel work for years. 'We were surprised by this sudden disavowment of a plan that we had worked together on for a long time,' said Laura Mason, Amtrak's executive vice president for capital project delivery. New York contends it has long harbored worries about Amtrak's plan to close one tunnel for 13 months of repairs, reopen it and then close the other for 13 more months. The East River tunnels are used by Amtrak, the MTA's Long Island Rail Road and NJ Transit, which sends trains to Queens so they can be ready to head back to New Jersey during rush hour. NJ Transit has not raised a ruckus over the tunnel project. But LIRR, which is part of the MTA, is the biggest user of the tunnels. And its leader, Rob Free, is worried because it sends more than 450 trains and 125,000 customers through them each day. In early May, Amtrak handed LIRR an easy anecdote to bash it with even before repairs began: Poor quality control meant one of the tunnels wasn't ready to go after an overnight outage, inconveniencing tens of thousands of Long Island commuters. If another tunnel had been closed for repair when that happened, there would have been even more delays and cancellations. 'The governor of New York seems to be more concerned about Amtrak customers than they do,' Free, the head of LIRR, said during a press conference in remarks that echoed Hochul's own. Mason of Amtrak responded that the critique 'didn't hurt because it wasn't true,' but she was frustrated by Free 'misrepresenting the collective effort that went into these plans.' Mason said that while the MTA has had concerns, it has been part of the project for years — the MTA has helped get the money for the project, signed off on the design and participated in the procurement. But there's been a bipartisan group of New York members worried about Amtrak for a while, including everything from Amtrak's service cuts to the full closure of the tunnels. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's ideas about how to run a railroad also loom over the dispute. To avoid a shutdown of the L subway line in 2019, Cuomo's administration instead shifted most of the work to nights and weekends. He was hailed as a sort of hero at the time and wanted to use that same repair-in-place approach on other projects, including Gateway. Now Hochul wants to use the idea for the East River tunnels. Amtrak recently fought back against it by offering a rare media tour of one of the East River tunnels to show just how fragile the tunnels are and why it considers repair-in-place unworkable. The tour began on a recent Thursday with a descent into Tunnel 2 at 1 a.m. Down there, travelling on the back of a truck in an otherwise empty tunnel dozens of feet below Manhattan's 1st Avenue and the East River itself, Amtrak officials pointed to the extent of the damage done by time and Sandy. Rickety catwalks meant for escape in an emergency seemed questionable at best. Water dripped from the ceiling, pooling near tracks in a way that could force trains to slow or stop. Cast-iron casing crumbled in one Amtrak worker's hand. The tunnel repairs Amtrak is making should ensure people can escape in an emergency. It won't stop all the dripping, but it's expected to prevent puddles from shutting down service and will upgrade the tunnel's interior and electrical work. 'What we're designing is a tunnel that helps itself,' said Liam McQuat, Amtrak's vice president of engineering services. 'This has been 12 years in the making.' The biggest impression Amtrak made was just how hard it would be to cram in work on nights and weekends: It seemed hard enough to get a gaggle of reporters in and out of the tunnel — no trains could travel in the tunnel that had to be blocked off and powered down for safety. The message Amtrak sent was that trying to get hundreds of workers and all their equipment in and out of the tunnel each night and have the tunnel reopened in time for the morning commute would be challenging and inefficient. It could also triple or quadruple the time it would take to make the repairs. In a press conference the next day, Free dismissed Amtrak's tour as the work of a car salesman. 'The salesman pulls the car up, you sit in the car, pulls at your heartstrings, pulls at your emotions,' Free said. 'But at the end of the day, it's about the details, it's about what's the bottom line.'