Former New Jersey Governor Richard Codey today at City Hall. (Photo: Jill Colvin)

The nanny state is creeping across the border.

New Jersey lawmakers traveled all the way to New York City Hall Thursday to announce their plans to introduce legislation boosting the tobacco purchase age in the Garden State to 21. The announcement comes less than a month after City Council Speaker Christine Quinn unveiled similar plans for the city, which were quickly followed by lawmakers in Albany.

“Less than a month after our initial announcement, our great neighboring state of New Jersey is planning to introduce legislation to do exactly the same thing: raise the age to purchase tobacco to 21,” Ms. Quinn said at a press conference, where she was joined by ex-New Jersey Gov. Richard Codey, who is now a state senator, and New Jersey Assemblyman Ruben Ramos. “This has now truly become a regional, if not national, effort,” added Ms. Quinn.

Mr. Codey, who plans to introduce the legislation next Monday, acknowledged it was rather unusual for lawmakers from his state to travel to Manhattan to make announcements about their plans.

“I said that to my staff,” he told reporters when asked about the decision and how New Jersey residents might react to the news. But, he explained that, while he’d been sitting on the legislation for a while, the latest push was inspired by Ms. Quinn.

“You know what? It’s about doing the right thing,” he said.

Ms. Quinn, who has a vacation home in Jersey, also promised that next time they worked on something together, she'd be the one to travel--prompting an exchange that made it clear that Ms. Quinn's mayoral campaign is always on her colleagues' minds.

“The next piece of legislation that we do together, we will go to Trenton or whatever,” she said.

“Hopefully you’ll come as the mayor,” Mr. Codey said.

“From New Jersey’s lips to God’s ears!" said Ms. Quinn.

Asked if that counted as an endorsement, Mr. Codey was coy.

“She hasn’t asked me yet. I like a lady to ask! What’s wrong with that?” he said, prompting a big hug between the two as Ms. Quinn laughed.

State Senator Diane Savino also took the chance to try to stir up cross-border competition, issuing a challenge to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey’s Chris Christie, who just might end up facing each other in the presidential election in 2016.

“We have a governor--you may have heard of him--Andrew Cuomo. He’s got a little bit of healthy competition with your governor, Gov. Christie. So this is a challenge to see which state can be the leader, who can pass it first, and which governor could put their signature on it,"she said.

Ms. Quinn welcomed the competition. “If anything will light a little bit of fire under the you-know-what’s in Albany or Trenton," she said.

Mr. Christie's office did not immediately respond to a call for comment on whether he supports the 21 push.

Seattle resident displaying a bag of marijuana shortly after a lew legalizing recreational use of the drug took effect in Washington State last month. (Photo: Getty)

While a growing number of states have been legalizing medical and even recreational use of marijuana, the popular plant remains illegal in New York. However, an upcoming pair of new medical marijuana bills in the Legislature and Governor Andrew Cuomo's proposal to decriminalize possession of small amounts of the drug may signal the Empire State is on its way to looser marijuana regulations. 

One of the initiatives Governor Andrew Cuomo outlined in his State of the State address last week was a policy to decriminalize the possession of 15 grams or less or marijuana in public view. Under current laws, possession of 25 grams or less of marijuana generally does not result in jail time as long as it is not openly displayed, but having even small amounts of the drug can result in an  arrest if it is exposed to the public. This "public view" distinction has drawn the ire of critics who argue that, particularly when combined with the NYPD's controversial stop-and-frisk policy, it results in unneeded arrests when people are arrested for displaying marijuana after complying with police officers' requests to reveal the contents of their pockets during searches. Governor Cuomo echoed this argument when he made his case for decriminalization during the State of the State.

"There is a challenge posed by the 'stop-and-frisk' police policies. Roughly 50,000 arrests in New York City for marijuana possession, more than any other possession. Of those 50,000 arrests, 82 percent are black and Hispanic. Of the 82 percent that are black and Hispanic, 69 percent are under the age of 30 years old. These are young, predominately black and Hispanic males," the governor said. "These arrests stigmatize, they criminalize, they create a permanent record. It's not fair. It's not right. It must end. And it must end now. The problem is the disconnect because marijuana on a person is a violation, marijuana in public view is a misdemeanor. There must be parity. Decriminalize the public view with 15 grams or less so there is fairness and parity in the system and we stop stigmatizing these people, making it harder to find a job, making it harder to get into to school, making it harder to turn their lives around at a very young age."

This isn't the first time Governor Cuomo has made a marijuana decriminalization proposal. Last summer, the governor supported a plan to decriminalize possession of up to 25 grams in the public view, though the measure was supported by the Democratic majority in the Assembly it was blocked by the G.O.P.-controlled Senate.

"Being able to walk around with 10 joints in each ear and it only being a violation, that is wrong," former Republican Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos infamously quipped.

Though the senate Republicans opposed decriminalization of 25 grams or less, Mr. Skelos said he would be open to a reduced version of the proposal that would only apply to those who openly possessed marijuana as a result of a police stop. After the governor scaled back his proposal to 15 grams, Politicker reached out to Mr. Skelos' office to see if this compromise would be sufficient. As of this writing, he has not responded to multiple requests for comment on the issue.

Whether or not the Legislature backs the governor's possession decriminalization push, there are lawmakers pushing to change the state's laws regarding medical use of marijuana. Last year, when Governor Cuomo made his initial decriminalization proposal, the Republican majority ruled over the State Senate. Now, leadership is shared between the G.O.P. and the Independent Democratic Conference. Senator Diane Savino, one of the members of the I.D.C., told Politicker she isn't sure where the Senate Republicans stand on the governor's new, scaled down  decriminalization proposal, but she said she is currently drafting a medical marijuana bill.

"He's going to have to sell that," Ms. Savino said of Governor Cuomo's proposal. "It's not what I'm focused on, I'm focused on medical marijuana."

Ms. Savino believes she has secured enough votes for her medical marijuana bill to pass in the Senate. Democratic Assemblyman Richard Gottfried is drafting similar legislation in the Assembly, which is controlled by his party. His office said he also believes he has enough votes to pass his medical marijuana bill. Along with the push from legislators, medical marijuana advocates have enlisted the lobbying firm Patricia Lynch Associates, which is headed by Pat Lynch, a former top advisor to powerful Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Despite the governor's backing of the marijuana decriminalization proposal and the support from lawmakers and top lobbyists, it is unclear whether Governor Cuomo is behind the medical marijuana bills. Ms. Savino said she hopes to be able to get his backing.

"The governor's been cautious in his comments," she explained. "He's not there yet. It's not an issue that he's focused on and I'm sure he has a lot of questions."

Politicker reached out to the governor's office to see whether he supported the proposed medical marijuana legislation. As of this writing, they have not responded to multiple requests for comment.

Malcolm Smith (Photo: Getty)

Hell hath no fury like a county organization scorned.

Multiple Democratic insiders confirmed to Politicker that Queens State Senator Malcolm Smith, the fifth member of the breakaway Independent Democratic Conference, could face a primary challenger in 2014. Mr. Smith, it should be noted, has flirted with running for mayor as a Republican and is not going out of his way to strengthen his Democratic bonafides.

“It’s clear that Malcolm Smith is on his last term in the Senate,” said one source. “Caucusing with Republicans is not a viable tactic."

One strong challenger for Mr. Smith, the Democrat explained, would be Councilman Leroy Comrie, a loyal party stalwart who's been exploring a bid for Queens Borough President but has yet to post a formidable fundraising haul to indicate he's fully in the race. Both Mr. Smith and Mr. Comrie hail from overwhelmingly Democratic neighborhoods in southeastern Queens where the electorate is unlikely to be sympathetic to the Republican cause. Adding fuel to the partisan fire for Mr. Smith, the Senate Democrats have much of their campaign operations based in the borough and targeting him is sure to be high on their minds come 2014.

Another Queens Democrat confirmed a Comrie challenge has been talked about, though he was unsure if the Democratic Party would want to inject Mr. Comrie into a potentially nasty primary. Spokespeople for the hypothetical rivals did not immediately return requests for comment.

“[Comrie challenging Smith] is certainly an option,” the second insider said. “I don’t know if county will want to subject Comrie to that sort of race. For all of Comrie’s options, it’s going to be the question: can he put the money together?”

But it might not just be Queens where the Democratic Party is pondering campaigns against the breakaway IDC's members. For example, newly-minted Kings County Democratic Chairman Frank Seddio has harshly criticized Democratic Senator-elect Simcha Felder's decision to directly caucus with the GOP and even explored ways to expel him from the party. Staten Island Senator Diane Savino is an IDC member who also represents parts of Brooklyn and we reached out to Mr. Seddio's spokesman, George Arzt, and asked if the Brooklyn organization might be mulling a primary challenge against Ms. Savino as well.

Mr. Arzt replied to Politicker's email with a simple "YES."

Of course, some things are easier said than done, and Ms. Savino enjoys the support of Staten Island's Democratic Party and would not appear anywhere near as vulnerable as Mr. Smith. Not campaigning for mayor as a Republican could also work in  her favor.

Update (11:30 a.m.): Mr. Smith's spokesman, Hank Sheinkopf, responded by pointing to the still-devastated parts of the district in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. 

"Senator Smith is busy helping victims of Sandy recover, spending time making homes habitable and putting food on the table," Mr. Sheinkopf explained. "This is a moment of concern for victims of a serious disaster. It's not a time for politics."

Update (1:20 p.m.): Scott Levenson, a consultant for Ms. Savino, added, "Senator Savino is confident that the voters care more about issues like campaign finance reform and minimum wage then party bosses and their labels."

Additional reporting by Colin Campbell

Diane Savino (Photo: NYSenate.gov)

Governor Andrew Cuomo has made it absolutely clear that the new Senate leadership coalition between the breakaway Independent Democratic Conference and and the Republicans will draw his ire if they do not support certain items on his agenda. Yesterday, we noted that it seemed the IDC and the governor might not be seeing eye-to-eye on one of the item on the governor's "litmus test" for the coalition, campaign finance reform. Last night, we received a call from one of the five IDC members, State Senator Diane Savino, seeking to clarify the conference's position on the issue. She also discussed the IDC's goal, the racial controversies that have dogged the group and revealed the one person she's not sure she'd allow to join the conference.

When he laid out his agenda for this year, he defined campaign finance reform as including both limits on contributions and a statewide system for public matching funds like we have in New York City. However Ms. Savino and the leader of the IDC, State Senator Jeff Klein, have both recently suggested the Senate could just adopt one of these initiative and enact limits wihout establishing public financing. In her conversation with Politicker last night, Ms. Savino said she absolutely supports both aspects of campaign finance reform, but thinks there may be obstacles along the way.

"I'm going to fight for a campaign finance program that has public matching money, but I only have one vote and if people don't want me to explain or discuss the realities of trying to enact that piece of legislation, then they obviously don't know who I am," Ms. Savino said. "That's part of what being a legislator is, you've got to figure out what your opposition is and try and address it."

Ms. Savino said she sees objections to public financing coming both from conservative Upstate legislators and New York City members who have experienced the matching funds system firsthand.

"The biggest obstacle to getting a campaign finance reform program like the New York City program for the State of New York is not the Upstate members who are opposed to it because they don't want to use tax money," said Ms. Savino. "There's a lot of people who have a concern about that, you know were cutting budgets everywhere, how does it look for us to spend the taxpayers' money on our own campaigns?...It's a valid criticism, but the biggest obstacle is current legislators who are former New York City Council members who participated in the program. Democrats and Republicans, they hate it."

To make progress on the issue, Ms. Savino said lawmakers will need to "figure out...what goes wrong on the city level and not replicate it on the state level." She also said she expects numerous solutions will be put forward.

"There's going to be more than one proposal on campaign finance reform and there have been for a long time," Ms. Savino explained. "There's more than one way to get to it, but let's have that discussion. We really haven't explored campaign finance reform, I think the last time we attempted to was when Eliot Spitzer was governor."

Though the governor has identified campaign finance reform as one of the key elements of his agenda that he will judge the coalition on, Ms. Savino said the IDC has not decided as a group what type of campaign finance proposal they would support.

"We haven't actually conferenced it, I think we all feel that there should be some reforming of this process," she said.

She added that it also is unclear what type of campaign finance reform the governor wants to see.  Though he outlined the two-pronged approach including contribution limits and public matching funds when he unsuccessfully pushed for reform last year, this time around, Governor Cuomo has simply said he wants to see campaign finance reform without going into more specific detail.

"He really hasn't put forward a comprehensive proposal. Now, look, he's going to come out in January and lay out in the State of the State what his agenda items are for this year. I'm assuming he's going...to flesh out what he believes is a camp finance program," said Ms. Savino. "I don't know what that is yet. It could be the whole ball of wax, it could be pieces of it....The governor's proposal is obviously going to be the starting point, or the end point depending on how you look at it."

In general, Ms. Savino said the goal of the IDC would be to find common ground between the two parties in Albany.

"In the era of Joe Bruno's Albany...we became almost like enemy combatants...you're not allowed to have even a conversation with a member of the other party otherwise you're a traitor. Well, that's absurd, that's really an absurd way of doing business," Ms. Savino said. "So, that's, to me, that's the main motivating factor for the coalition. It's time to stop pointing at the problem and start looking for solutions."

Along with discussing campaign finance reform, Ms. Savino responded to the criticism some elected officials and activists have made that the IDC is not sufficiently diverse. There are no African American or Latino members of the conference apart from IDC State Senator Malcolm Smith. Ms. Savino countered that anyone is welcome to join the conference and they are eager to work with Democrats.

"We are not an exclusive club. We welcome anybody who wants to work with us," said Ms. Savino. "We welcome the leadership of that conference once they can figure out who it is....We want to make sure that there's access. We want to make sure that they're able to move a progressive agenda that they determine from their conference. We are not looking to deprive anybody of anything."

We asked Ms. Savino whether a few specific Democrats who have been especially critical of the IDC would be allowed into the fold if they wanted to join. Ms. Savino said any Democrats would be welcomed into the IDC--except perhaps for one.

"Anybody is welcome to join. Anybody except for maybe Ruben Diaz," she said with a a laugh. "I'm not sure if I like him."

In his State of the State address last January, Mr. Cuomo called for a two-pronged approach to campaign finance reform; limiting contributions and establishing a system for publicly-financed campaigns. Progressive good government groups have echoed the need for these two elements of campaign finance reform.

In the new IDC/GOP coalition, leadership duties in the Senate are shared between State Senator Jef Klein, the IDC’s head, and the Senate’s Republican leader Dean Skelos. Though his breakaway group’s alliance with the Republicans blocked Democrats from controlling the Senate chamber, Mr. Klein has vowed the IDC will be committed to advancing key components of the Democratic agenda, such as a minimum wage hike and reform of stop-and-frisk. He also told the Associated Press the IDC will be committed to “serious campaign finance reform,” though he has not detailed what exactly that might entail.

With their conservative upstate constituency, New York’s Republicans have never been enthusiastic about overhauling campaign finance laws. In an interview with Capital Tonight’s Liz Benjamin last week, Mr. Klein expressed his own skepticism New Yorkers would back public financing and suggested the issue be left  to voters.

“This is an important issue, if you’re gonna ask some people, you know, in upstate New York or other areas of upstate that we’re actually gonna use tax dollars to fund our elections, let’s see how they feel about that,” Mr. Klein said.

Mr. Skelos is not likely to accept all of the policy priorities of more liberal senators like Mr. Klein. Based on Mr. Klein’s comments, it seems public financing of campaigns could be an area where the IDC and their new Republican partners find some room for compromise. In the same Capital Tonight interview, Mr. Klein’s fellow IDC member, State Senator Diane Savino, said she supports public matching money for campaigns, but she suggested lawmakers can “start with” bringing down contribution limits first.

“There are some people who like myself believe that it can't be real campaign finance reform if it doesn't have public matching money. You know, There are other people who think that we can take baby steps, we can start with reducing the contribution limits, that they’re too high in New York State, that the amount of money that can be contributed to a state party is ridiculously high,” Ms. Savino said. “There’s a lot of room and I think what we should do is, let’s put it all out there, let’s find out what the people of the state want.”

Update (12/12 5:38 p.m.): Ms. Savino reached out to Politicker to elaborate on her position on campaign finance reform and where the conference stands on the issue with respect to the governor. 

Mr. Cuomo has taken substantial heat from progressives over the perception he could have done more to block the new coalition and establish a Democratic State Senate majority. In an appearance on Fred Dicker’s radio show yesterday, the governor disputed this criticism by saying it is his job to “pass progressive legislation” rather than involving himself in the “internal dynamics of the Legislature.” Though he defended not doing more to block the coalition, Mr. Cuomo promised to “make my voice heard” if the Senate does not pass the items on his agenda. Thus far, in the early days of the new coalition Mr. Cuomo said he was encouraged by what he described as “an increased decibel level around the progressive elements of the agenda” he was unable to pass last year;  stop and frisk reform, a minimum wage increase and campaign finance reform.

“Now, if anything, you hear more energy, more discussion and more commitment. Everybody now, everyone is fighting for the same agenda items I was trying to pass last year...Minimum wage, stop-and-frisk, campaign finance, everyone is saying that they’re going to support that,” Mr. Cuomo told Mr. Dicker.

With the IDC members seemingly leaning toward enacting contribution limits without establishing public financing, it remains to be seen whether this will be enough to placate Mr. Cuomo.

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“Proud to be an American”-gate is far from being over, especially if you live on Staten Island.

If you're just paying attention now, the entire controversy started when a New York City school replaced the famously patriotic song with Justin Bieber's “Baby” for a kindergarten graduation ceremony, a move that caused Staten Island Congressman Michael Grimm to declare, "Justin Bieber is not a Substitute for American Patriotism.”

Other Staten Island pols, including the GOP opponent for Democratic State Senator Diane Savino, reacted similarly. However, Ms. Savino wasn't especially impressed with either Republican's flag-waving rhetoric on the issue.

As reported by the Staten Island Advance:

She slammed both Republicans for being absent from Sunday's Vietnam War remembrance ceremony.

Ms. Savino, who attended, said the song "God Bless the USA" was played at the event "and there wasn't a dry eye in the crowd, which they would have known if they'd showed up."

"If they want to show patriotism, that was the place to do it," said Ms. Savino. "If we're going to wrap ourselves in the flag, let's show a little consistency." ...

"First of all, Ms. Savino should mind her own counsel, because she couldn't keep up with my schedule or appearances if she cloned herself," Grimm said in a statement released by his office. "My fellow veterans know that I attend as many of their events as I can, but I have to be fair and represent all my constituents as equally as possible."

He added, "Lastly, the idea that I forfeit my rights as an American to voice my opinion in opposition to this principal's abhorrent decision-making is not only baseless, it's asinine."

If there are any updates on this important topic, we'll be sure to update you further.

Councilman Gentile leading the protest against "Brooklyn 11223"

Elected officials and community members rallied against the upcoming reality show "Brooklyn 11223" this afternoon, lambasting the show as demeaning to women and calling on the Oxygen network to take it off the air.

Councilman Vinnie Gentile, who organized the event, told The Politicker the show "hit such a nerve in Bay Ridge and we had such a reaction from the locals that they wanted an avenue, a way, to speak out."

And speak out they did. Carlo Scissura, representing Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, took the largest broadside to the network for hosting the show.

"What amazes me is the hypocrisy of this network. This is a network that brands itself as looking out for the interests of women, and yet they do something that completely disparages women, particularly Italian-American women," he said, before calling for the community to rise up. "If the show's filming in one of the restaurants, stop going there, period. If the show's coming out here and they're wrecking the streets or taking up parking spots, call the police."

State Senator Diane Savino echoed these sentiments. "There seems to be a prevalence among some of the producers in Hollywood to consistently target Italian-American women, and portray us in the most negative light," she told The Politicker before she took the stage. "And what's even more distressing is Italian-American women are participating in this."

"The American public has been almost conditioned to believe Italian-Americans are all either stupid, loveable characters like Joey on 'Friends,' or we're mobsters like we are on 'The Sopranos,' or we're basically young women who have no morals and are willing to degrade ourselves in public," she continued. "It's enough."

And, as many of the rally's attendees pointed out, the show's professed zip code is not even close to the Bay Ridge neighborhood the show claims to represent.

This is not the first reality show controversy in this corner of New York City. Ms. Savino once rallied against the "Jersey Shore" star Snooki making an appearance at the Staten Island Mall, while Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny told The Politicker "Brooklyn 11223" was similar to another recent controversial show, "Russian Dolls," centered in another part of his southern Brooklyn district.

For their part, NBC Universal, which owns the Oxygen network, reached out to The Politicker in order to announce potential viewers can watch the show on March 26th (hint, hint) and make up their own minds.

"Viewers can decide for themselves on March 26 when the story of 'Brooklyn 11223' begins to unfold and we meet this authentic group of friends set against the vibrant backdrop of the great and diverse Borough of Brooklyn," they wrote in a statement.

Watch the rally below:

(Photo: Facebook)

Everyone who hasn't been living under a rock knows the New York Giants whipped up an impressive victory in the Super Bowl last night. However, even rock-dwellers were aware of the news if they were friends with any elected officials on Facebook.

Generally, the excited politicians' responses needed at least five exclamation marks.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley and State Senator Marty Golden were examples of this. Ms. Crowley wrote "NY Giants XLVI Super Bowl Champions!!!!!" while Mr. Golden wrote "Congratulations to the SuperBowl Champions the New York Giants!!!!!! Go Big Blue."

Councilman Jumaane Williams, who correctly predicted the score of the game, might have been the most excited of them all. "UH...Yeah! We did it again. ANY DAMN QUESTIONS!!!!!!!" he declared, adding "WHOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" He also had another "WHOAA" post containing 50 exclamation marks.

Councilman Peter Vallone took a more specific tack, gleefully rubbing Patriots coach Bill Belichick's taping scandal in his face by announcing "ELI - 2 , brady -0. sorry bill, guess it's harder to win when you dont have the other teams plays. GIANTS!!!!"

Even politicians who don't normally follow football were eminently pleased. State Senator Diane Savino wrote "wow! and i really don't care about football,but damn, that was impressive in the end! congratulations to the Giants and all their real fans!"

Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, no less excited, was already thinking of the friendly wager she made with a Massachusetts legislator on the outcome of last night's results. "I can almost taste the lobsters, clam chowder, and Boston cream pies that Senator Golden and I are about to win from Massachusetts State Rep. Jay Barrows!"

Meanwhile, New York's chief executive's response was a little more dry and measured. "I congratulate the New York Giants on beating the odds and winning Super Bowl XLVI," Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. "After nearly missing the playoffs, the Giants have made history by becoming the first NFL team to win the Super Bowl after going 9-7 in the regular season. I look forward to celebrating this victory with all New Yorkers."

Marty Markowitz (Photo: Facebook)

At last night's State of the Borough address, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz took some time to reiterate his call for a new casino in the Coney Island neighborhood.

"I'm not talking about turning Coney Island into Atlantic City, that's not what I'm not suggesting," he said, before pivoting into one of his many jokes of the evening. "Although I look forward to setting my DVR to recording the smash HBO drama Coney Island Boardwalk Empire."

"One casino would draw even more visitors, it would be a boom for local restaurants, bars and other establishments, while providing well-paying jobs for Coney Island residents," he continued. "And we will be pressing that with Governor Cuomo."

Currently, casinos are illegal in New York State outside of Native American territory, but Governor Cuomo recently announced a push to change the New York State Constitution to allow them.

Some of the legislators that represent Coney Island have been skeptical of the specific plan to bring a casino to their neighborhood, including State Senator Diane Savino and Councilman Domenic Recchia.

Watch Mr. Markowitz make his pitch below:

Saint Jermaine Endeley (Photo: Facebook)

Saint Jermaine Endeley, a college student who had been campaigning in the Democratic primary against Staten Island State Senator Diane Savino, announced today that he is exiting the race.

"After weighing heavily the viability of my candidacy I have decided not to run for State Senate in 2012," he said in a statement. "While I hope to see the Senate Democrats united and to have my ideas promoted in Albany, I simply do not believe that I can win at this time and so I will instead focus my energy on other projects."

There was some confusion about whether Mr. Endeley dropped out previously, after blogs, including Politicker, reported that he had made such a decision. After initially declining to comment, the candidate subsequently denied these claims.

The Staten Island Advance explained some of the background behind this confusion at the time:

Endeley then had a text message exchange with Ms. Savino during which he texted her that he was dropping out and would not be mounting a challenge.

...

Endeley told us that he was “re-evaluating” his campaign when he sent the texts, but that he had also told Ms. Savino that nothing would be final until the two of them met.

But Ms. Savino said Endeley “never said that.”

"He said, ‘I’m out,’" Ms. Savino told us. “He’s totally mischaracterizing the whole exchange"

Ms. Savino later shared the text conversation with us, and Endeley’s intent was clear.

Mr. Endeley's decision today looks final, however.