Winners & Losers 07/01/16

With Independence Day falling on a Monday this year, many of us are getting three, or even four-day weekends. But for four major members of the de Blasio administration, the weekend will last as long as they want - because they’re quitting! Best wishes to Wiley, Mesa, Lloyd and Kleinberg, and we hope you find time to read this week’s Winners & Losers between the hot dogs and fireworks.

WINNERS

Kriner Cash – If you’re showered with praise by Buffalo School Board members on both sides of the contentious body, you must be doing something right. In his first year as superintendent of Buffalo schools Cash got high marks, earning a total gpa of 3.43 from the board, earning a contract extension and cost of living raise on top of his $275,000 salary. With graduation rates on the rise it looks like the board has found their man.

Adriano Espaillat – The handshake at Sylvia’s makes it official - Espaillat beat the Lion of Harlem’s chosen successor by a nose and brought the Harlem-centered district into the Heights. First Dominican-American member of Congress and first to enter the country undocumented looks pretty good on a resume. Does anybody else hear bachata music?

Nydia Velazquez – She may not be out taking credit for the passage of the Puerto Rican debt bill just days before the island was to default, but her behind the scenes working helping to broker a deal is getting her praise from officials including New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Not a bad way to end a week that also included her primary win on Tuesday.

Susan Murley and Robert Novick – The biggest winners in corruption investigations? Law firms. The managing partners of WilmerHale saw their firm, which is advising Empire State Development on the federal probe into the Cuomo administration’s Buffalo Billion, receive a three-fold increase in their contract after a vote on by the agency to retain the firm for $720,000.

Dean Skelos and Sheldon Silver – So you are saying there is a chance! The former leaders of the state Legislature don’t get much good news these days after being successfully convicted on corruption charges this year. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week could offer a glimmer of hope. The court threw out a corruption conviction against former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, which some say could impact the Skelos and Silver convictions. Experts disagree on their chances – but they’ll probably take whatever chance they can get at this point.

LOSERS

Patrick Siconolfi and Jack Freund – At least the Rent Guidelines Board didn’t fully appease tenants’ and grant a requested rent roll-back. Nonetheless, landlords were not pleased that the board voted for the second consecutive year to freeze rates in rent-stabilized apartments and to limit increases to 2 percent for two-year leases. Siconolfi, executive director of the Community Housing Improvement Program, and Freund, who heads the Rent Stabilization Association of New York, have been out front attempting to convince the board the landlords they represent cannot afford upkeep without increases. Despite research showing wages rose and evictions fell last year, they could not compete with de Blasio’s election pledge.

Steve Pigeon – The longtime Buffalo-area politico has for years been accused of dirty tricks and flouting election law, and this week, it caught up with him. He now stands accused of offering political favors to state Supreme Court Justice John Michalek in exchange for information and influence over cases the judge was overseeing to which Pigeon had ties.    For many of his enemies in Western New York, seeing Pigeon arraigned on nine felony counts, including bribery and extortion, must have been satisfying. It seems as though the pigeons have finally come home to roost.

Charles Rangel, Steve Israel, Richard Hanna – Three retiring members of Congress, two Democrats and one Republican, all tried to pick their successors in this week’s primaries. All three failed. Yet another sign the electorate has had enough of machine politics?

Fernando Mateo – The state Federation of Taxi Drivers founder appears to have hailed a ride to prosecutorial scrutiny - and the standoffishness from officials that often accompanies it. Mateo admitted he had a friend funnel campaign contributions he bundled to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign. Hours later, the Post reported FBI agents were seen leaving his friend’s home.

Adam Clayton Powell IV – There’s fighting until the bitter end – and then there’s plain sleazy. The Harlem pol sent out campaign emails asking for donations just hours before polls closed, when all indications were that he was about to lose handily. He ended up fourth, and hopefully not with extra campaign cash.