Winners & Losers 9/23/16

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this week that he “had heard enough about Anthony Weiner” and frankly, we have to. So he is not on our list, even if what he allegedly did was despicable. Besides, there was plenty of other fodder, especially when it came to the losers list.

WINNERS

Preet Bharara – The most feared man in New York politics strikes again, this time taking down Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s former top aide, and forever tarnished  the governor’s signature economic development project. The media savvy U.S. Attorney also left the press corps buzzing with his coded suggestions that he may still be going after the big kahuna - Cuomo.

Bill de Blasio – The mayor’s calm handling of the Chelsea bombing was immortalized in a New York Times article, arguing his recent behavior suggests would-be challengers may want to stay away. And de Blasio can also relish good headlines about the public school system having its safest year on record during the 2015-16 academic year. 

Dan McCoy – After more than a year of drawing attention to the issue, McCoy and environmentalists celebrated a victory this week, with the Cuomo administration ruling that Global Companies would have to reapply for an air permit required to run oil trains to the port of Albany and another seeking to expand their business. The move represents a long sought curbing of the fast growing number of oil trains running through Albany, one that the Albany county executive was glad to welcome.   

James O’Neill – He had a first day for the history books. O’Neill learned about the two explosives placed in Chelsea when he arrived home from his first full day as the NYPD commissioner. And authorities announced they’d arrested the suspect moments before O’Neill was formally sworn in, during which his boss crediting him with remaining “cool, calm and collected” throughout the search.

LOSERS

Louis P. Ciminelli – The founder of one of the biggest development companies in Western New York found himself on the business end of a pair of handcuffs Thursday morning, when he and two of his top executives were subjects of a criminal complaint unsealed by federal officials. A series of smoking gun emails show Ciminelli and former associates of Gov. Andrew Cuomo conspiring to tailor the bid for the $750 million Riverbend site construction contract to his company. It’s tough to see a way out for this Buffalo construction mogul.   

Andrew Cuomo – Watching several close confidantes and prominent government officials become the latest targets of Preet Bharara has to put a damper on the week for Cuomo. Even if he is completely innocent and was unaware of this corruption, it’s going to be tough to convince the public of that when he referred to the person busted as his father’s “third son.”

Alain Kaloyeros – The state’s highest paid employee might have to rethink that Ferrari. After facing criminal charges, SUNY officials also announced Kaloyeros would be suspended without pay from his position as president of the SUNY Polytechnic Institute. Though, turning in his “Dr. Nano” license plates may be on the backburner of concerns when facing jail time.

Melissa Mark-Viverito – Cultural sensitivity can’t trump everything, especially anti-discrimination laws. Beyond calling the lawsuit meritless, Mark-Viverito’s office did not deny she pressured NYCHA to replace the black manager of a predominately Hispanic Bronx development with a “Spanish manager.” Meanwhile, the manager in question was using on-call translators when working with non-English speaking residents, as NYCHA policy calls for, and the authority’s HR director dismissed the idea as illegal and grounds for a lawsuit.

Joseph Percoco – Calling cold hard cash a “box of ziti” (a clear nod to The Sopranos) is just the type of thing you probably don’t want to put in an email, especially when you may be doing something illegal, and there may be a U.S. Attorney who is paying close attention to EVERYTHING happening in Albany. Whatever happens, Percoco will never be able to shake this.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly named Rob Speyer and his company Tishman Speyer as a winner for city contracts related to Sandy relief. The contracts have actually gone to Tishman Construction.  The story also incorrectly listed Daniel R. Tishman as the head of Tishman Construction. We have now removed this entry from the article.