Winners & Losers 4/15/16

For the first time in far too long, the vote actually matters. Now, New York actually has a voice. It’s a crowded field, with plenty of candidates to choose from. The presidential primary? No, it’s this week’s Winners & Losers!

WINNERS

Steve Banks – There’s little Banks doesn’t have his hands on now at City Hall. After wrapping up a 90-day review of the Department of Homeless Services, he will be formally adding DHS to the portfolio he oversees as Human Resources Administration commissioner. This gives him control over much of the benefit continuum he once wrangled over as a Legal Aid attorney who filed the lawsuit that forced the city to shelter homeless families. Of course, cleaning up the city’s shelters and curbing homelessness won’t be easy.

Preet Bharara – He’s turned two simple words into a powerful catchphrase, striking fear into the hearts of Cuomo and de Blasio with a simple “stay tuned.” While investigations into NYPD corruption and a sketchy real estate deal were already looking bad, rumors that Preet was getting involved became headlines in themselves. He also secured criminal charges in a municipal bond case. And on top of that, he’s a hero in Mongolia, bringing home a T. Rex skull to a native land.

S.I. Newhouse Jr. – What’s better than getting sweet new digs in one of New York City’s most anticipated new buildings? Getting your new landlord to pay out the remainder of your lease on your old space, of course. It’s especially thrilling when you’ve left Times Square, home to some of the most expensive office space in America. Newhouse and his Conde Nast media megacompany have set up shop in One World Trade Center while the building owner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, has been paying the rent at their old spot for more than a year at a cost of $3 million a month. Thanks, taxpayers!

Sue Serino – The freshman state senator led the charge in the GOP-controlled state Senate to eliminate the so-called “tampon tax,” and this week the state Legislature’s upper house unanimously voted to exempt feminine products from sales tax. Possibly an even bigger victory – it passed with onlyone period joke made by elected officials.

Jeanette Deutermann – The opt-out movement passed another test this year, with the number of students choosing not to take the common core-based state exams seeming close to last year’s numbers. This comes despite such concessions from the state as eliminating the time limit and continuing to push off using test scores in teacher evaluations. This Nassau County advocate and NYS Allies for Public Education deserves some of the credit (or blame, depending on your point of view), with Long Island expected to put up the biggest opt-out numbers. And the State Education Department is only helping her case, with parts of the test missing or unlabeled.

LOSERS

Bill de Blasio – Bill’s still bumbling. After his stand-up bit at the annual Inner Circle charity event, and with Hillary Clinton at his side, the internet quickly turned his reference to “C.P. time” into a case study in offensive jokes. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara made it clear he’s pursuing any untoward activity in de Blasio’s circle, including its fundraising activity and a controversial decision to lift deed restrictions on a Lower East Side property. Meanwhile, the mayor’s approval rating stumbled 10 points. Is anyone surprised?

Ruben Diaz Jr. – The fight over the development of the Kingsbridge National Ice Center, one of Diaz’s signature projects, seems to have hit a major impasse. Not only are the developers of the armory-to-hockey rink conversion suing the city for conspiring to block the project, but they also rejected a compromise lease and proposal the de Blasio administration offered. That leaves one of the Bronx’s biggest public developments in limbo once again.

Richard Emery – One would think it’s common sense not to call female coworkersp*****s, but apparently the head of the Civilian Complaint Review Board didn’t get that message. Emery quickly stepped down this week after a female co-worker sued him over his behavior. Just for the record, it’s not a great defense to argue you used the word to refer to cowardly people, not just women. We have to echo the Post on this one:Good riddance.

Eric and Ivanka Trump – If we could see inside Donald Trump’s mind when it comes to his kids forgetting to register as Republicans in New York, it would probably read something like something like his tweets. Such as: “NY politicians didn’t let my children register as Republicans for the primary – why do they hate the Donald?? Great anger - totally unfair!”

Ulysses Wingo – The freshman Buffalo Common Council member, or perhaps a member of his staff, failed to share concerns submitted to his office about a plan to deal with the city’s severe lead poisoning issues, caused largely by chipped lead paint coming off of Buffalo’s extremely old housing stock. The council went through with buying more than 15,000 lead testing kits to be distributed to homeowners – at a cost of $110,000 – despite an academic warning that the tests would produce unreliable results. Miscommunication or not, the mistake has cost the city and state a pretty penny and has done little to address the troubling lead poisoning issues in the city.