Winners & Losers 12/18/15

All New Yorkers are winners this week because the new Star Wars movie is out! Some may not embrace this monumental day, like a certain mayor, but we promise we didn’t hold his disturbing lack of faith in the force against him when crafting this week’s Winners & Losers list.

WINNERS

Preet Bharara - “Guilty” may be the U.S. attorney’s favorite word. Last Friday’s conviction of the Skelos duo came only after our weekly Winners & Losers were out, so the man everyone in Albany fears is back on the winners list this week, once again.   

Robert Capers - Capers was officially confirmed as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District, thanks to a unanimous vote in the U.S. Senate. Even better, lawmakers didn’t turn the appointment of the veteran federal prosecutor into a political football - a courtesy they declined to give to his predecessor, Loretta Lynch, whose promotion to U.S. attorney general was held up for months.

Eric Dinallo - He’s already a hero to daily fantasy sports fans for representing FanDuel in its fight to keep operating in New York. Now, the former state insurance superintendent and 2010 AG candidate is a true hero of the tabloid variety, lying down on a subway platform to pull a man off the tracks to safety as a train was approaching.

Donna Lieberman - The executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union scored a major victory this week when a deal was reached to significantly scale back the use of solitary confinement in New York prisons. Of course, the biggest winners will be the many inmates -- though not all of them -- who will no longer face being locked up 23 hours a day.

Karen Magee - It’s been a long fight, but the state teachers union and its leader, Magee, scored a huge win this week when the state Board of Regents voted to hold off on tying tests scores to teacher evaluations at least until the 2018-19 academic year. The move will also probably cut down by about half the amount of rallies held during the legislative session at the state Capitol.  

LOSERS

Michael Blake - Did you really have to announce your big new consulting gig on Friday, Mr. Blake? While Albany lawmakers are under more scrutiny than they’ve ever been and a growing chorus is calling for banning outside income? You can say your national and international clients don’t interfere with your position in the Assembly, but in this case, the optics were so bad, they cost you the job.

Michael D. Fascitelli - Continuing a string of bad luck for Port Authority officials, Fascitelli’s bad week came when a reporter noticed that the authority commissioner and Vornado Realty Trust board member failed to recuse himself from a vote on the authority’s consulting deal with Vornado on the Penn Station redevelopment. Then Fascitelli was dealt a double whammy with the news that Cuomo might kick Vornado off the same redevelopment project due to years of delays.

Shola Olatoye –  First, Bronx pols released a report showing the New York City Housing Authority failed to screen out those convicted of violent crime, and that there’s at least one sex offender in one of every four developments. Then the comptroller said an audit showed NYCHA was woefully unprepared for another natural disaster like Superstorm Sandy. An unearthed internal email suggested the authority turns off heating boilers overnight when temperatures are warmer than 20 degrees. And a federal judge sided with tenants seeking a monitor, who will be charged with ensuring NYCHA promptly remediates mold. So when you pour out a post-work drink and start to vent, let Olatoye’s week put things into perspective.

Dean and Adam Skelos - From the burner phones, to the veiled threats, to the Post questioning young Skelos’ choice of wardrobe during the trial, it’s been a rough ride for the disastrous duo, but this father-and-son tale finally reached its conclusion late last week. Spoiler alert: It was not a happy ending for the Albany aristocrats.   

Gilbert Taylor - Turns out an “A for effort” doesn’t cut it in de Blasio’s New York. This week, he got the ax, it appears. The mayor did not give a clear answer when asked whether the Department of Homeless Services commissioner was asked to step down amid rising homelessness and growing criticism, but one plus one usually equals two.