Whenever $138 billion is being doled out by the state you are going to have some clear cut victors, and this week's budget was no exception. It's not all number crunching though. We did carve out a space for some April Fools' fun as well. Without further ado, here's this week's Winners and Losers.

WINNERS

Bill de Blasio - The mayor was asking for about $500 million a year for pre-K and after school programs. Governor Cuomo countered with a plan of $1.5 billion over five years for the whole state. In the end, New York City got $300 million this year, and the rest of the state got $40 million. Simple math suggests de Blasio made out well in that negotiation.

Andrew Cuomo - “Get out the rye bread and mustard, Grandma, it’s grand salami time.” That was—in not so many words—the governor’s victory cry Tuesday after giving the state Legislature just enough of a boost with a message of necessity to score his fourth on-time budget in a row. And it’s an election year winner. Universal prekindergarten, campaign finance reform (kind of), corporate tax relief, tax relief for homeowners—there’s something for everyone, even if everyone isn’t happy (but are they ever?). Cuomo also made sure to let New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio know he’s in charge by fitting in protection for charter schools. Now if only he could help the Mets and Yankees hit a grand slam from time to time.

George Gresham - Growing trends in the healthcare industry have included budget cuts, doing more with less and certainly not pay raises for its workers. But this year's budget included a cool $380 million for Gresham's 1199/SEIU to pay home healthcare workers in Westchester, Long Island (two election battlegrounds) and New York City a prevailing wage. After 1199 played such an integral role in electing Mayor de Blasio it was clear that the union would wield serious clout in the Big Apple, but it wasn't certain how powerful it would be in Albany. This week's big win proved 1199 is a force to be reckoned with in the Capitol too.

Steve Israel and Tom Reed - Money! Money! Money! The Supreme Court's ruling in the McCutcheon case may not be good for democracy (some say), but it is definitely good for the two New York Reps. trying to help their parties win seats in the House. Israel chairs the DCCC and Reed runs the NRCC's Northeast operation, so you can expect both congressman to already be on the phone with big money donors now legally allowed to cough up a lot more cash this election cycle.

Mark Poloncarz - I think we can mostly agree that Tuesday was filled with a bunch of half-a$$ed attempts at pranks that left us more annoyed than entertained. But the Erie County Exec was one of the rare few who actually pulled off a legit April Fools' ruse that had the Buffalo press scratching their heads for a few moments. His press conference to announce the county was going to start selling naming rights, on everything, was just believable enough to string along the press corps for a few minutes. Per the Buffalo News' reporting, we should also give his spokesman Peter Anderson an assist in this score. 

LOSERS

Rob Astorino - It’s bad enough for Astorino that most of the state still doesn’t know him. It’s worse that the people whose slogan is “vote Cuomo out” seem to like a challenger they’ll never actually have more than they like him. Donald Trump led off the political speeches at Tuesday’s anti-SAFE Act rally in Albany to raucous cheers. Astorino spoke to more reserved applause. Trump was introduced by Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino as the next governor of New York. Astorino was called the next governor only as he left the stage—and not by Paladino. At this Trump lovefest really the only thing Astorino had going for him was that he wasn’t Andrew Cuomo.

Good Government Advocates - Poor goo-goos! Every year they predict that this will be the year when substantive reform finally flowers in Albany—and every year they end the session ignored and dejected. What was cooked up in this year’s budget deal was typical of the fare the good government groups wind up with on their plates. There was a serving of half-hearted ethics reform that didn’t get to the meat of any of the real problems, with a small side order of public financing ready made to fail. These scraps were so meager than even goo-goos starving for victory couldn’t stomach them. Oh well. There’s always next year.

William Fitzpatrick, Milton Williams and Kathleen Rice - Remember Governor Cuomo’s blue ribbon Moreland Commission that was going to get to the heart of corruption in Albany and lay down the law for the legions of bad actors in the Capitol? After rolling out the commission with great fanfare last summer, the governor bartered the investigative body into oblivion this week to achieve his actual priorities—a deal the Legislature’s leaders were only too happy to accept so that their ethically challenged members could sleep soundly again at night. Fitzpatrick, Rice and Williams, the commission’s co-chairs, appeared to do their best to make Moreland relevant, but in the end all the sound and fury looks like it might very well wind up signifying nothing. 

Eric Schneiderman - Last week Schneiderman was a winner for his settlement with Bank of America. This week he’s a loser for his far larger settlement with JP Morgan Chase. The state budget includes a provision that takes away Schneiderman’s control of the settlement funds, forcing him to cede the $440 million left to Cuomo and legislative leaders. It’s another power grab from Cuomo, who fought with Schneiderman after the settlement earlier this year for control of the record amount of cash. The AG seemed to say through a spokesperson that he doesn’t care that he’s losing control of the money as long as it still goes toward tending to foreclosure and housing issues. Translation: I guess I don’t have a choice in the matter anyway.

Iwan Streichenberger - You probably haven’t heard of Streichenberger, but we’re guessing you’ve heard of his company: inBloom. Yes, that inBloom. The state began severing ties with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-backed nonprofit after provisions passed in the budget forced the state Education Department to end its contract with the data-storage provider and forced inBloom to begin deleting data already uploaded. It’s not the fault of Streichenberger, inBloom’s CEO, that parents, educators and lawmakers pushed back against the state’s use of his company from the get go. But he’s still the one who has to deal with the fallout.