Like the buds of spring blossoms, Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio’s “old friend” routine has reemerged after a budget season filled with passive aggressive political gamesmanship. The two frenemies appeared together in a show of solidarity for Sandy relief, and now that the winter chill has thawed, it’s hard not to see Cuomo leaning a bit more on his “buddy" to bolster his credentials on the left as he prepares for his re-election campaign. After all, with the governor’s stock dipping a bit in recent weeks, a little help from his friends could be the difference between winning and losing. So in the spirit of the coming election (and spring) season, here are this week's Winners and Losers. 

WINNERS

Mark Gearan - So what if most of the big boys stayed home? The New York State Gaming Commission received application fees for a whopping 22 casino bids by the Wednesday deadline this week. At $1 million a pop, that means $22 million already flowing into the state—and although the money is to be used to vet the applicants, it is a strong early sign that the upstate casino expansion will be a success. For Gearan, who chairs the Commission, it’s just another step toward realizing the governor’s vision for upstate economic development.

Kirsten Gillibrand - Whenever you are on a list as exclusive as Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World you deserve props. For Gillibrand, this recognition has been a long time coming. She has been a steadily rising star in D.C. for years, quietly becoming a darling of the media, and making this list is just another step up that ladder.  We should also note that Gillibrand jumped up 8 spots on City & State’s 2014 edition of the Albany Power 100, landing at No. 11. We’re sure that’s the distinction that means the more to her of the two, as well.

Jeff Klein and Dean Skelos - It always feels good to get some validation. That’s what the Senate Majority Co-Leaders got this week from the latest Siena poll, which showed that 56 percent of New Yorkers preferred a coalition-led Senate over a Democrat-controlled one (22 percent of respondents) or a Republican-controlled one (16 percent of respondents). Those numbers should help Klein, who is facing a likely primary challenger, brush off the criticism that he has defied the will of the people by not conferencing with the regular Democrats.

Hamdi Ulukaya – In 2005 Ulukaya acquired a dilapidated Kraft Foods plant in the upstate town of New Berlin with help from a Small Business Administration Loan and started manufacturing Greek yogurt under the brand name Chobani. The company’s revenues now exceed $1.2 billion and Ulukaya has arguably done more than anyone to spark the Greek yogurt craze in the United States. Things got even better for him this week when Chobani secured a $750 million loan from a private equity firm to add new products and expand overseas.

Scott Stringer - When Bill de Blasio, Letitia James and Scott Stringer won the three citywide offices in New York City and Melissa Mark-Viverito was elected Council Speaker, it looked like the next four years would be a liberal lovefest with few checks and balances. However, the city comptroller has charted an independent course, challenging the mayor on his involvement in the arrest of an ally, on the city’s Build-it-Back program and the timeline for resolving expired labor contracts. Plus, the comptroller’s new affordable housing report raised important points—and got a lot of good press.

LOSERS

Andrew Cuomo – When the biggest headlines of the week are about poll numbers suggesting you are vulnerable from the left and how much of your staff is preparing to jump ship because of your management style, then it’s not a good week. And we didn’t even bring up Rick Perry and the Moreland Commission—well, guess we just did.

John Fallon - If you add the number of people who write the Common Core tests from the educational giant Pearson, of which Fallon is the chief executive, to the number of people at the State Department of Education who look over the tests, how many exam questions with product placement should you wind up with? (A) Several, but they were all unintentional and no company compensated anyone involved in creating the tests, so no harm, no foul. (B) None! Yeah, sure. The references to Life Savers and Mug Root Beer were inadvertent. If you believe that then you might be interested in the limited-edition Barbie iPod from question #27. (C) This question was brought to you by City & State.

William Rapfogel - The former head of one of New York City’s largest social services organizations fessed up to skimming off the top to the tune of $1 million. While Rapfogel faces up to ten years in the clink, his former pal Shelly Silver will have to deal with the political fallout. Silver has practically disowned Rapfogel in recent interviews, despite the fact that the two were strong political allies and Silver’s chief of staff, Judy, is Rapfogel’s wife. Silver is certainly not guilty by association, but one has to ask how many times is too many to be peripherally connected with a scandal? 

Lawrence Silverstein – Is the writing on the walls of 3 World Trade Center for Silverstein? Earlier this week some of the Port Authority’s commissioners questioned if backing $1.2 billion in funding for Silverstein’s $2.3 billion project was a smart investment. Then the major New York newspapers did their best to channel public sentiment into editorials calling for the Port Authority not to help Silverstein out. Wednesday the authority delayed again a vote on the funding, begging the question: If the support is there, why would they need to wait to vote? Though Silverstein may very well ultimately prevail, this was certainly a frustrating week for him.

Iwan Streichenberger - When we made inBloom’s CEO, Streichenberger, a loser at the beginning of the month for New York severing ties with his company, we wrote that the opposition to his company from parents, educators and lawmakers wasn’t really his fault since inBloom was just providing the service the Department of Education had contracted it to do. But this week the announcement came down that inBloom is folding—“wind down…over the coming month,” as Streichenberger put it—after hitting numerous roadblocks with districts and other states. Maybe New York’s concerns weren’t Streichenberger’s doing, but the fact the he couldn’t convince anyone else that his company’s security systems could safely handle student data is on him—with New York getting the assist.