Winners and Losers 10/24/14

As the title of his book suggests, all things might be possible for Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but apparently getting anyone to actually buy his campaign-year propoganda memoir is among the least probable of those possibilities. Let's hope that staving off an Ebola outbreak is on the opposite side of the possible spectrum for the governor, or else we'll all end up losers. But rather than contemplating that nightmare scenario this tense morning, allow us to distract you for a few minutes with the comfort of your Winners and Losers of the Week.

WINNERS

Andrew Cuomo - The real winner in Wednesday’s debate was the incumbent governor, who largely managed to avoid having to spend much time discussing the Moreland Commission or any potentially damaging topic his main challenger, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, tried to bring up. In addition, The New York Times finally broke down and endorsed Cuomo, citing his progress on passing same-sex marriage and gun control legislation, as well as his uncanny ability to get a budget in on time. At this point, even if Cuomo tried to lose he'd probably still pull off a victory on Nov. 4. 

Howie Hawkins - If the Green Party can stomach anyone being called a leader, that leader would be Howie Hawkins. Four years ago, when Hawkins first ran for governor, he garnered enough votes to pass the 50,000-vote threshold and put the Green Party on the ballot. And during Wednesday’s gubernatorial debate, he came across as a serious, articulate possibility. The Green Party has a long way to go before it becomes a plausible third party, but Hawkins has taken it farther than it has ever gone before, with some polls showing him with more than nine percent of the vote. He’s even started airing a TV spot.

Michael McDermott - The Libertarian Party’s gubernatorial candidate also showed up for Wednesday’s debate, and while he didn’t match Jimmy McMillan’s 2010 performance, he provided plenty of entertaining not-ready-for-primetime asides. Whether it was complaining about how Common Core made it hard for him to help teach his kid math or his being only vaguely aware of what the Moreland Commission was—“I’ve been watching TV, and I see all kinds of commercials”—he was somehow charming in his ideological naivete.

Brian McLaughlin - The former assemblyman and Central Labor Council leader added yet another title to his illustrious résumé this month: ex-con. McLaughlin, a powerful Queens politico who was brought down by charges ranging from embezzlement to fraud and bribery, was sentenced to a decade in jail in 2009. By that time he claimed to have turned his life around, and his good conduct and his help nabbing other corrupt Albany lawmakers paved the way for his release half way through his sentence.

Leslie Stein - It looks like a slam dunk case for Judge Stein, who was recently nominated by the governor to fill a spot on the state’s highest court. Republicans had been pushing to keep Judge Victoria Graffeo on the Court of Appeals, but a key GOP lawmaker said that he does not anticipate a battle over the nomination of Stein, an upstate appellate court judge. And she’s not the only winner—dropping Graffeo for Stein will flip the court’s majority from Republican to Democrat.

LOSERS

Barbara Fiala - As commissioner of the state Department of Motor Vehicles, Fiala should really practice what she preaches. The former Broome County executive received a speeding ticket earlier this month—just days after her son pleaded guilty to drunken driving after hitting a bicyclist. 

Jenise Jett - Last week, Jett said she never witnessed people signing petitions for Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino and state Senate candidate Joe Dillon to run on the “Stop Common Core” ballot line. Now, it’s come out that Jett is also listed as a witness on petitions for Republican congressional candidate Christopher Day and state Senate candidate Terrance Murphy on the “Stop Common Core” ballot line in the lower Hudson Valley. Despite being required by law to be in those districts to watch registered voters sign the petitions, Jett said she never traveled to Westchester County. Apparently, her school’s curriculum didn’t do a great job teaching honesty.

Brian Murray - Assuming that all 945 people who bought the governor's book in the first week it was out paid the full $29.99 cover price for it—which is a big assumption—its total sales come out to less than $29,000 so far, just a tad short of the $700,000 advance HarperCollins, the publishing giant of which Murray is publisher and CEO, reportedly paid Cuomo for the privilege of putting out this flop. You would think that Murray would have learned his lesson about steering clear of self-aggrandizing political memoirs last year, when his company issued Christine Quinn's "With Patience and Fortitude", which probably still hasn't sold anywhere near 945 copies.

Eric Schneiderman - About the last word a candidate, particularly the state's top law enforcement officer, wants to see in connection with his name two weeks out from Election Day is "cocaine". Did comedian activist Randy Credico really see Schneiderman, when he was a state senator, do bumps of white powder at his 50th birthday party? Did any of the elected officials also in attendance know? Was Robert Downey Jr. there? A rep for the AG was quick to dismiss as ridiculous the charge brought against him by Credico—and the latest poll shows the AG massively ahead of the GOP's John Cahill—but given that Schneiderman has struggled with name recognition, perhaps the only story some voters will remember about him this cycle is this salacious one. 

Anthony Shorris and Emma Wolfe - As public advocate, Bill de Blasio graded city agencies on their level of transparency—often harshly. As a mayoral candidate, he campaigned on a platform of unprecedented transparency in government. But it’s looking like two of his top aides, Anthony Shorris and Emma Wolfe, have decided instead to take a leaf out of the Cuomo administration’s playbook and conduct city-related business over their private Gmail accounts. If Public Advocate de Blasio could see himself now he’d probably hand down an F.