Winners and Losers 10/31/14

It was relatively easy for Mayor de Blasio to appear grounded this week. All he had to do was stay calm while the two nearest governors took turns freaking out and infuriating the federal government—all the while providing a veritable media feast in the process. Voila! Enter the cool-headed executive. Yet we can’t exactly dub this a victory either, just as we can’t really give those 74 unopposed state legislators a nod simply because no one in their districts could be bothered to run against them. But there have been some true Winners and Losers this week, and they’re awaiting your vote below:     

WINNERS

Tom Croci - A toxic dumping scandal prompted the Republicans' first choice, Anthony Senft, to drop out of the race in the 3rd Senate District on Long Island. But another round of mud-slinging from supporters of the Democratic candidate, environmentalist Adrienne Esposito, has not stuck to Croci, the Islip town supervisor who replaced Senft as the GOP candidate in the key State Senate contest. Esposito may yet gain some ground, but this week a poll showed Croci up an impressive 25 points, just about the same chasm as another poll found earlier this month.

Michael Grimm - No campaign cash, federal trial on the horizon, and, oh yeah, at a debate this week he couldn't name the last book he read (to be fair, his opponent's answer was worse). And despite all that the embattled Congressman makes our Winners list for snagging the Staten Island Advance's endorsement, though it was pretty clear the editorial board was not happy to be forced to make a decision between Grimm and the his bizarrely M.I.A. Democratic challenger Domenic Recchia, characterizing the race as "distasteful ... on a number of levels."

Nan Hayworth - The former GOP Congresswoman was on our Losers list not too long ago when a poll had her trailing by 10 points in her rematch against Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney. But in the final run up to Election Day the contest has narrowed. And more importantly, the latest Siena Poll only has Maloney at 49 percent ... under that magical 50 percent threshold all incumbents want to be at a week out of Election Day. Hayworth apparently likes what she see as this week she dumped another $1 million of her own cash into her campaign war chest.

John Katko - New York's 24th Congressional District is always a toss-up, but incumbent Dan Maffei could be facing a second straight midterm defeat with a new poll showing him down 10 points to Katko in the swing district. Maffei was swept into office on the coattails of Barack Obama in 2008; knocked out in the tough midterm year for Democrats of 2010; and then swept back into office in 2012, another presidential race. If the congressman can't close the gap on his Republican challenger, history may very well repeat itself once again in 2014. 

Karen Magee – New York State United Teachers has had a rough year: Two families have sued the state to get rid of the state’s teacher tenure laws, and the Legislature’s debate over teacher evaluations has gotten NYSUT a lot of bad press. But this week when Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the public school system a “monopoly” which he wants to break up with charter schools, he went too far in the estimation of even many of his allies. Electeds and education and student advocates around the state pushed back against the governor’s remark and rallied behind the state's teachers. The governor's attack even precipitated an odd exchange of support between NYSUT and Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino. Unfortunately for NYSUT, it looks likely that Cuomo will cruise to reelection, and if he stays true to his campaign rhetoric, the union is likely looking at another fight headed its way.

LOSERS

Dan Cantor - After the greatest electoral year in its history in 2013, the Working Families Party, of which Cantor is executive director, is having a rough go of it this time around. Ever since the party cut a deal with Gov. Cuomo in June to give him its line, the governor has broken most of his promises to the party (surprise, surprise) and gone so far as to form a rival Women's Equality Party that is endangering the WFP's ballot status by sucking votes away from the 50,000 theshhold the WFP must hit to remain a major player in statewide politics. Making the situation all the more precarious, the WFP's best bud, Bill de Blasio, proudly declared that he's casting his own vote on the Democratic line. With friends like these, who needs enemies?

William Clemons, Joandrea Davis, Gregory McLaughlin - The New York City Department of Correction’s top uniformed officer and two of his deputies stepped down this week amid a crescendo of criticism over violence and corruption at Rikers Island. Ironically, they were appointed just five months ago by Correction Commissioner Joe Ponte, in spite of the fact that an internal audit had recommended Clemons’ demotion in light of his omission of violent incidents in official records. Even more ironically, Ponte was brought in by de Blasio earlier this year to try and clean up the mess at the city’s largest jail. Whether more management shakeups are needed to get this situation under control, it seems like getting rid of this trio can’t hurt.

Andrew Cuomo - Cuomo hasn’t been the smoothest operator this week. Maybe it was the stress of the campaign, or maybe it was his book’s abysmal performance, but the governor couldn’t fail to appear impulsive, naïve and, frankly, a bit wild-eyed in his handling of the Ebola crisis. The announcement of his mandatory quarantine policy was unanticipated by Mayor de Blasio and drew withering criticism from federal health officials. Upon softening the mandate, Cuomo then tried to pretend nothing had changed (gotta seem consistent), while also recommending that those in imposed isolation read his new memoir. The sad thing is that judging by the book’s sales, imposed isolation is probably the only place most New Yorkers would be bored enough to bother. Oh yeah, and The Times came out with another bombshell about the governor’s meddling in a Moreland Commission.

Micah Kellner - The state Assemblyman may not be running for reelection, but his reputation as a creepy sexual harasser was enshrined in the annals of history this week. Last Monday former Court of Appeals Judge Howard Levine upheld a decision by the Assembly Ethics Committee that Kellner inappropriately flirted with female staff members in online chats, creating an “abusive and hostile” work environment. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver had punished Kellner for his transgressions by stripping him of his position as head of the Assembly Libraries Committee and—this one had to hurt—not letting him have any more interns. Kellner appealed on the grounds that he was denied due process, but Levine disagreed. No more interns for Kellner, it seems. At least until he joins the private sector.

Jose Miguel Araujo - The president of the New York City Board of Elections was smacked down with the steepest possible fine this week by the city's Conflict of Interest Board for hiring his wife as a temporary clerk so she could get health insurance. The nepotism at the BoE didn't stop with Araujo, with two other deputy clerks getting fined for hiring relatives. Yet another black eye for the agency most New Yorkers already hate.