Winners and Losers 11/21/14

We’re so used to use of the word “historic” from elected officials to describe their feats that the word has largely lost its power. But this week’s lake-effect blizzard in Western New York, with the thundersnows that illuminated the seven-foot drifts and the frozen Lake Erie water that paralyzed everyone south of Buffalo, makes the storm a truly historic act of Mother Nature. It’s too soon to assess how well local and New York State officials have responded to this extraordinary crisis, but there are still plenty of Winners and Losers to go around this week.

WINNERS

Nelson Castro – While we’re reluctant to make a disgraced politician a winner, former Bronx assemblyman Nelson Castro once again escaped jail time for perjury charges by helping to root out corruption among his colleagues. The ruling is conditional on him living a law-abiding life for three years … something that will probably be a lot easier now that he’s no longer an Albany politician.

Michael Grimm – When the topic of Michael Grimm comes up, most news publications stick to the usual themes: the 20-count federal criminal indictment; the threatening a certain reporter with impromptu flying lessons; the Election Day victory over Domenic Recchia in spite of the first two things. But not Town & Country Magazine, which recently ranked the embattled congressman among its “top 10 political bachelors”. Grimm may well be headed to prison in the near future—not traditionally a desirable trait in a potential suitor—but let’s face it: he’s also pretty damn hot. 

Mike Hein – Many voters are fed up with their representatives in elected office, but some politicians are actually getting things done—and one of them is Hein, the Ulster County executive who was recently named a “public official of the year” by Governing magazine. Hein, one of nine people around the country to earn the distinction this year, was lauded not only for exploring how to weather cuts in state aid and a property tax cap, but also for sharing innovative solutions with other municipalities. Now everyone can be like Mike!

Steve Israel – The outgoing head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee hasn’t had a lot of good news lately, but at least he gets to stay in the leadership ranks of the House Democrats. Israel, a Long Island congressman, was named the conference’s chairman of policy and communications, a newly created role. Plus, he no longer has to deal with the grueling demands and stress of electing more Democrats in Congress—a development that he joked made it “the happiest day of my life.”  

Benjamin Lawsky – The superintendent of the state’s Department of Financial Services might not be sticking around the Cuomo administration much longer, but he’ll have a solid record to tout in his next job interview. Adding to billions of dollars he has already won for the state in bank settlements, Lawsky added another $315 million from the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ for not being upfront about its dealings with Iran. Plus, Foreign Policy named him one of its 100 Leading Global Thinkers “for being wild Wall Street’s tin star.”

LOSERS

Bill de Blasio and Chirlane McCray – Despite milking his family to the hilt to win the mayoralty, and even rolling out a video confession from his daughter set to emotional music on Christmas Eve, this week de Blasio longed for a better time in our nation's history when family was off-limits. Apparently, he was referring to pre-2013. Railing on the media for McCarthyism, de Blasio left out the facts about the Noerdlinger affair, mainly that it wasn't her boyfriend's and son's issues that made it a story, but her failure to disclose them as she was required to do. In other de Blasio family news, New Yorkers don't seem so keen on the whole co-mayoralty thing with a Q poll this week finding that only 24 percent of voters believe the First Lady should have a major role in shaping policy, and 34 percent saying she should have none at all. How dare voters judge their family choices!

David Jones and David Thomas – Numerous progressive New York City pols expended a lot of energy this week railing against Roger Adler, the Staten Island special prosecutor who alleges that City Councilwoman Debbie Rose’s 2009 campaign benefited from criminally low campaign services via an arm of the Working Families Party. One councilman went so far as to refer to Adler as a “failed civil court judge … trying to make a name for himself.” Rose isn't even being formally charged—two of her campaign operatives, David Jones and David Thomas, are bearing the brunt there. Still, to think that some nobody would have the gall to investigate potential corruption among the ranks of the city’s elected elite? As a certain governor has shown us, corruption busting is always high on the agenda—until it strays too close to home.

Rachel Noerdlinger – It looks like the scandal-plagued saga of the chief of staff to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s wife has finally come to an end—at least for now. Noerdlinger announced she will take an unpaid leave of absence after her 17-year old son was arrested on trespassing charges. Hopefully, she will take the time to focus on her troubled son, who apparently is not the Rev. Al Sharpton’s son—just to be clear.

Terry and Kim Pegula – While everyone from Andrew Cuomo to Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz have been working to clear the roads and keep motorists from getting caught in the Buffalo blizzard or killing themselves on icy roads, the Buffalo Bills organization initial decided that football is more important than public safety. When the storm hit, Poloncarz declared a travel ban on the suburb of Orchard Park, where Ralph Wilson Stadium is located. Not only did Bills officials ignore this decree and plan to play Sunday’s game as scheduled, they offered free tickets and $10 dollars an hour to any Bills fan who violated the travel ban and showed up to shovel snow out of the stadium. Meanwhile, the Pegulas announced that they would fly to Buffalo to take care of this kerfuffle—from their nice warm home in Florida.

Al Sharpton – Even if you believe Shaprton's protestations that he doesn't owe the people of New York and the United States millions of dollars in taxes (any more), stemming from the shady operation of his non-profit, despite all of the evidence to the contrary, even the most gullible of people know that when you make a big point of denying something in a press conference nobody even asked you about, there is a very high likelihood that it's true.