Winners and Losers 02/20/15

New York hosted the 2015 NBA All-Star game last weekend, giving the talent-starved city some star power for a few days. But let’s not forget the state’s political stars—including this week’s winners—as well as the losers warming the bench.

WINNERS

Dan Donovan – The Staten Island district attorney officially has an election to campaign for. A federal judge ruled that Gov. Andrew Cuomo must schedule a special election for the Staten Island congressional seat that Michael Grimm vacated in disgrace. And while Donovan quickly secured the Republicans’ backing, Democrats dither. 

Bob Hardt – It finally happened. After years. Literally years. Inside City Hall had been trying to land Gov. Andrew Cuomo for an interview—even before he was governor. Then, this week they got an extended walk and talk with the Guv. Kudos to the whole NY1 team, but especially to Political Director Bob Hardt—who also got engaged, making it quite a momentous week.

Michael Lawler – The former campaign manager for Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino’s ill-fated gubernatorial run secured a position as assistant to the county executive with a respectable $118,965 annual salary. Apparently you don’t actually need to win an election to land a cushy job.

Tony Spina – It took more than three years, but the president of Communications Workers of America Local 1109 brokered the union’s first-ever contract with Cablevision. The deal will bring Brooklyn workers’ wages up practically to the rates received by non-unionized staff, which comprises more than 98 percent of the company’s personnel.

Milton Tingling – Add Milton Tingling to the list of New York firsts. Tingling, Manhattan’s new county clerk, is the first African American to hold such a position anywhere in the state, and at a recent swearing-in ceremony he made it clear that he fully appreciates the distinction: “I am the great grandson of slaves, the grandson of persons who could not vote,” he told the assembled audience. “I'm old enough to have drunk out of colored only fountains ... ride in colored-only cars.” Congratulations, Milton. We trust that you will not be the last.

LOSERS

Ed Cox – No one needed to see this. It’s disturbing for all involved. As the head of the state GOP, we hold Cox responsible for our nightmares.

Patrick Lynch – It’s been a rough week for the NYPD Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association boss. First, Officer Ronald Wilson announced his candidacy for the union’s presidency, which means two are challenging Lynch. Then a campaign video that Lynch’s team said was unauthorized came under fire because it depicted him at a memorial for two slain officers. Meanwhile, the longtime PBA boss sought to fend off a proposal by the chief judge of the Court of Appeals to provide more transparency to grand jury deliberations on police-related killings.

George Maziarz – Sometimes just leaving elected office can help pesky investigations go away, but not so for the former state senator from Western New York. Maziarz first became a target of the Moreland Commission for his suspicious campaign spending, which prompted an inquiry from the feds. The latest development is an apparent probe into whether he secretly funded favored candidates in local races. By George!

Martin Reid – The chairman of the Rensselaer County Legislature has left the employ of Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin amid reports that he collected more than $15K in state unemployment benefits while earning a $30,000 annual salary from the county. Our only question: if he loses his job with the county because of the scandal does that mean he can apply unemployment benefits?

Sheldon Silver – Lately it seems like we could just about reserve a permanent spot for the former Assembly speaker, and the bad news kept coming this week for the scandal-ridden lawmaker, including an indictment from the feds. Additionally, he now faces a fine of up to $120,000 from the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics for failing to properly disclose his outside income on state ethics forms. Also, since when does JCOPE actually do anything?