Winners and Losers 04/17/15

Andrew Cuomo reported taking home $376,667—more than double his executive salary—as compensation for his autobiography in his tax filings. His $553,371 income trumped Eric Schneiderman’s $327,516, Bill de Blasio’s $217,656 and Thomas DiNapoli’s $159,274. Those are some relatively hefty paychecks, but politically that can be less of an asset than a liability. So we calculated other figures before filling out and sending in our winners and losers form.

WINNERS

Heather Briccetti – As president of the Business Council, Briccetti was sure to be jumping for joy when the state Board of Elections declined to alter its opinion that treats limited liability companies as individuals under the state’s campaign finance laws—commonly known as the LLC loophole. We made Briccetti the official winner, but Cuomo has 4 million reasons to appreciate the loophole as well.

Vincent Gentile – The New York City councilman is the underdog in the battle for Michael Grimm’s old House seat, and he’s not going down without a fight. In a debate this week, Gentile landed a blow by asking his rival, Staten Island DA Dan Donovan, what the federal minimum wage is—twice—and got no answer. Maybe Donovan didn’t actually hear the question—but we’re guessing he just didn’t know.

Carl Heastie - The Assembly speaker had taken some shots from the Albany press corps since he took over this year, but now he will get his chance to fire back. Heastie has agreed to deliver the Democratic rebuttal at the annual LCA show in June, a bold move for the generally quiet leader. The appearance is a smart way to win him some good will with the press corps—assuming he is funny.

Brad Lander – The Brooklyn city councilman successfully shepherded through the Council a bill banning most employers from using credit scores while hiring. The final language of the bill pleased the Partnership for New York City, a business group that once opposed it, inspired GOP Minority Leader Vincent Ignizio to dub it a “pro-work bill” and even created a little old-fashioned floor debate for nostalgic reporters.

Karen Magee – The NYSUT president may have lost the budget battle, but the union and education groups have rallied and convinced thousands of parents to opt their children out of the state tests this year. This has already led observers to wonder how it will affect the new teacher evaluations tied to the tests. Gov. Andrew Cuomo would probably accuse her of cheating.

LOSERS

Andrew Cuomo – This guy has had it rough on many fronts lately. From the testing opt-outs to Start-Up NY attacks, from the Skelos and Silver family investigations to voter disappointment with his ethics reforms, the governor has had a week filled with headaches. At least he can rest his head on a well-crafted pillow, thanks to his $500K in earnings. Or maybe it's time for another Caribbean getaway?

Robert De Niro – Delighted with de Blasio De Niro ain’t. The legendary actor says New York City’s mayor hasn’t done a thing to help fund his world-renowned Tribeca Film Festival. “We don’t get any support at this point,” the “Goodfellas” and “Taxi Driver” star told The Daily Beast. “There’s nothing.” The de Blasio administration fired back—you talkin’ to me?—saying this year the city actually “increased promotional funding to more than $300,000.” Then when the festival held its star-studded kickoff, the mayor was nowhere to be seen. Analyze that, Mr. De Niro.

Andrew Kennedy – When the Post and the Daily News both hammer you, it’s a bad week. Start-Up NY, the tax credit program touted by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and run by Kennedy, drew the ire of both papers this weekend in editorials excoriating the program as a failure for its return on investment. The state has spent $28 million to create 76 jobs—all of which will go on with no income tax for a decade—and folks are upset. We’ll have to wait and see if the returns improve, but so far this program is a lightning rod.

Dean and Adam Skelos – First it was Tom Libous and his son. Earlier this week, it was Sheldon Silver’s daughter and son-in-law. Now it looks like the Senate majority leader and his kid could be the next ones to be facing serious legal problems, with U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara building a case against Skelos based at least in part on the business dealings of his son, Adam. Now the Albany guessing game is not just which elected official will be next the next to go down—it’s which family.

Marcello and Michelle Trebitsch – As if Assemblyman Sheldon Silver didn’t have enough problems. He already was hit with corruption charges, lost the Assembly speakership and had his assets frozen. Then, this week his son-in-law, Marcello, was arrested for alleged $7 million investment fraud scheme. Oh, and Silver’s daughter, Michelle, is reportedly under investigation for her role in the scheme, too.