Winners & Losers 06/05/15

It’s a race to the finish in both Albany and Belmont. While American Pharoah prepares for a run at becoming the first Triple Crown winner since 1978, New York’s political royalty are jostling towards the finish of the legislative session and trying to get ahead by a nose as lobbyists, advocates and the rest of the state’s electorate gaze intently, clutching their racing stubs and screaming at their horse to bring them over the line. Mayoral control. 421-a. Rent control. You can almost hear the thud of the hooves on the finely-groomed dirt track. But before we get there, here are this week's winners and losers.  

WINNERS

Michael Bloomberg – Flattery has not been hard to come by for the former mayor. The Post's Michael Goodwin and USA Today’s Michael Wolff both floated Bloomberg as the only viable alternative for Democrats if Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign falters. Bloomberg is said to not be considering a run—he’s not one to voluntarily suffer the indignity of a massacre at the polls. In addition, self-professed progressive cheerleader Bill de Blasio praised Bloomberg’s move for mayoral control of New York City public schools.

Timothy Dolan - First he got the governor on his side. Now he has public opinion. The Cardinal and Archbishop of the New York Diocese has had one top priority in Albany this year—the Education Investment Tax Credit, recently renamed the Parental Choice in Education Act—and it seems he has more of a reason to have faith (than normal) in its passage after a recent poll showed that most state voters back it.

Karen Hinton - It must be nice to have two of the state's most powerful men fighting over you. Last month, Bill de Blasio hired Hinton to be his new press secretary, but she just happens to be Andrew Cuomo’s former aide from back in his HUD days, and also the wife of former top Cuomo aide Howard Glaser. So Cuomo did what anybody would do when their old friend gets a good gig: He reportedly flew into a rage, and has been testy with the mayor ever since. But can you blame him? This is a woman hailed as a “hero” in Ecuador thanks to her crusade against oil giant Chevron, who will “forever live in the lore of all of the communities in the deepest recesses of the Amazon jungle.” Helen of Troy, eat your heart out.

Michael Israel - Who says the public sector doesn't pay well? The Westchester County Medical Center CEO certainly can't complain about the $1.85 million he took home last year as the head of the public authority. He may be an easy target for those who decry the existence of public authorities and call them shadow governments, but he does run a health care facility that treats more than 100,000 patients a year. Though some may wonder what he is getting paid so much for after the hospital settled a federal case with Preet Bharara last month. 

Karen Magee and Michael Mulgrew – The teachers unions may have a fight on their hands over Common Core and teacher evaluations, but they got a reminder this week that some things are going their way. Salaries for their members and school administrators increased 7.2 percent over the past four years, according to new data. While public school employees won’t be diving into money like Scrooge McDuck, the salary boost is sure to buy an extra apple or two. 

LOSERS

Anthony Bonomo – Just when he should have been kicking back and enjoying the possibility of a Triple Crown winner this weekend—and plenty of revenue flowing into Long Island’s Belmont Park—Bonomo abruptly stepped aside as chairman of the New York Racing Association. The reason? He’s the latest state official to be linked to a public corruption scandal, with allegations that he arranged a lucrative no-show job for the son of former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.

Yury Baumblit – A New York Times exposé on “three-quarter homes” featured plenty of losers: the homeless New Yorkers subjected to terrible conditions and pressured to give in to their addictions; the inpatient programs and advocacy groups that have nowhere else to send people; and the city and state officials who have turned a blind eye as the system flourished. But the most damning portrait in the story was of Baumblit, a particularly notorious landlord who profits by victimizing his struggling tenants. 

Bill Bratton – Could the commissioner be getting a little too cozy at 1 Police Plaza? New York City Council Public Safety Committee Chairwoman Vanessa Gibson asked the Council’s legal staff to investigate the NYPD Foundation’s recent activity after the Post reported Bratton used the foundation to steer lucrative contracts to friends. The NYPD also fended of criticism of rising shooting and homicide rates. And the force was just served with a bias lawsuit alleging black employees in the motor fleet division were passed over for promotions and more lucrative jobs.   

Ed Mangano - For Nassau County, one big problem with Dean Skelos getting busted was that inevitably there would be a lot more scrutiny of routine government activities in the former Senate majority leader's backyard. And it looks like the fruits of that scrutiny are already bearing out, in the form of Newsday’s discovery that some three quarters of specialty contracts awarded by the county do not go to companies that submitted the lowest bids. Where this leads only time will tell, but it must be uncomfortable for the County Executive. 

Woodrow Myers Jr. – The CEO of Corizon Health Services had a big-time loss this week—about $270 million, to be exact. The health care provider lost its contract at Rikers Island with the Department of Corrections after articles alleging extreme negligence—published by several outlets—that inmates may have died because of staff mistakes or decisions to deny treatment.