Winners & Losers 3/4/16

Super Tuesday was a yuuuge day for a certain billionaire from Queens and a big relief for a former U.S. senator from Chappaqua. As our Winners & Losers list shows, they weren’t the only New Yorkers to have a super week – but some other local politicians must feel like dropping out.

WINNERS

Richard Buery – More than tripling the amount of kids in pre-K in New York City in 18 months was a huge undertaking for the deputy mayor. So it’s got to be feel good to see a new poll showing 92 percent of families were happy with the program, including more than 6 out of 10 rating it “excellent.” Preschoolers don’t get grades, but Buery gets a gold star for his efforts. Now go brag to your wife!

James Capalino – It pays to be an early supporter of Bill de Blasio. Capalino’s firm was once again New York City’s top lobbyist, and this time with a record haul – $12.9 million! Plus, Capalino’s 304 clients are more than double any other firm lobbying the city. It goes to show that money and power continue to go hand in hand in the Big Apple.

Ed Mangano – We recently made the Nassau county executive a loser because of a sexting scandal involving a woman who had business with the county, although he vehemently denied it. If Anthony Weiner taught us anything, denials in these situations are often desperate attempts to protect one’s reputation. And when news like that comes out, regardless of the truth, it’s not a good week. But according to the Nassau police, the whole thing ACTUALLY WAS a hoax. So congrats to Mangano for being the first person in history to be vindicated after denying that sexually explicit communications sent from his account were not his handiwork.

Eric Schneiderman – Love him or hate him, almost everyone is talking about Donald Trump these days. And this week, Attorney General Schneiderman got to share the spotlight when a judge ruled that his case against Trump University can proceed. Hopefully one of the “courses” taught at TU was Litigation 101.

Keith Wright – With state Sen. Bill Perkins dropping out of the race for the 13th Congressional District, and retiring Rep. Charles Rangel having all but endorsed Wright, the Harlem assemblyman has become the clear frontrunner. Wright also has the most money on hand, which will come in handy when it comes to getting his message out in the crowded field. You might just say he has the Wright stuff!

LOSERS

James Burke – Apparently the former Suffolk County police chief was so embarrassed somebody broke into his car and stole pornography and sex toys that Burke beat him up in the station house and threatened to kill him, then tried to get subordinates to cover it up. Now his dirty laundry is out there and prison time is imminent after pleading guilty to federal charges. Who watches the watchmen? Luckily the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s office was on this case.

Steven Cymbrowitz – The Brooklyn assemblyman raised eyebrows with the news that he had again taken his campaign overseas last year, including a stop in Greece. Cymbrowitz told the Observer that his voyage, paid in part with campaign funds, raised awareness and spread goodwill. State law is quite loose on how campaign funds are spent, and he did apparently visit a Holocaust site and met with Syrian refugees, but we doubt he has many constituents – or potential voters – living in Europe.

Melissa Mark-Viverito – Despite the speaker focusing her past two State of the City addresses on the need to direct more low-level offenses to the civil court system, she was not involved in the mayor’s, NYPD’s and Manhattan D.A.’s major policy move on the matter. And some even suggested her ally de Blasio agreed to reduce the number of arrests in Manhattan for infractions like urinating or drinking in public as a maneuver to pre-empt police-related legislation.

Terrence Murphy – State Senate Republicans have long championed lower property taxes. Murphy, a state senator who also owns an Irish restaurant in Yorktown Heights, took that belief to the extreme. A Tax Watch investigation found the state senator has not paid a cent of property taxes since halfway through 2013 – and faces a bill of more than $117,197. Hopefully, the state Senate Ethics Committee will investigate … although Murphy is also a member of the committee. Gotta love Albany.

Howard Zemsky – You’d think a Buffalo guy could get his people paid on time. But Zemsky’s Empire State Development, a key player in the state’s Riverbend project, fell months and tens of millions behind on payments, causing contractors to temporarily lay off more than 100 workers at the end of last week. That news came on the heels of a bad month for the centerpiece of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion initiative, as the company’s date for full production has been pushed back and their stocks tumbled after a disappointing quarterly report. Who knows, maybe the unions just used the press to nudge the state into moving on the payments.