This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

A Democrat hasn’t been in charge of Monroe County since Nirvana came out with its landmark album Nevermind. For those who aren’t grunge-inclined, that’s 1991. It’s been a long 30 years for Democrats, who haven’t held the county executive position since then. In comes Adam Bello, who managed to eke out a win against the Republican incumbent. The party has three decades of catching up to do with Bello at the helm – grunge being dead isn’t the only thing that’s changed in the past three decades.

On a generally good night for Democrats, the Chautauqua County executive showed the GOP can still hold their home turf. George Borello had no trouble clobbering political neophyte Austin Morgan, who fell 50 points short of winning the seat formerly held by Republican Cathy Young. Morgan might not have learned at Cornell how to win in Trump country, but at least the 22-year-old wannabe legislator has a tale to tell when that one-year reunion rolls around next June. The 52-year-old Borrello straddles the generational divide, but we’re chalking this one up for the Boomers!

Former Assemblyman Dov Hikind was finally unblocked by freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter this week, after she opted to settle a lawsuit brought about by the conservative Democrat rather than duke it out with Hikind in court. And as an added bonus, Hikind also received a seemingly sincere apology from Ocasio-Cortez. Though the ex-lawmaker was delighted, he said after learning of the settlement that he had been “looking forward to court tomorrow.” We’re no psychic, but if we had to guess, it’s probable that Hikind will have some fiery disputes with political opponents in his future.

For once, Mount Vernon knows who’s in charge. Shawyn Patterson-Howard will take over as the first woman elected mayor to the politically chaotic Westchester city, overtaking the acting mayor with a whopping 81% of the vote. After a tumultuous charade in which the town saw three different people claim to be mayor – one of them being its criminal former mayor – Mount Vernon residents can finally be at ease knowing exactly who is representing them.

While George McDonald may head a leading New York City nonprofit, he reportedly takes a less charitable approach to managing his staff. Yelling, slamming doors and making women uncomfortable are all among the complaints former Doe Fund employees leveraged at the one-time mayoral candidate. And don't dare say anything bad about his BFF Gov. Andrew Cuomo, or else he'll give you the boot, just like he did to two employees.

Silicon Valley’s “super pumped” ride-hail company had a super deflating few days in New York City. First, last Friday, a state Supreme Court judge tossed Uber’s lawsuit against a city law capping new licenses for ride-hail drivers, affirming the city’s ability to limit Uber and Lyft vehicles. Then on Wednesday, 96,000 Uber drivers sued the company in a class action suit for allegedly undercutting their fares. Josh Gold, director of public affairs for Uber Northeast, is no stranger to ride-hail hostility in New York, but the month of November has delivered a particularly gnarly 1-2 punch to the company.

Corrupt union officials? It’s not just the subject of that new Scorsese flick. Joseph Ashton, the former Region 9 director and ex-vice president at United Auto Workers, was charged Wednesday with fraud and money laundering in a federal corruption investigation. Ashton is alleged to have used his position to demand bribes and kickbacks, trading merchandise in exchange for union contracts, which includes one scheme involving commemorative watches – and he’s expected to plead guilty. 

The Police Benevolent Association honcho certainly isn’t happy that New York City voted in favor of changes aimed at strengthening NYPD oversight. The ballot proposal, which will bolster the Civilian Complaint Review Board, was one of several that voters approved on Tuesday, despite the union’s argument that the changes were driven by “political extremists and cop-haters.” What’s more, the Brooklyn DA just released a list of cops who can’t be trusted in court. If there’s any silver lining for Lynch this week, it’s that NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill, a target of Lynch’s ire, is stepping down.

Qualified black man gets passed over for a job. Happens all over America, every day. But by Bill de Blasio?? Progressive leader of this beautiful mosaic of a city, married to a black woman and elected twice thanks to the black New Yorkers who trusted him? Yep. Even de Blasio, once again passed over the NYPD’s No. 2, Deputy Commissioner Tucker, to pick the Irish-American Dermot Shea from further down the chain of command to be the next commish.

Correction: We originally included noted fusion voting foe Steve Bellone as a winner this week because we bought his line that he got reelected as Suffolk County executive "taking only the DEM line.” Silly us. In truth, he also appeared on the Protect the Taxpayer line – on which he won more votes than his challenger, John M. Kennedy Jr., got on the Independence line. Take THAT, third parties!