This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Even Donald Trump, the least orthodox candidate in modern history, took part in the Iowa caucuses. But Mayor Mike’s decision to forgo the first-in-the-nation state seemed to pay off, with no clear winners emerging after a slow count and days of muddled messages. While other candidates were fretting, he was hosting a giant, open-bar Philadelphia rally. All the while, he’s rising in the polls and grabbing New York endorsements, including one from two-time World Series champion Mr. Met. 

Brooklyn is about to get some new pride. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the East River Park in Williamsburg will be renamed after Marsha P. Johnson, a trailblazing black LGBTQ activist. The distinction makes her the first LGBTQ person to have a state park named after them. Johnson was one of the leaders behind the historic Stonewall uprising in 1969 and remained a fixture in New York City’s LGBTQ community, even getting dubbed the “mayor of Christopher Street.” It seems that even after death, Johnson is still leading the way.

Ever since her aggressive performance in the House impeachment inquiry in November, it’s been clear that Rep. Elise Stefanik is giving Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a run for her money as New York’s young political superstar. Well, Stefanik now has the lead, at least by one measure: Stefanik raised $3.2 million in the last three months of 2019, while Ocasio-Cortez took in $1.9 million. Plus, Stefanik got a shoutout from President Donald Trump on Thursday, in a speech celebrating his acquittal. Trump said it wasn’t until reading about Stefanik’s campaign haul that he realized that “when she opens that mouth, you were killing them, Elise, you were killing them.” High praise from a fundraising killer in his own right.

Nothing like dodging a presidential impeachment to make you feel like a real champ! Which is probably why President Donald Trump took a victory lap i the White House East Room while “Hail to the Chief'' was blasted over loudspeakers after the Senate acquitted him.  But that’s not the only reason why Trump had such a great week – he also got to take political shots at his estranged home state and revel in the mess made by Democrats at the Iowa caucuses. Sad! 

It took just over half a century for New York to hit "ctrl-Z" on a typo on signs leading to the Verrazzano Bridge. The entire time the bridge has been opened, its signs have been missing the second "z," but thanks to legislation signed two years back, New York is starting to squeeze it back in. Giovanni da Verrazzano can finally rest E-Z in his grave that his legacy lives on – with his name fully intact.

Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren is hitting the five-term assemblyman where it hurts after he opposed her push for a temporary state takeover of the city school board. A primary challenge against Bronson by her chief of staff has secured the backing of the local Democratic Party. Bronson now has to get enough signatures to get on the primary ballot in order to have a fighting chance to keep his Assembly seat. We’re not saying that he’d ever go Republican, but he sure could use a party right now that would give him a shot.

One’s first year in office isn’t always easy – getting one’s bearings, learning the ropes and getting up to speed can take some time. But it seems Assemblywoman Mathylde Frontus is still working out some kinks in her office, according to the New York Post. At least 11 kinks to be exact. That’s the number of people that have been fired or quit in her two district offices since the beginning of her tenure in 2019. Ex-employees say she’s a micromanager who creates a “toxic work environment.” Combine this with her attempts to get funding for a non-existent think tank and a failing grade may be appropriate for Frontus’ freshman year.

Michael Miranda's day started innocently enough: chugging at least eight vodka cocktails in the leadup to and during a morning flight to Albany in 2018. But the state judge landed himself in more than a boozy brunch once he landed. He took off in his Subaru – taking breaks to drink some more vodka – and unsurprisingly crashed. Miranda insisted to the state troopers who found him that he had a mere two drinks before promptly failing three sobriety tests. The bender was capped off with the judge threatening the troopers. And yet, this week a ruling came down that the judge gets to stay on the bench.

News flash: Things are still not good at the New York City Housing Authority. NYCHA is slacking on inspecting lead paint in its housing units, a new watchdog report shows, and it's set to fall short of its deadline for the year. The agency’s results so far also don't bode well: More than half of the apartments that have been tested have lead in them. NYCHA has long lagged on checking apartments, but hearing yet again how far behind it is does not inspire confidence for improvement. 

The leader of the Rent Stabilization Association has absorbed more than a few slings and arrows from tenant groups and Democrats alike in the past year. Now, new state regulations are requiring landlords to pay real estate brokers to find tenants rather than the other way around. It’s just one more sign that Strasburg does not have the sway he once did in Albany. Hopefully, the landlords saved a few bucks here and there from all those sky-high rent hikes they’ve imposed in recent years.