This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

State Sen. Brian Benjamin may have started off the summer on a rough note, finishing fourth in the New York City comptroller Democratic primary, but things are looking up for the Upper Manhattan lawmaker. Hochul confirmed Benjamin as her pick for lieutenant governor, and though the position isn’t always thought of as a seat of power, recent history tells us the role can offer pretty significant opportunities for advancement.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that now Gov. Kathy Hochul has been clocking in wins left and right. Hochul has effortlessly ascended to the governorship after the demise of the Cuomo dynasty, making history as the state’s first female governor in the process. She is now building her staff with industry veterans, as well as forming crucial partnerships with political players across the state like New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Eric Adams as she jockeys for a full term in the 2022 governor race.

The Southampton tribe got $18 million in funding for a medical marijuana facility through a partnership with TILT Holdings. The business will bring much needed jobs and revenue to the tribe that has been at odds with the state Department of Transportation over its highway billboards.

Add the now-former president and CEO of Time’s Up to the list of people who probably wish they never had anything to do with Cuomo. The former chief of staff to First Lady Michelle Obama announced her resignation Thursday following revelations about all the back and forth with Cuomo’s people about how the organization should respond to the earliest allegations of sexual harassment against the former governor. Not a good look for an advocacy group dedicated to fighting wrongdoing by powerful men.

In the immortal words of former Gotham District Attorney Harvey Dent, “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” Truer words could not have been said of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. A hero to many during the pandemic, his over-decadelong reign over the state came to an unceremonious end when he officially resigned amid a sexual harassment scandal. Cuomo is now technically homeless after getting evicted from the Executive Mansion, and might be staying with his sister for now. He caught flack for allegedly trying to offload his dog to a staffer. And what’s more, he even lost the Emmy won for his COVID-19 briefings. Tragic.

New York’s rent relief program has been terrible, to put it lightly. A mere fraction of the more than $2 billion set aside for tenants and landlords has gone out to New Yorkers. And some of that can be attributed to McIntyre’s consulting firm tasked with setting up the program: Guidehouse Inc. Reporting from City Limits shows the company fell short of several benchmarks outlined in its contract. While those delays can be attributed to the state government’s failures as well, Guidehouse’s online portal has also been plagued with technical flaws. Scrutiny of the firm’s work has only intensified given that it went on to hire a top Cuomo adviser, Joseph Spinelli, as its director of consulting this May. It’s now up to Hochul to untangle the program’s many problems.