This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

A slate of bills strengthening protections against sexual harassment progressed through the state Legislature, marking a victory for the Sexual Harassment Working Group. The group formed in 2018 to change the culture in Albany, and four years and one governor later, it seems their goals are coming into focus. Included in the advancing legislation were a bill that extended the statute of limitations to take legal action for harassment and another that set up a free hotline for victims.

He’s still out of a job, but former Rochester Police Department Chief La’Ron Singletary at least has some vindication now. After his ouster in the wake of the police killing of Daniel Prude, Singletary sued the City of Rochester for wrongful termination. Now, he won $75,000 from the city, as well as the return of his retirement health benefits. Plus, Singletary got a chance to plug his run for Congress with a speaking slot at the GOP state convention. Not a bad week after a rough 2021.

The frontrunner for the Republican nomination for governor remains unknown to most people in his party, but he got plenty of recognition at the state GOP convention on Long Island this week. His newly acquired status as the designated candidate of the party establishment means he can now focus more on introducing himself to voters while his primary rivals freeze their fingers and toes cajoling New Yorkers to get them on the ballot this June. 

Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin was caught double dipping in campaign money and taxpayer-funded reimbursements to pay for gas during some of his trips to Albany when he was a state senator. The instances reported by the Times Union aren’t the first examples of questionable campaign finance activity from Benjamin or his supporters either. For a guy who very recently ran a campaign to be New York City’s chief financial officer, Benjamin sure seems to be in need of some accounting assistance. 

Talk about bad bosses. The now former head of the Taxi and Limousine Commission, Aloysee Heredia Jarmoszuk, spent much of an hour-long virtual meeting berating and cursing at staff last month. She declared, “I will fucking come for you,” after observing someone committed a major transgression, which is “messing around with the mute” button. She also prophetically declared the rant would “be on the New York Post in the morning.” The Post made good on that – and hours after the paper inquired about her comments, Heredia Jarmoszuk resigned. There’s no doubt that the news won’t help with a lawsuit she’s facing, alleging that she created a hostile work environment.

When Mayor Eric Adams said last month that “he can’t wait” to get rid of the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, the sports world speculated whether that meant the unvaccinated Irving would be able to return to the court. Adams crushed those hopes this week when he clarified that the mandate for private employers will remain in effect when vaccine requirements for most other indoor spaces are lifted on March 7.