This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin has dodged three of the five bullets that were levied against him. Benjamin resigned in April after federal prosecutors charged him with bribery and other related offenses. Of the five charges brought against him, the three concerning bribery were dropped by a federal judge this week. Apparently, prosecutors failed to establish an explicit quid pro quo. Still not completely off the hook, Benjamin could still face 40 years behind bars if convicted on the other charges.

While Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has faced his (not so fair?) share of criticism, Bragg may have finally had his first good week as DA. A jury found former President Donald Trump’s organization guilty of 17 counts, including tax fraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records. This is especially bad for Trump, who just three weeks ago, officially announced his 2024 presidential run. “In Manhattan, no corporation is above the law,” Bragg said in a statement after the verdict was announced. And to think … They said it couldn't be done.

It pays to helm the country’s largest public university system - John King, former New York education commissioner and U.S. education secretary under former President Barack Obama, is officially taking over the State University of New York. In addition to a nice housing allowance and a slate of other lofty perks, he’s going to make $750,000 doing it. King, who was unanimously chosen to lead the 64-campus system after a year-long search, is also the state’s first Black and Puerto Rican chancellor.

It’s one thing to lose your job; it’s another to drag your boss down with you. Ibrahim Khan, state Attorney General Letitia James’ former longtime chief of staff, resigned from his post after allegations of sexual harassment emerged against him. Not only that, but the office hired outside investigators to look into the allegations who found at least one to be credible. But this all has been going on for months without a peep from James. When it became public, she suddenly found herself fielding accusations of covering up her aide’s bad alleged behavior before an election. So Khan may have lost his job, but he didn’t leave his old boss unscathed.

It’s not the crime – it’s the coverup. You’d think a prosecutor would know that but … Stephen Cornwell’s 1995 drunk driving arrest was long forgotten by the time he was elected Broome County District Attorney in 2015. Now everybody knows about it, after he pleaded guilty to stealing his own arrest files, and deleting his name from the digital copies so nobody could find them. It was such a good idea that an aide, James Worhach, stole his OWN drunk driving case file. Both got caught.

Buffalo public school teachers have lost confidence in Superintendent Tonja Williams. The Buffalo teachers’ union took a vote of no confidence in Williams following an ongoing delay in securing a contract for teachers, who have gone without one since 2019. But Williams, who was appointed to lead the school district this summer, needn’t completely despair. Good things have come to education leaders who have weathered their own “no confidence” debacles before.