Winners & Losers
This week’s biggest Winners & Losers
Who’s up and who’s down this week?
Sometimes student journalists are assigned to cover dull faculty senate meetings or being assigned or asked to observe a random street corner on a professor’s whim. Other times, the story of the year is right outside their door. To the dedicated and hardworking student journalists of Columbia University – including the Columbia Daily Spectator, WKCR and Bwog, as well as students at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and freelancers and interns for off-campus publications – we say thanks for keeping New Yorkers in the know during the events of the last two weeks.
Tim Kennedy -
Some congressional candidates run hard, but Tim Kennedy appears to have taken a casual stroll to Washington. The longtime state senator dominated a special election for a Buffalo-area congressional seat Tuesday, a race he has been expected to win since former Rep. Brian Higgins announced his resignation in November. While it may have been easy for Kennedy to get to Congress, his next goal promises to be much harder – fixing Washington’s dysfunction.
Walter Mosley -
Those of us not named Zach Williams learned this week that former Brooklyn Assembly Member Walter Mosley was Gov. Kathy Hochul’s nominee for secretary of state. If confirmed by the state Senate, Mosley will succeed Robert Rodriguez in the largely ceremonial role. Of course, everyone already knows what the secretary of state does, but just to cover our bases: the secretary oversees the Department of State, the economic development and planning agency that writes business license regulations and building standards and codes.
Mike Lawler -
Freshman Republican Rep. Mike Lawler was able to put his money where his mouth was after his bill to codify a controversial legal standard for antisemitism passed the House on Wednesday. Lawler is among scores of New York elected officials who have spoken out against antisemitism and hate crimes in the wake of Israel’s invasion of Gaza. His antisemitism bill should play well in a district that includes a large Jewish population.
Mark Grisanti -
Things are not as bad as they could be for Court of Claims Judge Mark Grisanti, but they’re close. Four years after Grisanti got into a fight with a neighbor over a parking spot, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct voted to censure the jurist and former state senator for his actions. The head of the commission wanted to kick Grisanti off the bench, but not enough members voted for it. Still, the censure probably isn’t good news for his job security, especially since his term expired last year.
Sandra Doorley -
Roaring down a 35-mile-per-hour road at 55 miles per hour was just the first in a long line of mistakes made by Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley. Instead of pulling over upon the request of police and accepting a ticket, she made a beeline for her home, cursed out a cop and sought help from the county police chief. Now she faces calls for her resignation. She said it best herself: “I have been humiliated by my own stupidity.”
Peter Abbate -
After more than three decades as a legislator, you’d think former Assembly Member Peter Abbate would know how to get on the ballot. But the southern Brooklyn Democrat was knocked off the ballot when a judge ruled that many of his petition signatures were invalid, ending his attempt to retake his own seat from Republican Lester Chang. Abbate accused his rival, Democratic Assembly Member Bill Colton, and Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn of working with Republicans to get him kicked off the ballot, a charge both denied.