Winners & Losers
This week’s biggest Winners & Losers
Who’s up and who’s down this week?
As romantic poet William Wordsworth wrote, “We murder to dissect.” This was certainly the case for P’Nut, the social media-famous squirrel who was seized from his home on Oct. 30 and euthanized by the state Department of Environmental Conservation to be tested for rabies. Since then, the Southern Tier rodent became a right-wing martyr eulogized by the likes of Elon Musk and JD Vance, and the department has received more than a dozen bomb threats in connection to his death. After all that anguish, we now have P’Nut’s rabies test results, released during a high-profile press conference on Tuesday: not infected.
Chi Ossé -
Bye, bye broker fees. Nobody will miss you. The New York City Council officially passed Council Member Chi Ossé’s bill to eliminate the loathed, infamous city real estate practice. Going forward, renters will no longer be responsible for paying broker fees before signing a lease. Rather, that responsibility will be shifted to the person who hires the broker – usually the landlord or building manager. Welcome to the rest of the country’s norm.
Elise Stefanik & Lee Zeldin -
Elise Stefanik and Lee Zeldin are both moving on up. Stefanik to the East Side and the United Nations ambassador’s deluxe apartment in the sky, Zeldin to a Washington, D.C., office at the Environmental Protection Agency. Stefanik won’t be battling college presidents anymore but rather it will be Elise vs. the world. Zeldin is pledging a major regulatory overhaul at the EPA. Plus, they may have easier paths to confirmation that certain eyebrow-raising Cabinet picks.
Carol Bullock -
At a time when it might be difficult to believe that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice, there’s one bright spot that’s been 60 years in the making. Carol Bullock, executive director of the Pride Center of Staten Island, oversaw a deal with the new organizers of the Richmond County St. Patrick’s Day Parade to allow the center to march under its banner for the first time next year.
Jamaal Bailey -
It’s an open secret that judges in New York pay for their seats and need to play nice with county party bosses. But that doesn’t mean you want those facts broadcast in an investigative news story. New York Focus reported that a majority of judicial candidates in the Bronx paid large sums of cash to two consulting firms run by friends of party boss state Sen. Jamaal Bailey – never mind the fact that most judges don’t run competitive campaigns and are selected by party officials before they’re ever on the ballot.
Chuck Schumer & Hakeem Jeffries -
While Chuck Schumer has had more than a week to process the fact that his best days in the U.S. Senate are behind him, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries' hopes for a promotion were just squashed. With a Republican-controlled House, Senate and White House, the Democratic legislative leaders face an uphill battle. But there may be some hope for Jeffries – the majority could shrink through special elections for seats vacated by lawmakers joining the Trump administration.
Anthony D’Esposito -
From the halls of Congress to the sidewalks of Nassau County, Rep. Anthony D’Esposito wasn’t alone when he lost his seat to Laura Gillen. A few of his Republican colleagues met a similar fate like Reps. Brandon Williams and Marc Molinaro. The only difference is they appear to have future job prospects and he doesn’t. Williams is on the shortlist for labor secretary in Trump’s Cabinet and Molinaro is rumored to be an option to replace Rep. Elise Stefanik.