This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is leading the U.S. Senate’s judge-a-palooza before Democrats yield control, and one Utica Democrat got his golden ticket this week. Former Rep. Anthony Brindisi, who lost reelection in 2020 after just one term, was confirmed 50-49 by the U.S. Senate for an upstate federal judgeship. Since leaving Washington, Brindisi has had black robe wishes and gavel dreams, losing a bid for state Supreme Court in 2021 but getting a state Court of Claims judgeship in 2022.

It took months of tough negotiation, countless meetings,  many compromises, and a $5 billion funding commitment for affordable housing and infrastructure projects, but the New York City Council finally approved Mayor Eric Adams’ ambitious “City of Yes” proposal to boost housing production through zoning reforms. The vote was narrow – 31 to 20 – but the plan’s passage is a major win for the mayor, First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer and Department of City Planning Director Dan Garodnick.

That wasn’t so hard, was it? Mayor Eric Adams’ doomed plan to make former Giuliani administration alum Randy Mastro the city’s top lawyer went over like an oil spill in a rainforest, as a fiery confirmation hearing resulted in Mastro pulling out from consideration. Maybe Adams would have been better off nominating Muriel Goode-Trufant – who is well-liked by the council and was breezily confirmed this week – as corporation counsel from the start.

Rep. Jerry Nadler gave up his seat as ranking member of the powerful Judiciary Committee this week, two days after Maryland’s Rep. Jamie Raskin publicly announced he was challenging Nadler for the role. After seven years in committee leadership and 32 years in Congress, the dean of New York’s congressional delegation had quite a few major accomplishments to list in his “Dear Colleague” letter before endorsing Raskin to replace him. Somewhere in this city, former Rep. Carolyn Maloney is surely enjoying a big glass of wine.

Mondays in this business can be the worst: you forget something important for work, you might still be groggy from the weekend, etc. etc. But usually people don't bring multiple ammunition magazines into the office by accident. That’s what happened to Michael Hopkins, Rep. Joe Morelle’s (now-former) communications director, who was arrested after attempting to bring ammunition into the Capitol Office Building in D.C. and promptly lost his job.

New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez touted the completion of a new bus lane on 96th Street, a minor win for the transportation head. Unfortunately for him, the city is set to fall short of its bus lane goals for the year by 25 miles. In 2024, the city will have completed just five miles of bus lanes – the smallest number in the last six years, according to Streetsblog. At this rate, it would take nearly 30 years to accomplish what the mayor had promised to do in four years.