This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

After 30 years with the New York City Police Department John Chell has succeeded ousted Jeffrey Maddrey as chief of department – the city’s top uniformed officer. 

The promotion is all the more noteworthy for the outspoken police official given the fact that many of his top-ranking colleagues were recently demoted and or booted from the NYPD amid a series of scandals. Chell, who has been involved in his own share of controversies, escaped not only unscathed – but better off.

One mark of longevity in politics is having some lasting structure named after you. (Getting the name to stick is another issue.) On his way out of office at the end of 2024, retiring Assembly Member Jeffrion Aubry was awarded with a good start at that legacy, with the dedication of the Jeffrion L. Aubry LaGuardia Career Center, for his commitment to the redevelopment of LaGuardia Airport. Rather than go out on a low note – Aubry was featured on our losers list last week over an unsigned bill – the longtime Assembly member’s swan song at the tail end of 2024 was a sweet one.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is kicking off 2025 by reaching new heights of power. Gillibrand landed a seat on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, where she’ll be able to steer federal funds to New York. She’s also the new ranking minority member of the Senate Aging Committee, a minor panel but one with a powerful advocacy pulpit on issues impacting a key constituency. Gillibrand also retains her seats on the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, though she is dropping her long time Agriculture Committee seat.

What’s worse, having your home raided or being outed as a swinger? Jeffrey Maddrey is surely wondering about that after his dramatic fall from grace. Formerly the NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed officer, Maddrey now faces a suspension and internal affairs investigation stemming from sexual harassment allegations. Generally, there’s enough bad news going around in the Adams administration and NYPD, but Maddrey’s troubles are getting much worse before they get better. Reportedly, he’s been thrown out of his home by his wife to boot. Hey, maybe he missed the raid.

When the state attorney general’s office released body camera footage showing corrections officers’ deadly beating of Robert Brooks, the outrage was near universal. For Danielle Medbury, the acting superintendent of Marcy Correctional Facility, that meant her swift ouster by the governor. She had only been serving in the acting position for two months, but that was enough time to be in charge at the time of the incident. It’s unclear what will come next for Medbury, but after such a high-profile tragedy on her watch, leadership roles at state prisons may not be in the cards.

Milton Arroyo, who served on the Albany Community Police Review Board, resigned after a Times Union reporter made the Albany Common Council aware that Arroyo was fired as a school resource officer in Florida in 2017 for allegedly sending lewd text messages to students. Tom Hoey, chair of the Common Council’s Public Safety Committee, said they did “a basic background check” before hiring them, but it’s unclear what that entailed since Arroyo’s firing shows up on the first page of Google search results.