Just when you thought Albany couldn’t get any more disgusting, Vito Lopez’s ethics-bending sexual harassment report became public. The findings eviscerate Lopez for his lecherous behavior toward eight former staff members and taint Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver as his enabler. The report’s slimy details made us so uncomfortable that we’ll go take another shower while you take a look at our winners and losers.   Ray Halbritter – The Oneida Nation’s representative extolled this week’s catchall agreement between his people, the state and two… [More]

  Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do? The feds finally came for state Sen. John Sampson and indicted him on Monday on embezzlement charges. A federal court document also revealed the names of five additional state senators, plus a city councilman, whom state Sen. Shirley Huntley secretly recorded in cooperation with the FBI. Oh, and last Friday, Assemblyman William Boyland got indicted. Again. Our losers list is spilling over, but we’ve pared it down to bring you the Winners and Losers of… [More]

  Springtime arrived across the state, bringing with it radiant sunlight, tulips in full bloom, the calming buzz of honeybees and a publishing war between the governor and perhaps his fiercest critic. Cuomo’s newly announced memoir, which he vowed to write himself, will trump Fred Dicker’s deal for a book that the columnist hoped to write with the governor. They say history is written by winners, so here are our Winners and Losers: Can’t get enough of our winners and… [More]

  State Sen. Greg Ball represents the pulsating id of New York’s conservative voter base, tweeting thoughts that some conservatives may be reluctant to say. This week, he tackled torture. Specifically, with a baseball bat. Then he called most politicians, his colleagues mind you, “completely full of crap.” His tweets and Albany interviews got him a national audience and he used it to belittle Piers Morgan on CNN. We can’t tell whether this makes Ball a winner or a loser… [More]

  Our thoughts and prayers are with Boston this week, where a horrific attack on its marathon and its citizens united the country in empathy for the victims. The world of politics can seem meaningless in the wake of irrational and wanton destruction. But the Northeast has recovered from acts of terror and will show its resolve once again. Aside from the tragedy, as always, we have your winners and losers. Can’t get enough of our winners and losers? Tune… [More]

  It was a huge week for Anthony Weiner, who thrust himself back into the public eye with a flattering cover story in The New York Times Magazine just two years after his infamous crotch tweet and cover-up stalled a once promising career. Now Weiner is mulling a comeback in a crowded Democratic primary field for mayor of New York City. And this week, that makes him one of our Weiners and Losers. Can’t get enough of our winners and losers?… [More]

  It’s not ABSCAM, but the bad old days are back. Albany was shaken up by a slew of shakedowns, filling up our losers list faster than Malcolm Smith making a deposit into his checking account. We couldn’t include everyone this week, but it sounds like more indictments could be coming thanks to Preet Bharara’s perspicacious prosecutions. The real loser in all of this is the public, but hey, you at least get to vote for our Winners and Losers:… [More]

  One contestant is a surly 46-year-old speaker who refused to give member items out of spite but just agreed to pass paid sick leave. Another is an embattled 77-year-old district attorney who is starring in his own reality show but has trouble training his prosecutors to follow the law. And a third is a back-stabbing 55-year-old newsman who earned America’s ire for forcing a rival out of her job, thus causing his ratings to drop like an anchor. Who’s… [More]

  The state budget did not go into overtime, but there were a number of buzzer beaters this week. Top-seeded Gov. Andrew Cuomo outpaced 16th-seeded David Paterson’s legacy in the first round, but trailed eighth-seeded gun rights advocates at halftime due to sloppy turnovers. The ninth-seeded minimum wage hike ran away from the eighth-seeded small business employers, who sought to limit its scoring to under $9 an hour, and barely slipped by top-seeded Senate Republicans, who forced the wage’s restaurant workers to foul out. But 420th-seed Assemblyman… [More]

  Country clubs and dollar bills, Bloomberg’s got more money, soda shots you can get refills, but he’s got more money. The soda ban’s popularity is going down in recent polls, and he’s still got more money. At four o’clock Bloomberg vowed to appeal the court’s decision, and he still got more money. Sugar makes the world go around, soda bans make Pepsi’s lobbyists frown, lot more campaign cash where that came from, the look in your eyes I know… [More]