Winners and Losers 03/20/15

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is making deals with the Democratic Assembly. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is upstaging the governor. And Miley Cyrus is suddenly showing an interest in New York politics. The developments have left us as confused as anyone—but at least we know who this week’s winners and losers are. 

WINNERS

Carl Heastie - What does a Cuomo-style bear hug feel like? The Assembly speaker is probably one of the few to know. Besides the physical show of love, Heastie teamed up with Cuomo this week to roll out a five-point ethics “deal” … with state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos noticeably missing. The speaker is basking in Cuomo’s approval right now—and on top of that, he got a new car!

Karen Magee and Michael Mulgrew - Cuomo may have the backing of the pro-charter school lobby, but Karen Magee and Michael Milgrew have the people! At least according to a recent Quinnipiac poll, which found New York voters trust teachers unions more than the governor by a wide 55–28 percent margin. It looks like Cuomo still has a lot to learn when it comes to the politics of education policy.

Amy Paulin - After two years of frustration with the Women’s Equality Act’s failure to pass the state Senate, the assemblywoman’s legislation to combat human trafficking has finally made it through both the houses now that the package has been broken up. In addition, Cuomo has said he will sign the bill when it reaches his desk. Paulin was the rare Assembly Democrat to push for the break-up of the WEA, and now she can celebrate. 

Eric Schneiderman - ... And the good times keep rolling for the attorney general. Last week it was a settlement with the three largest U.S. credit-reporting agencies. This week it’s a $714 million settlement with the Bank of New York Mellon, announced jointly with U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office ($167.5 million of which will go to New York state). Plus he’s been getting fawned over in the media for pushing the governor to be “bolder” on ethics reform in Albany. 

Nancy Zimpher - While the SUNY chancellor has a checkered past when it comes to men's basketball programs, she has to be happy that two of her campuses have teams in the Big Dance. Both the University at Buffalo and the University of Albany are partaking in March Madness on Friday. UB tips off against West Virginia at 2 p.m. and UA (you know) plays in primetime at 7:30 p.m. against Oklahoma. Both teams are underdogs, but that just makes watching the games more fun. 

LOSERS

Bill de Blasio – The editorials weren’t exactly wishing the mayor top of the morning after St. Patrick’s Day. De Blasio’s chronic tardiness caught the attention of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who noted de Blasio’s presence about 15 minutes after he acknowledged dignitaries at the St. Patrick’s Day Mass. The Times’ Lawrence Downes wrote the mayor needed help fixing this “terrible habit,” and the Daily News editorialized that de Blasio must think he’s a “demigod” because of it. And that’s after the tabloid ripped his decision to skip the parade because it is not inclusive enough of gay groups, saying de Blasio has accepted honors from Jewish groups that lobbied against same-sex marriage. 

Diana Durand - We missed the target last week when we made the ex-girlfriend of the disgraced former Rep. Michael Grimm a winner when prosecutors decided to ask the judge to go easy on her. The judge wasn't having any of it and sent Durand to three months in prison. Oops on our part. 

Deborah Glick - Things aren’t looking good for the assemblywoman’s bill to codify Roe v. Wade into state law. The 10th point of the WEA had held up the passage of the rest of the package of bills for several years, but now that it’s been broken up, the state Senate has even less of a reason to pass it. Of course, stranger things have happened in Albany, so we’ll have to wait and see. 

David Paterson – Seven wasn’t his lucky number. Paterson marked the anniversary of his taking the oath of office as the state’s first black governor, but not everyone was celebrating his tenure. First, Democratic state legislators accused him of using his position as chairman of the state party to do Cuomo’s bidding, rather than representing all party members. Then, SUNY Board of Trustees Chairman Carl McHall said “about the only thing David Paterson contributed” as governor was the tactic of tying policy items to the budget. 

Jose Rivera - Rivera had hoped to make a splash in the Assembly this week by calling on Cuomo to open New York’s ports to trade with Cuba ahead of the governor’s trade mission to the island nation. But it looks as though his resolution has hit a wall with a staffer for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie telling him the bill would need to go through committee and Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, who is Cuban-American, confronting him over the measure.