Winners & Losers 11/18/16

Hillary Clinton just wants to stay home and curl up with a good book, while Donald Trump is so unhappy with what he’s been reading in the news that he’s lashing out at “professional protesters” and the press. But as the transition gets underway in Washington – and New York – there are plenty of local Winners & Losers who have landed on our latest list.

WINNERS

Bill de Blasio – President-elect Trump can get a meeting with anyone, anywhere, so the Mayor must feel special to enter the vaunted ranks of Floyd “Money” Mayweather and perhaps even pro skateboarder Billy Rohan after a 62-minute, one-on-one meeting in Trump Tower. And while he may have lost some votes from the #NeverTrump crowd, de Blasio also won key endorsements from 32BJ, the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association and RWDSU.

Suri Kasirer – State lobbying spending may be down 10 percent this year, but someone had to come out on top. And that would Suri Kasirer’s Kasirer LLC, which lead all firms through the first half of 2016 with $5.27 million in earnings. With the convictions of former leaders Dean Skelos and Sheldon Silver leading to a lot of turbulence among firms looking to spend big on lobbying, having a steady hand like Kasirer is a big advantage.

Helmut Norpoth – Apparently the new Nate Silver teaches at Stony Brook University. Norpoth, a political scientist who used a model based on candidates’ success in the primaries and his “pendulum of change” theory, correctly predicted Trump’s upset victory, the sixth straight presidential race he got right. Now if only he could predict exactly what a Trump presidency is going to look like.

Eric Schneiderman – Good news, Bills fans. Thanks to an agreement the state attorney general struck with the NFL, much like the team’s season, there’s now no floor on the amount you will pay for tickets. If you want to see the state’s only franchise play a meaningless game in a late December snowstorm, the league can’t tell you how much the privilege of that experience is worth. God bless the free market.

Carlo Scissura – The president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce was tapped this week to replace Richard Anderson as president of the New York Building Congress. Scissura has some big shoes to fill after Anderson’s 23 years as head of the organization. Luckily, some of the hardest work is over, now that a tentative 421-a deal has been brokered.

LOSERS

Joseph Corey & Joseph Ward – These two Mid-State Correctional Facility officials were suspended after questions about a raid for weapons during which inmates claim they were severely beaten and sexually assaulted in retaliation for a disputed injury to a guard. New York is not alone in dealing with issues of abuse in prisons, but sadly this is just the latest in the seemingly endless string of allegations of inmate abuse.

Gil Cygler – This de Blasio donor’s ticket to cruise past the city’s collections crews seems likely to expire. The Daily News revealed that Cygler, the former owner of a rental car company, has racked up nearly $200,000 in unpaid parking tickets and speed camera summonses. Meanwhile, the city’s Department of Finance said it’s examining how Cygler was able to rack up such a large sum in unpaid tickets.

Carmen Fariña – Under de Blasio’s reign of inclusiveness, the city Department of Education is making headlines because school officials still brand people “outsiders” and bar them from attending School Leadership Team meetings. The prohibition continued even though the city just lost its appeal and was forced to open such meetings to the public. The education commissioner’s failure to get schools to comply has attracted the attention of one of the litigants – Public Advocate Letitia James.

John Flanagan & Carl Heastie – The two legislative leaders are facing some angry members after a pay commission ultimately decided against state legislators’ first raise since 1999. Commissioners argued legislators must pass real ethics reform before a potential 47 percent raise should be granted, a request that doesn’t seem likely to happen before January. Lawmakers aren’t happy, but they may find their constituents aren’t very sympathetic.  

Kevin & Patrick Lynch –No comment from the PBA? NYPD Officer Kevin Lynch – the son of police union boss Pat Lynch – is on modified duty after running away after his fellow cop friend accidentally shot out a car window while showing off his new gun. Now the normally talkative president of the PBA is silent when his favorite officer needs it most. Aw, shoot!