Winners & Losers
This week’s biggest Winners & Losers
Who’s up and who’s down this week?
Remember Christopher Columbus? The explorer who arrived to Haiti, an island with a population of about 3 million Taíno people, in 1492? Fifty years after his first voyage, according to Jill Lepore’s “These Truths,” 500 indigenous people remained. Soon after landing, he wrote to Ferdinand and Isabella, monarchs of Spain: “with 50 men all of them could be held in subjection and can be made to do whatever one might wish.” Anyway, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s down to continue marching in the Columbus Day Parade honoring that guy, and her opponent Lee Zeldin’s on board too.
Philip Banks -
Kickboxing crime, on company time? One of Eric Adams deputy mayors is decidedly behind the scenes, staying out of the spotlight since he was an unindicted co-conspirator in a corruption case. But reporting on his public schedules by The City suggests that Banks is a power player in the administration, all but overseeing the police department, even if that’s not officially his role. How close is he with the NYPD? One schedule item looks like he may have taken a kickboxing class with police chiefs.
Julie Menin -
Good news for small business owners. Thanks to a measure sponsored by New York City Council Member Julie Menin, anyone wanting to roll out their own business will have an easier time doing so going forward. The Council gave their stamp of approval to Menin’s legislation, known as the “One-Stop Shop Business Portal,'' that will bring all the crucial documentation and application information under a single web portal. Afterall, operating a business is already hard enough!
James Tebele -
In yet another episode of My Parents are Rich and Well Connected, James Tebele, the 21-year-old son of Digital Gadgets founder and CEO Charlie Tebele, was revealed to have had an internship with the governor’s campaign, which then became a full time position as campaign “finance associate.” Tebele’s dad and his company have been caught in the middle of the COVID-19 test kit scandal after it was revealed that the Tebele family had been handsomely donating to the Hochul campaign right before the state contracted them to supply the test kits. Big win for James, but how will his dad fare?
Laura Kelly -
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s week was upended after New York City Mayor Eric Adams roasted her state unprovoked. “Kansas doesn't have a brand,” Adams said while laughing and boasting about New York City’s brand following his recent trip to Puerto Rico. “When you go there, okay, you're from Kansas. But New York has a brand,” Adams added. Kelly, along with fellow spirited mid-westerners, was left to defend her state. In a statement, the governor declared Kansas the “best state in America” and welcomed anyone to visit.
Louis Molina -
Eric Adams’ embattled jails commissioner came under a fresh wave of scrutiny this week, accused of pushing for the release a dying man in order to lower the death count on Rikers Island, facing down the likelihood of the City Council passing a bill to ban solitary confinement and being called to answer for shocking photos of conditions inside the chaotic facility he runs. Molina is currently on a November deadline to implement reforms at Rikers to avoid a judge installing a federal receiver, and this week, things weren’t looking up in the jail system.
Lee Zeldin -
It’s tough running as a Republican in New York, we get it. A statewide race is an uphill battle, both ways, in the snow. Polling that shows you’re down by 17 percentage points, like the new poll out from Siena College, is a hard blow nonetheless. But Rep. Lee Zeldin didn’t just dispute the numbers, he offered his own. His campaign released its own internal poll that showed he was only six points behind Hochul. Which just didn’t really feel like quite the brag he was hoping for. Not only does his own polling still show him behind, it even has him faring worse than a favorable outside poll from weeks ago.