Personality
This week’s biggest Winners & Losers
Who’s up and who’s down this week?
It’s been a jam-packed week in Albany as lawmakers try to cram a ton of legislating into the last week of session before they head home for the summer. They keep blaming it on the late budget, but here’s a radical idea: What if Albany was in session for more than half the year? Any takers? The nays have it – summer is here. Meanwhile, we here at City & State are enjoying a few things we didn’t know we needed until we saw them: Dua Lipa and Callum Turner’s wedding photos and Nina Schwalbe’s “what’s in my bag” video. Oh, and how could we forget? GO KNICKS!!
Mike Gianaris -
State Senate Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris usually gets his way. And he’s now taking his final victory lap in Albany as the mastermind behind the constitutional amendment to tweak the state’s redistricting process (yet again). The retiring state leader led the mid-decade redistricting effort at the behest of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and the proposal will likely go before voters in 2027. But Gianaris shouldn’t celebrate just yet; voters rejected the last redistricting amendment he championed in 2021.
Caroline Attardo Genco -
Hopefully, Caroline Attardo Genco didn’t lose her taste for wings, beef on weck and sponge candy while in the land of clam chowder and baked beans. Genco – a Buffalo native, microbiologist and Tufts University provost – is the first woman appointed president of the University at Buffalo. Genco is the 16th leader in UB’s 180-year history, the first being former President Millard Fillmore. Genco, who starts August 10, immediately plunged into her new job with a whirlwind three days in Buffalo.
Janette Sadik-Khan & Melanie Hartzog -
Forget the Bill de Blasio-to-Zohran Mamdani pipeline – there’s a new Michael Bloomberg-to-Mamdani pipeline opening up at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Mamdani tapped two new appointees to the MTA Board: Janette Sadik-Khan, Bloomberg’s former transportation commissioner, and Melanie Hartzog, who also worked in the Bloomberg administration before serving as a deputy mayor and budget director under de Blasio.
Álvaro López -
The now reworked cultural reception set to precede the Puerto Rican Day Parade at Gracie Mansion caused quite a stir when Office of Mass Engagement staffer Álvaro López sent an email to community members announcing the mayor was canceling the traditional invite-only reception to spend more time with “working class Puerto Ricans” at the parade. City Hall was quick to disavow the sentiment and throw López under the (fast and free) bus, and the Post was glad to lambast him as a mouthpiece for the mayor’s “new propaganda office.”
George Santos -
After being ousted from Congress by his own party and getting his prison sentence commuted by the president, famous fraudster George Santos is in the news again for – surprise! – more sketchy activities. He’s under investigation for alleged insider trading on the prediction market Kalshi, where he bet on his own attendance at Trump’s State of the Union address. Maybe this time, Santos can finally get that full presidential pardon. No matter what happens, the next episode of his podcast is sure to be killer.
Deborah Glick -
Unfortunately for retiring Assembly Member Deborah Glick, this isn’t the year her packaging reduction legislation will make it over the finish line in her chamber. As lawmakers wrap up the legislative session, the high-profile bill that has dominated end-of-session conversations for several years is even further from approval than in the past. This time around, the state Senate didn’t even pass it, which the upper chamber has done twice before. It’ll be up to another lawmaker to advance Glick’s fight next year.