Joe Lhota

WINNERS

Eric Adams — Okay, we admit it, this could really go to anyone left standing in the Brooklyn Borough President’s race, after heir apparent Carlo Scissura announced he was dropping out of the race to pursue a position as president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. Other bandied about candidates include Sen. Kevin Parker and even City Councilman Domenic Recchia, Jr., who’s also been mentioned as a possible comptroller candidate. Regardless, the race is wide open at this point. And for Senate Democrats like Adams, who are basically powerless as newborn kittens in the current Legislature, any position is better than the one they hold now.

Tony Avella – Some critics blasted his hydrofracking forum – not a hearing, mind you – as a media stunt, but it achieved his goal of keeping the contentious issue in the spotlight. On top of that, two potential and potentially strong challengers made it clear they wouldn’t run against him: fellow Democratic Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky, who was redrawn into his district, and Republican Frank Padavan, whom Avella ousted two years ago.

Greg Ball — Republican Sen. Greg Ball lost a primary challenger yesterday in the form of Steve Katz, the veterinarian Assemblyman who once faced criminal charges over illegally dumping a dog and separate charges over possible mistreatment of a vicious chihuahua. Ball’s only other primary candidate at this point is a man who shares the same surname with a woman at the heart of a massive Manhattan prostitution ring, which leaves Greg Ball, once thought to be the Senate’s biggest liability, looking like the safe choice for Republicans in his district’s primary.

Simcha Felder — In Hebrew, Simcha translates directly into “joy.” And Simcha Felder certainly had a lot of that during his first week as a Senate candidate, landing the endorsements of the Brooklyn Orthodox communities two most prominent current pols, Councilman David Greenfield and Assemblyman Dov Hikind. That could well box other big-name candidates out of the race, like ex-Councilman Noach Dear, and could convince everyone to simply get behind Felder. Maybe that’s why Felder can be so coy with which party he’ll causus with in Albany, and can play it sort of cute by keeping his city job while he runs.

John Sexton — For months, Mayor Bloomberg teased about the possibility of a second applied sciences campus to help spur the city’s developing tech sector. And this week, in a remarkably well managed roll out, he announced that New York University would join Cornell and Technion in the building their own city-supported engineering school. NYU President John Sexton, who was withstood a wave of discontent over the school’s expansion plans, now gets the chance to be on the winning side of the equation. Excelsior!

LOSERS

Courtney Burke – The problems at the state’s embattled Office for People with Developmental Disabilities were around long before Burke took over, but that isn’t shielding her from criticism lately – especially when word got out the Cuomo administration tried to get a critical OPWDD employee kicked off a legislative hearing she was set to speak at. Both eventually did show up, along with a gaggle of reporters, but Burke would only attribute the matter to a “breakdown in communications.”

Dan Cantor — The Working Families Party must of thought it was in the clear after a judge ordered the disbandment of its for profit campaign arm Data & Field Services. But amid the gear up for the 2012 elections and the attempted revival of Occupy Wall Street comes the news that a special prosector was reopening the case, which means more legal fees and more headaches for Executive Director Dan Cantor. He may want to occupy a therapists couch after this one … Or a bar stool.

Joe Lhota – Whether the governor is a car guy or not, the fact that he hasn’t ridden a subway since taking office won’t persuade anyone he cares much about the MTA. And that’s yet another challenge for the MTA chief, who has to keep the trains running and the stations from falling further into disrepair. He did help pave the way for another applied sciences center in New York City, but  the TWU raised hell about the sale, and tarnished the good deed.

To read the full list at City & State and to vote for the ultimate winner and loser of the week click here.

NJ Gov. Chris Christie topped this week's s "Losers" picks.

This week brought us the retirement of a venerable Assembly majority leader, compromises on living wage and NYU’s expansion plan, remembrances for the Titantic and a mixed bag for Grace Meng’s campaign team. It also showed that Friday the 13^th isn’t so unlucky for everyone: while it was a horror for our losers, it was a monster week for our winners.

Stuart Appelbaum – It’s not often that Kathy Wylde and the Partnership for New York City don’t get their way. But that was the case when Council Speaker Christine Quinn sided with labor over the Partnership on a proposed alteration that would have weakened the living wage bill, causing the Partnership to pull its support. Perhaps even more surprising is that RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum’s union was the one who pulled off the victory. Without as much political power as some of the city’s bigger unions, RWDSU often has to rely on Appelbaum’s very, very loud vocal chords to get things done, which brings its fair share of detractors. But you certainly have to give him credit one this one.

Charlie Rangel – The 81-year-old Congressman made a return to the public eye this week after a long back-ache-induced absence, and he was in fine form, holding court with reporters, teasing David Dinkins, high-fiving Keith Wright and attempting to quell suspicions that he is in too poor shape to run against his first real challenger in years, State Sen. Adriano Espaillat. He largely succeeded and spoke graciously of his challenger, while political insiders noted the presence at his presser of key Dominican-American ally Assemblyman Guillermo Linares, who is officially “still deciding” whether to support Rangel or not, but surely is not so opposed to the idea that he would absent himself from Rangel’s public event.

Eric Schneiderman – It takes guts to pick up a political time-bomb like stop-and-frisk and say to the world, “Let’s see what makes this thing tick.” That’s what Attorney General Eric Schneiderman did this week in announcing his plan to review the controversial NYPD policy. And seeing as how there’s a good chance Ray Kelly will stay on as commissioner beyond Bloomberg’s time in office, it’s not like Schneiderman is doing this flippantly. In addition, the AG opened an office to review wrongful convictions, and busted a shady Brooklyn charter school operator. Class dismissed!

Nathan Smith – Grace Meng’s congressional campaign had a tough start with labor, with her Democratic opponents landing all the labor support. But things seem to be turning around, as Meng got the Hotel Trades Council this week and is set to get the backing of UFCW Local 1500 as well. We put Nathan Smith, the Red Horse Strategies operative who is in charge of lining up support for Meng, on the losers list a couple weeks ago when Meng’s campaign was struggling with labor, so it’s only fair that he’s now a Winner. And beyond the labor world, Meng has racked up a slew of support from elected officials, though the Queens Democratic Party nod also certainly doesn’t hurt there.

To see this full list of this week’s political winners and losers click here.

Tom DiNapoli – Conservative critics like to portray State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli as a puppet for big labor, a pawn of the unions that line his campaign coffers. This week, DiNapoli took two important steps to squash those rumors. First, he appointed former Rockefeller Institute deputy director Bob Ward as his deputy for budget policy. Ward is a known budget wonk whose fiscal analysis can run conservative, at least as far as the unions are concerned. Second, DiNapoli released a report that found that even as overtime costs by state workers was trending down, three state agencies were still raking in the lion’s share. Unions like their overtime, but DiNapoli proves that he likes saving taxpayer dollars even more.

Kirsten Gillibrand – Solid poll numbers and a bulging campaign account leave Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand sitting pretty while her three Republican rivals duke it out for recognition and cash. Gillibrand’s solid approval rating among voters may be buoyed by the current lack of a visible campaign against her, which will likely change once primary voters chose her opponent in June, but she still has plenty of reasons to smile. And senator? That $23 we found for you? You’re welcome.

Michael Grimm – Those New York Times exposé into the Staten Island pol’s campaign funds? Yesterday’s news. Grimm’s campaign has only been heating up since then, as he’s racked up endorsements from unions, apparently avoided a challenge from former Rep. Mike McMahon and still has a huge cash advantage over the upstart Democratic challenger, Mark Murphy. And this week he landed the Conservative Party nod, which will go nicely with the Independence and Republican party lines come election day.

To find out who else made City & State’s winners list for this week click here.

The state got an early budget, Lew Fidler found some more votes and Andrew Cuomo’s secret Miami vacation was exposed — until it wasn’t. It was a week of hoodie protests, empty mansions and dog waste underfoot. In other words, your standard week for New York politics. Here’s who’s up and who’s down.

WINNERS

Andrew Cuomo – If an on-time budget was a rare sight inAlbany, an early budget was the equivalent of a pig piloting a Sopwith Camel. So kudos to the governor for making believe in miracles. And in the end, he got most of the things he wanted: contract approvals that can bypass the comptroller’s pre-audit function, limited authority to move money around without legislative approval, a fully funded MTA and a chunk of change for competitive education grants. But his most audacious magic trick of all? MakingAlbanyboring again. Well played, sir.

Dan Garodnick – The councilman’s proposal to give the Civilian Complaint Review Board oversight over the NYPD became a reality this week, giving Garodnick a victory amid the uproar over the department’s stop-and-frisk policy, its counterterrorism surveillance and a string of scandals. Things are also looking good for Garodnick’s likely run for New York City Comptroller, with $1 million in the bank and the embattled incumbent John Liu looking weak but reportedly vowing not to run for re-election to his old office.

Omar Hernandez – A guy named Omar became the mayor at City Hall last week – at least on Foursquare. Hernandez, an IT worker, briefly supplanted Mayor Michael Bloomberg as “mayor” after regularly checking in at City Hall on the location-based social networking site. Bloomberg has since regained the title, and as he fights off other potential social media usurpers he at least won’t even have to worry about pesky details like term limits.

Bob Master – You win some, you lose some, but rarely do you win in as swift a fashion as CWA political director Bob Master did this week. He called for the removal of a provision in the budget that would preempt regulation of internet phones, and by golly, it got removed. He won the fight without a single shot being fired. Some said it was Cuomo trying to make up for Tier VI with the unions, but whatever the reason, Master mastered the situation.

To see the rest of City & States “Winners and Losers” list click here.