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What to watch for this week in New York politics:

Tuesday marks three weeks until Election Day and Wednesday night the third and final Presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is scheduled to occur. Don't forget, a variety of key New York congressional and state legislative races are also in the home stretch -- November 8 is Election Day.

Mayor Bill de Blasio did more campaigning for Clinton this weekend, in Dayton, Ohio. The mayor traveled there after giving remarks at the funeral for Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson -- many other New York elected officials, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo, also paid their respects to Thompson and his loved ones on Saturday. 

On Sunday, activists, advocates, and a variety of New York elected officials gathered at City Hall as Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood of New York City began to "celebrate turning 100 Years Strong with a press conference to commemorate the opening of the first clinic by Margaret Sanger in 1916 in Brooklyn." Participating public officials included First Lady Chirlane McCray; Comptroller Scott Stringer; City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito; Public Advocate Tish James; Attorney General Eric Schneiderman; and others.

For this week, there's a great deal happening all over the city, with many events to be aware of -- see our day-by-day rundown below.

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The run of the week in detail:

Monday
The New York State Board of Regents will hold its monthly meeting on Monday and Tuesday.

Mayor de Blasio is participating in three events Monday, all of which are closed to the press: according to his public schedule, he "will deliver remarks at the 2016 NYSNA Biennial Conference," then "deliver remarks at a reception celebrating the life of Elizabeth Rohatyn," and, "In the evening, the Mayor and First Lady will host a dinner to benefit the Gracie Mansion Conservancy."

At noon on Monday at City Hall, "Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and Captain Mark Kelly, the Co-Founders of the gun violence prevention organization Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC, will join Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, State Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh, and other city and state leaders for a press conference as part of Congresswoman Giffords’ and Captain Kelly’s 2016 Vocal Majority Tour, a 14-state, 42-day national bus tour that stretches until Election Day." The event "will focus on urging the vocal majority of New Yorkers who support responsible change to help keep guns out of the wrong to vote to stop gun violence in this election." Also set to participate are Comptroller Scott Stringer; First Lady of New York City Chirlane McCray; Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance; State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins; Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer; and other local elected officials and leaders.

The NYC Planning Commission will hold a Special Meeting and Review Session at 1 p.m. Monday.

On Monday, Governor Cuomo will headline a fundraiser for State Senator Todd Kaminsky, who is running for re-election, according to Politico New York.

At 6 p.m. Monday, State Senator Liz Krueger will hold a free screening of “Connie Cook: A Documentary.” This documentary focuses on a Republican Assemblymember who helped legalize abortion in New York. After the screening, there will be “a discussion with the film’s director, Sue Perlgut, and guests from prominent women’s rights groups about what Connie’s message means for us today.”

At 6:30 p.m. Monday, New America, ProPublica, and Discovery will sponsor “a discussion on the commodification of water and what’s at stake for a secure water supply, secure economy, and secure environment.”

Tuesday
Tuesday marks three weeks until Election Day.

At 8 a.m. Tuesday, the Center for an Urban Future will hold a “policy symposium on the future of middle income jobs in New York City.” This event will be held at Civic Hall and feature Maria Torres-Springer (President and CEO, New York City Economic Development Corporation), John Alschuler (Chairman, HR&A Advisors), Colvin Grannum (President, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corp.), Andrew Kimball (CEO, Industry City), and Julie Samuels (Executive Director, Tech:NYC).

On Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. "Mayor de Blasio will deliver remarks at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new office building, One Vanderbilt Avenue, which will include $220 million in local transit upgrades." At 4 p.m., "the Mayor will hold public hearings for, and sign, seven pieces of legislation into law – Intros. 899-A, 1014-A, 1064-A, 1144-A, 1183-A, in relation to increasing reporting and transparency around programs and services for inmates; and Intros. 1277-A and 642-A, in relation to aligning the City of New York’s energy code with recent amendments to the 2016 New York state energy code and ratio of biodiesel in heating oil, respectively."

At 1 p.m. Tuesday, the New York State Commission on Legislative, Judicial, and Executive Compensation will hold a public hearing and meeting at NYU Law School.

At 6 p.m. Tuesday, the Brennan Center for Justice will host a book talk with former New York City Public Advocate Mark Green. Green wrote Bright, Infinite Future: A Generational Memoir on the Progressive Rise, which discusses “how tidal trends from the ’60s to ’16 — both political and demographic — will affect the outcome of this election.” The event is co-sponsored by the Brennan Center, Citizens Union, Common Cause New York, and New York Public Interest Research Group.

At 6 p.m. Tuesday, the Brennan Center for Justice will hold a book talk with MSNBC’s Zachary Roth on the quieting of voices of people of color, students, and other disadvantaged groups through means such as gerrymandering and Supreme Court Decisions.

On Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., City & State NY will host its annual “40 Under 40” awards, given to “exceptional individuals working in NYC government, advocacy, media, and more” (list of honorees). New York City Council Member Dan Garodnick will give opening remarks.

Wednesday
At the City Council on Wednesday:

• The Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises will meet at 9:30 a.m.
• The Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services will meet at 10 a.m.
• The Subcommittee on Landmarks, Siting, and Maritime Uses will meet at 11 a.m.
• The Committee on Education will meet at 1 p.m. for oversight on bullying, harassment, and discrimination in the public schools; there will be a particular focus on LGBT students and other vulnerable students.
• The Committee on Environmental Protection will meet at 1 p.m. to discuss “a Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to the sale of nonwoven disposable products.”
• The Subcommittee on Planning, Dispositions, and Concessions will meet at 1 p.m.

At 8 a.m. Wednesday, Crain’s New York Business will hold an entertainment summit which discusses a recent tax break and its potential impacts for the film and television industries. Former United States Senator Chris Dodd will deliver the opening keynote address. Julie Menin, Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, will be among those participating in the panel discussion.

The NYC Planning Commission will hold a Public Meeting at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

At 10 a.m. Wednesday, Cornell Tech will hold a press briefing to discuss the progress on the institution’s new campus on Roosevelt Island. This event will be held at Cornell Tech at the Google Building. Founding Dean Dan Huttenlocher and several others will participate.

At noon Wednesday, the Manhattan Institute will host Barry Latzer, Professor Emeritus at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the CUNY Graduate Center, to talk about the rise and fall of violent crime in the United States, and how America can prevent a continuation in the 2015 rise in violent crimes.

At noon Wednesday, the New York City Bar will have a Public Affairs Luncheon on “Money, Politics, and Public Policy.” Former New York State Assemblymember G. Oliver Koppell will discuss “the dominance of fundraising in politics and how that affects the political arena.”

At 3 p.m. Wednesday, the Center for Community and Ethnic Media at CUNY Journalism School will hold a Q&A session with Steven Banks, the Commissioner of the NYC Department of Social Services. NY1’s and CUNY J-School’s Errol Louis will moderate.

On Wednesday at 3:30 p.m., "thousands of teachers will rally in Foley Square to call on Mayor Bill de Blasio to support growing the charter sector to 200,000 students by 2020," per Families for Excellent Schools.

At 4 p.m. Wednesday, the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute will hold “Beyond the Kale: Urban Agriculture and Social Justice Activism in New York City.”

On Wednesday at 6 p.m., NAACP President and CEO Cornell Brooks will speak at NYU. This event will be a “conversation on issues including voting rights, Black Lives Matter, youth and education, and how leaders can work across public and private sectors to solve society’s problems.”

A public meeting of the NYC Panel for Educational Policy will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the Michael J. Petrides School on Staten Island.

The third and final Presidential Debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is scheduled for 9 p.m. Wednesday. This debate will be hosted by the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and it will be moderated by Chris Wallace of Fox News.

Thursday
At the City Council on Thursday:

• The Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations will meet at 10 a.m. to discuss oversight of Percent for Art, and to discuss three amendments to the New York City Charter.
• The Committee on Health will meet at 10 a.m. to discuss “a Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to prohibiting the display of wild or exotic animals for public entertainment or amusement.”
• The Committee on Recovery and Resiliency will meet at 10 a.m. to discuss oversight on the finances of the Build it Back Program.
• The Committee on Land Use will meet at 11 a.m.
• The Committee on Rules, Privileges, and Elections will meet at 1 p.m. to get advice and consent for the appointment of someone to the New York City Art Commission.
• The Committee on Parks and Recreation will meet at 1 p.m. to discuss three proposed laws related to tree maintenance and tree removal.
• The Committee on Economic Development will meet at 1 p.m. to discuss oversight on “the economic impact of the Hunts Point Cooperative Market.” The committee will also discuss “a Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring the department of small business services to report violations concerning public wholesale markets.”

On Thursday at 8 a.m., former New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn will speak at the Association for a Better New York. She will speak about some of the recent work she has done at Women in Need (WIN), where she is President and CEO.

At 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Lower Manhattan HQ will host a breakfast panel discussion on “Women’s Rights in Policy and Politics.” The event will be moderated by Jessica Lappin (Alliance for Downtown NY President), and the panelists are Congressional Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, Brette McSweeney (Executive Director of Eleanor’s Legacy), and Vivien Labaton (Co-founder of the Make it Work Campaign).

The NYC Campaign Finance Board will have a board meeting at 10 a.m. on Thursday.

On Thursday, the 71st Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner will be held at the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan. Presidential Candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will both be at this dinner. The Mayor, Governor, and other current and former elected officials usually attend.

Friday and the Weekend
At the City Council on Friday:

• The Committee on Public Safety will meet at 10 a.m. to examine the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board.
• The Committee on Immigration will meet at 10 a.m. for oversight of “coordinating multi-agency support for immigrant families.”

Starting at 8 a.m. on Friday, City & State NY and NYU’s Robert Wagner Graduate School of Public Service will co-host “Government Ethics: A New Study.” The goal of this conference is to “explore how public officials, corporations, attorneys, lobbyists, nonprofits, and the public can work to create incentives, policies and programs that help with navigating through the ethical dilemmas and the conflicts of interest that cause problems in our interactions with state and city government.” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. and former New York Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch will be among the speakers at this conference.

"Councilman Eric Ulrich is organizing a public demonstration on the steps of City Hall to protest Mayor de Blasio's failed homeless policies. The protest will take place Friday, October 21, at 10:00 am. Community leaders and other elected officials are invited to attend."

At noon Friday, the Manhattan Institute will have Edward Coward, the Co-founder of Bain Capital, discuss “The Upside Of Inequality: How Good Intentions Undermine The Middle Class.”

***
Have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics? E-mail Gotham Gazette executive editor Ben Max any time: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (please use "For Week Ahead" as email subject).

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by Brendan Birth and Ben Max
@GothamGazette

Comptroller DiNapoli (photo: @NYSComptroller)

Comptroller Tom Dinapoli is not interested in pointing fingers at any of his fellow elected officials when it comes to the massive scheme alleged to have corrupted major state economic development programs under the noses of Governor Andrew Cuomo and state legislators.

In the wake of corruption charges brought against nine individuals by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, DiNapoli was given multiple opportunities Friday during a radio interview, but he declined to criticize either Cuomo or the Legislature. Speaking with host Susan Arbetter on The Capitol Pressroom, DiNapoli instead called for greater oversight through his office of the large state contracts that had been awarded by SUNY Polytechnic and two affiliated nonprofits as part of Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion program and other state efforts to boost the economies of central and western New York.

Calling the bribery and bid-rigging allegations “very troubling,” DiNapoli said that the situation “seems to speak to a systemic failure, as to not having adequate checks and balances.” But asked by Arbetter if Cuomo helped create the system that was so ripe for abuse, DiNapoli demurred. After pausing and searching for his words, DiNapoli said, ”I don’t know that it’s productive to, you know, finger-point at the governor.”

The comptroller repeatedly said that the system lacked oversight and accountability, but excused the mindset behind its creation, saying that communities needed help and that he understood the desire for efficiency in moving money to projects meant to stimulate local economies that had not recovered from the Great Recession. His office, he said, is designed to approve contracts and is incorrectly known for slowing down the process -- when his office does slow something down, DiNapoli said, it is for good reason.

In September, Bharara brought charges against former Cuomo aides, prominent developers who were generous Cuomo campaign donors, and the now former head of SUNY Poly, Alain Kaloyeros, on whom Cuomo heaped praise and responsibility over years.

When Arbetter pressed DiNapoli on Cuomo and the Legislature enabling SUNY Poly and the system that appears to have been abused by what the comptroller called “a web” of stakeholders, DiNapoli again struggled to find his answer, then said, “From my perspective there was not adequate oversight in the way the process was set up, both with SUNY Poly and with the use of Fuller Road or Fort Schuyler, these nonprofits that were set up.” He pointed to the fact that the Comptroller’s oversight of construction contracts was diminished in 2011 and called for it to be restored.

Later in the interview, Arbetter asked DiNapoli why the Legislature, which he was once part of as an Assembly member, had been so quiet about the questionable system at play. DiNapoli began answering by saying officials were trying to help downtrodden communities, that there was consensus “we need to do more.”

“There is a hopeful expectation that it’s all going to be handled in the right way,” DiNapoli said of the mindset when a key priority is established by state government. Arbetter asked, “So lawmakers don’t want to get in the way?” To which DiNapoli said, “Well, unless there’s a reason to. In fairness, you did have the hearing that the economic development committee had in the Assembly and some fireworks came out of that.”

DiNapoli was referring to a recent hearing that came well after media reports of the federal investigation into the Buffalo Billion and years after flags were raised by watchdogs about the system at hand.

After Arbetter pushed back further, DiNapoli conceded, “Well, I think clearly that there’s more that could have been done, more questions asked...Clearly the lesson of this is that you can’t just trust that it’s all going to be handled in the right way.”

“I think the Legislature does have to play a more effective role in oversight,” DiNapoli said. DiNapoli's office did not provide further comment when asked on Sunday to clarify why the comptroller was hesitant to more directly hold anyone accountable.

When Cuomo and the Legislature stripped power from the Comptroller in 2011, they left the independent auditor’s office on the sidelines as hundreds of millions of tax dollars flowed to developers and other corporations through SUNY Poly. It was this cash flow, the opaque contracting process, and the state’s loose campaign finance laws that helped allow former Cuomo aides Joseph Percoco and Todd Howe to manipulate the system for their means, according to Bharara’s allegations.

While DiNapoli has called for restoration of all contract vetting powers before, he, like legislative leaders, has largely been quiet as Cuomo and others have revved up economic development programming through a system some watchdogs have long warned can too easily be taken advantage of by nefarious actors.

A careful, serious elected official who is well-regarded by many across the state, DiNapoli, a Democrat like Cuomo, is not one to throw verbal bombs or pursue headlines. Not necessarily media shy, DiNapoli is, however, inclined to let his audit and contract oversight work do the talking.

Recently, DiNapoli was on the receiving end of Cuomo vitriol when the comptroller released audits of other Cuomo economic stimulus programs, calling into question their efficacy. In turn, Cuomo called audits “opinion” and said that DiNapoli needed to “educate himself,” referring to him as “the Assemblymember” in an apparent effort to undermine him further.

DiNapoli responded in typical fashion -- by downplaying conflict and pointing to the content rather than escalating the back-and-forth. An astute headline from Politico New York read, “Cuomo thunders, and DiNapoli shrugs.” It is unsurprising that DiNapoli took the path he did on Arbetter’s show, pointing toward the future and needed changes, rather than laying direct blame with the governor or legislative leaders for past mistakes.

In May, DiNapoli did announce a series of proposed “reforms to state fiscal practices” that he led with a call for restrictions on “‘backdoor spending’ by public authorities” and requirements for “more comprehensive public authority disclosure.” In a press release, DiNapoli’s office said that “public authorities are not subject to the same checks and balances that apply to state agencies, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars being spent annually with limited oversight.”

The proposals also came after news reports of the federal investigation into Cuomo’s economic development programming.

Earlier in May, DiNapoli had released his analysis of the recently-passed state budget for Fiscal Year 2017. His office wrote, “the budget expands on actions in recent years that have blurred both fiscal and operational distinctions among state agencies and public authorities.”

Cuomo paid DiNapoli's May suggestions and analysis little public mind, but did announce plans for procurement reform in the wake of the September charges brought by Bharara. The day after the U.S. attorney outlined the criminal complaint, Cuomo said in Buffalo that the revitalization of the city would not miss a beat, but that he was immediately moving power from SUNY Poly to the Empire State Development Corp. Cuomo also said that he had received recommendations from a private investigator he had hired and that he was accepting all of them -- but he declined to make them public.

On Thursday budget and government watchdog groups called on state legislative leaders to “hold emergency oversight hearings on the allegations by the U.S. Attorney of the largest bid-rigging scandals in state history.” A coalition including Reinvent Albany, Citizens Union, NYPIRG, Citizens Budget Commission, and others said that the public deserves more information about how “more than a billion dollars in state contracts were rigged and what reforms will be implemented to address this huge and systemic failure.”

Asked by Arbetter about the call for such hearings, DiNapoli said no one should rush to do anything, that it is important for all the best minds to get together and figure out the path ahead. Noting that state legislators are focused on their impending elections next month, he said that if they want to hold hearings toward the end of the year, that would be “their prerogative.”

The watchdog groups on Thursday also laid out “five clean contracting reforms” including that all state funds be awarded through “competitive and transparent contracting” and empowering “the comptroller to review and approve all state contracts over $250k.” Additionally, they called on the state to enact “pay to play” laws as are found in 19 states and New York City that would limit what entities with state business can donate to political campaigns.

DiNapoli appears to be largely on the same page. The comptroller has not been aggressive about publicly pushing his reforms, though -- while he gave a speech in May to outline his proposals, he has not, for example, called a press conference to put more public pressure on lawmakers to act.

When asked by Arbetter what he could have done differently to protect against the type of corruption alleged by Bharara, DiNapoli said he could have been more aggressive, but focused more on his “limited authority.”

“I would hope the Legislature would look at our role, restore what’s been taken away...perhaps some areas where our role can be strengthened,” he said. When Arbetter asked if he’s going to be more aggressive, DiNapoli paused and said, “We will certainly be more vigilant.”

Note: Gotham Gazette is an independent publication of Citizens Union Foundation, sister organization of Citizens Union.

Gov. Cuomo (photo: Don Pollard/Governor's Office)

Have an issue you want addressed in Albany? Perhaps you’d like the state to legalize your new multi-million dollar venture into the “sharing economy” -- one that terrifies existing business interests and labor unions; maybe you want to change the protections offered by New York’s civil rights laws; or maybe you want in on the hundreds of millions of dollars the state allocates to economic development programs. No matter the issue, you’re going to want Governor Andrew Cuomo, the most powerful person in New York, on your side.

Cuomo, a Democrat known to get his way in Albany, is revered by many for being able to dictate terms to the state Legislature on controversial issues and accomplishing what could not be accomplished by others, once he sets his mind to it.

But while the governor sometimes has his own pet issues that he pushes with intensity, he often doesn’t come along easily on a cause. And if campaign finance filings are any indication, Cuomo doesn’t often move without significant campaign donations either before or after the fact. A lot of the time the notoriously prickly governor, whose administration has been known for its “get along or kill” approach, won’t get behind an issue without a fight. But taking Cuomo on in any public way comes with serious risk and can have major consequences.

Those, whether deep-pocketed or not, interested in seeing the governor support an issue he is not immediately draw to must wrestle with the best approach to lobbying Cuomo.

As government is a continuous stream of policy and program decisions, there are no shortage of interested parties pushing their causes, and the governor often has the final word, legislators, labor groups, lobbyists, and others often must decide what combination of tactics is best to convince Cuomo to back a proposal.

Gotham Gazette spoke to a number of lobbyists and heads of issue-focused campaigns about what a successful lobbying effort needs in order to get the right kind of attention from Cuomo.

As this article is published, public education advocates are finishing a walk from New York City to Albany to push for school funding and the governor continues to weigh whether to sign a bill that could crush Airbnb in the state. These are just two examples of current issues where people are trying put pressure on the governor to act. For the former, teachers-union-backed advocates have jousted with Cuomo to the point of hostility. On the latter, those who want to see Cuomo sign the bill regulated Airbnb have mostly left him alone publicly, while Airbnb has more outwardly sought to make its case for a veto.

Looking ahead to 2017, there will be no shortage of issues where interested parties will be trying to convince the governor and the Legislature to act one way or another, from upstate Uber legalization to the cap on charter schools and much more.

To court just about any elected official, you need at least one of: a ground game, as in grassroots supporters willing to demonstrate publicly and able to grab media attention, or at least the appearance of one; a money game, as in the ability to show that your cause has the attention of large campaign donors; and a behind-the-scenes game, as in the ability to influence insiders, which many include consistent, even constant, lobbying and contact with key administration officials. The ground game and the money game usually indicate, to varying degrees, that you have some semblance of solid rationale to your proposal.

Along with these basics, lobbyists have to consider the nuances of Gov. Cuomo’s personality and long history in politics. Known as a master strategist, Cuomo is also seen as flexible on many of his political stances because he, like many governors, tries to combine being socially liberal and fiscally conservative. The key with Cuomo is often showing him how the proposal fits his image and gives him a chance to be big and bold. Cuomo is not shy about wanting to be first on issues.

“People have to be very sensitive when they deal with the administration,” said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group, which often pushes the administration on reform. “They have to be very careful not to come off as a threat to the administration because the administration is a unitary organization. The governor deals with politics and policy directly, in a way that is unseen in other states. When a group works with him he likes it and when groups work against him, he hates it.”

Cuomo likes, of course, to move on things when he’s ready to, and when they make sense for him politically and for the state generally. He is keenly aware of his political standing among key constituencies and of what it takes to remain in power.

There’s a long line of lobbyists willing to lament off the record about being “put in the penalty box” by the administration for one public statement or another: a quote that was too sharp, a press release that was too pointed. For some the penalty is being denied access to the administration for a period of time; for others penalties mount and they end up with an outright ban. “It's as though you no longer exist to them,” one lobbyist told Gotham Gazette. “They forget your name and encourage everyone else to do the same.”*

With six years as New York’s chief executive, it's become clear to a number of lobbyists that the best way to get Cuomo onboard with a policy proposal is to present a campaign that has everything: grassroots supporters who can promote an issue and also make life miserable for the opposition; big-money donors who can support major campaign efforts; and a lobbying apparatus that works behind the scenes to sway legislators.

“If you are going to confront this Governor and any Governor, really, you have to show public opinion is with you,” said Horner. “And if the donor class is upset it can also move the administration. Put both together and you’ve got something.”

Cuomo has made his name as Governor by joining with these type of efforts, from marriage equality to the minimum wage. Including several recent examples, the governor does appear susceptible to loud outcry by a group of advocates, whether it is on police killings of unarmed civilians, allocating affordable housing funds, or a moratorium on fracking.

“The most successful lobbying efforts in New York combine grassroots supporters with major donors,” said John Kaehny, executive director of Reinvent Albany, also a government reform group.

When Cuomo ran for Governor in 2010, he was far from an outspoken supporter of marriage equality, but early in his term it became clear that several major donors were interested in advancing the policy behind the scenes, while activist groups were more than willing to press the issue publicly. Essentially, it would also give Cuomo a chance to make big, national news.

A vote on marriage equality had failed by inches under Gov. David Paterson and advocates weren’t ready to give up. Cuomo initially feared the same kind of embarrassing result that befell Paterson -- left standing on the state Senate floor with dissapointed legislators.

According to two sources involved in the campaign, Cuomo saw the opportunity to lead on a national issue while endearing himself to his liberal base at the same time he was angering other parts of that base by advancing fiscally conservative measures.

When Cuomo decides he wants to accomplish something - no matter how much cajoling it takes to get him there - he goes after his goal aggressively.

The Cuomo administration and a number of wealthy donors, including hedge fund managers Dan Loeb and Cliff Asness, quickly began the work of wooing Senate Republicans to their side, and by June 24, 2011 Cuomo had the votes he needed to pass marriage equality in New York. The administration monitored the floor vote in the Senate obsessively, interjecting at times to ensure Senate Republicans would not renege on their promise to bring the bill to a vote and to show sensitivity to the Republican members who had made what would be a career-ending decision to vote for it.

The proceedings were so tightly choreographed that most Senate Democrats who supported the bill were not allowed to speak about it. When the final votes were cast Cuomo took to the airwaves to claim credit for a successful campaign that a year before he seemed uninterested in.

Donations from grateful supporters of marriage equality swept into Cuomo’s campaign coffers before and after the vote. The Empire State Pride Agenda gave Cuomo $60,000 in May 2011; Loeb gave Cuomo $19,367 in 2012; and a number of marriage equality supporters organized high-dollar fundraisers for the governor.

The governor has repeated these kind of issue campaign takeovers in years since, showcasing the power of his elected position with the virtually unmatched will and desire for big accomplishments possessed by the officeholder.

“I got the sense that within the right national political moment anything is possible with the governor,” one veteran social justice advocate told Gotham Gazette of Cuomo. “It is on the table as long as he is the first to do something.”*

That feeling was reinforced in 2015 when Cuomo suddenly paired with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) “Fight for $15” to champion a minimum wage increase he had once dismissed as fantasy. Cuomo was working alongside some of his biggest critics from the left, like Michael Kink and Citizen Action and other Working Families Party members, while touring the state in a recreational vehicle paid for by unions. The governor, who at times in the past was the target of angry Fight for $15 rallies, was now attending them and hosting streaming video of them on his website.

Labor groups poured nearly $2 million into the Mario Cuomo Campaign For Economic Justice - most of the cash from SEIU and its various committees and affiliates.

SEIU is also a consistent donor to Cuomo’s reelection campaign and the campaigns of his allies.

The Fight for $15 had gotten the governor on board after showing a groundswell on the issue, with the power of active and deep-pocketed labor unions, and in the wake of an embarrassing challenge from the governor’s left in his 2014 re-election. Big name Democrats were also taking up the issue and becoming heroes to significant blocs of Democratic voters.

While large public campaigns that involve the governor have clearly been effective, perhaps the most impactful lobbying of Cuomo is done almost completely out of public eye.

Multiple lobbyists point to Cuomo’s relationships with 1199-SEIU, the powerful hospital workers union, and Jennifer Cunningham of the firm SKD Knickerbocker as ideal arrangements for an issue-focused organization and a lobbyist looking to move their agendas in New York.

Cunningham has been labeled “The Most Powerful Woman in Albany” and was an adviser to Cuomo during his early years as Governor. Cunningham and 1199 annihilated Paterson’s ambitions to run for election in 2010, unleashing a brutal $1 million a week advertising campaign in response to his proposed $3.5 billion cut to the state’s Medicaid program.

Cunningham declined to comment or be interviewed for this article.

Cuomo has handled the union much differently than many others, giving it a seat at the table when cuts are proposed and rarely, if ever, having any public conflict with it.

“They are the most powerful lobbying force in the state,” marveled one lobbyist. “They combine labor and management and are extremely sophisticated. They are so powerful you don’t have to hear about them until they have to crush someone. There is no fight with them because it's like, ‘Godzilla is in my closet. Do I need to let him out to stomp on you?’”

Most lobbyists and issue groups don’t have an operation anywhere near the scope of 1199-SEIU, and over the last two years smaller advocacy groups have been confronted with how to lobby the administration on limited resources.

For groups pushing for criminal justice reform and for state government to fund supportive and affordable housing, for example, lobbying the administration in a friendly manner failed initially and they took the risk of confronting the governor publicly.

Shelly Nortz of Coalition for the Homeless said that 2014 efforts to get the Cuomo administration to deliver on supportive housing funding. The group continued to pressure Cuomo, working with and praising Mayor Bill de Blasio, Cuomo’s rival, for his supportive housing initiative in 2015, and then getting more and more vocal calling for Cuomo to do what they said was his part.

The Coalition and its allies were encouraged when Cuomo prioritized funding to fight homelessness in his 2016 State of the State address, but when the governor and the Legislature failed to agree on how to distribute it, Nortz’s group kicked the public pressure campaign into high gear.

“We’ve been having a presence outside the governor’s office,” Nortz said of regular rallies to call for release of the funds set aside in the state budget. As the group and other members of the NY/NY Housing coalition have issued press releases and done interviews on the subject, sometimes harshly criticizing Cuomo, the governor’s office has reacted in various ways. At one point, an administration spokesperson said that the governor hadn’t intended to sign the memorandum of understanding (MOU) that would distribute the housing funds this year and instead expected to do it next year.

After being rebuffed, the administration tried a different path: releasing an MOU approved by the administration, essentially to move the ball into state legislative leaders’ court. The MOU wasn’t signed by either legislative leader, but it was an indication that the administration was squirming under the pressure brought by housing groups.

Nortz acknowledged that most small advocacy groups can’t manage to turn out the kind of presence housing groups have to pressure the governor. She said she is unsure how effective their efforts have been given that the MOU remains unsigned. “It’s reminiscent of 2014 in a lot of ways,” said Nortz. “There is talk but there is no agreement.”

Criminal justice reform advocates describe having to pull Cuomo forward kicking and screaming to ensure oversight by a special prosecutor in instances of police killings of civilians. In 2015 the governor felt pressure from the mothers and family members of civilians killed by police, black and Latino legislators, and major advocacy groups. Unable to move the Legislature to action during session, activists didn’t let go, instead amplifying their calls for the governor to do something.

On July 8, 2015 Cuomo announced an executive order giving the Attorney General jurisdiction to investigate police killings of civilians. The move angered many conservatives and law enforcement officials across the state, but pleased many activists and elected officials, especially legislators of color, many of whom joined Cuomo at the signing of the order.

Advocates involved in the push say they believe they were successful in moving Cuomo because the governor is particularly sensitive about his most concentrated voting base, which consists of African-Americans from New York City. Furthermore, Cuomo was able to claim that he was “the first” governor to take action on what was coming into focus as a major national issue.

While the executive order was a victory for advocates, their momentum has stalled since. Cuomo has acknowledged that he would like to see legislation to make a special prosecutor permanent in such cases, but he has not pushed the issue with the Republican Senate Majority, where opposition lies.

A number of lobbyists say this is a typical result for a lobbying effort that confronts and calls out Gov. Cuomo. “They got something but they didn’t get all of it,” said one long-time lobbyist. “You can rattle him and force him to move to stop the bleeding but it isn’t the best move in the long run.”

Advocates, legislators, businesspeople, and lobbyists who don’t have a direct line to Cuomo or a long-standing alliance are often faced with that risky question of when to go at the governor with an aggressive public relations campaign. They can pay off wildly or they can put you on the governor’s bad side -- sometimes both.

Business lobbyists say confrontational campaigns are their absolute last resort with any administration, but note that smaller issue-based groups don’t have a wealth of options at their disposal.

Efforts to expand newer, technology-based businesses like Airbnb and Uber have set the stage for what some lobbyists say will be “heavyweight showdowns” with the well-established hotel trades and taxi lobbies, respectively. As Cuomo weighs whether to sign a bill that would be damaging to Airbnb, both supporters and opponents of the bill have struggled some with how to cajole him in their direction, especially around how much public pressure to mount.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s investigation into the Governor’s economic development programs has put considerably more scrutiny on how lobbyists and those with business before the state use donations to get the attention of the governor and his closest allies. Fear over corruption was triggered because major developers, including two charged by Bharara, made major donations to Cuomo’s reelection campaign within months of winning major economic development contracts with the state. Bharara has also charged three of Cuomo’s allies with working to fix bids for the contractors they prefer. Cuomo has denied knowledge of the alleged arrangement and he has not been accused of wrongdoing, but it is his campaign that benefited.

New York lacks the conflict of interest laws that limit campaign contributions from groups with business before the state. A July report by Politico New York showed that most of the donors to Cuomo’s campaign have business before the state, or interest in pending legislation. Cuomo has always claimed that he makes decisions on the merits.

*Note: due to a mistake on the part of Gotham Gazette, attempts to reach the Cuomo administration for comment for this article did not reach the intended party. Cuomo's office should have been afforded to opportunity to respond to the questins at hand in this article, including certain allegations, and we apologize for the error. A prior note that indicated Cuomo's office did not respond to a request for comment was removed after it became clear that requests for comment did not reach representatives for Cuomo. After making this realization in communication with Cuomo's office, Gotham Gazette offered the Cuomo administration an opportunity to comment.

New York City Hall

What to watch for this week in New York politics:

This week begins with great attention on the Presidential race as we're within a month of the November 8 election and the candidates faced off in their second of three scheduled debates Sunday evening. The debate came in the wake of much turmoil in the Republican Party and the campaign of nominee Donald Trump, whose lewd comments about women and boasts of unwanted touching and sexual assault surfaced toward the end of last week. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's advantage in the polls, both nationally and in key swing states, had been improving after the first debate and its fallout, even before the release of the tapes of Trump from several years ago.

By some accounts Trump performed well during Sunday's debate, but he also made comments troubling to many, including that if he were President he would look to put Clinton in jail for her use of a private email server. After a number of prominent Republicans rescinded their endorsements of Trump on Friday and Saturday, GOP leaders continued to grapple with the nominee on Monday, with House Speaker Paul Ryan - who had disinvited Trump from what was supposed to be a joint weekend appearance in Wisconsin - reportedly telling House members to do what they need to do to win their districts and saying he would not be publicly defending Trump.

In New York, this Friday is the last day to register to vote in November - in the Presidential race and others that will be on the ballot, such as state legislative and congressional races.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, traveled to Detroit Sunday to campaign for Clinton. They returned to New York City on Monday and de Blasio marched in the Columbus Day Parade in Manhattan, as did Gov. Andrew Cuomo and a number of other city and state officials.

One highlight of the week ahead: on Friday, de Blasio is scheduled to give a speech at the Association for a Better New York - details below.

It may be a somewhat quiet political week given the Monday Columbus Day holiday and Yom Kippur, which begins at sundown Tuesday. Still there are several interesting events happening, including both de Blasio's ABNY speech and one by new NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill on Tuesday morning, also at ABNY, and several City Council hearings, including a full-body Stated Meeting on Thursday -- details of those and more below.

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The run of the week in detail:

Monday
Monday is Columbus Day.

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito will appear on NY1's Inside City Hall Monday evening at 7 and 10 p.m.

Tuesday
Tuesday marks exactly four weeks from the Presidential election and others taking place Nov. 8.

At 8 a.m. Tuesday, the Association for a Better New York will host a breakfast with new NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill to “discuss the NYPD’s efforts to address public safety and quality of life conditions, and share his overall vision for a better and safer New York.” Public Advocate Letitia James will be among those in attendance.

On Tuesday at 1 p.m. Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner O’Neill will deliver remarks at the NYPD Swearing-In Ceremony of 700 new officers. In the evening, the Mayor will appear on Fusion’s AMERICA with Jorge Ramos at 10 p.m.

At 4 p.m. Tuesday, Public Advocate James will participate in a conversation with youth leaders for National Coming Out Day at The LGBT Center in Manhattan. And in the evening, James will attend the Parkash Tenant Coalition Meeting in the Bronx.

The city’s Board of Correction will hold a meeting at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

At the City Council on Tuesday: at 10 a.m., the Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations will discuss a “resolution declaring support for Muslim communities, affirming the religious pluralism of the United States, and urging all residents to stand together for peace and understanding.”

At 10 a.m. Tuesday, the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and government officials at various levels will hold a press conference to announce a new IDNYC pop-up location on Roosevelt Island, at the Roosevelt Island Senior Center. Assistant Immigrant Affairs Commissioner Kavita Pawria-Sanchez, Council Member Ben Kallos, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Senator José Serrano, and Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright will all be present.

Wednesday
On Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board will hold a board meeting.

Thursday
At the City Council on Thursday:

• The Committee on Finance will meet at 10 a.m. to discuss “a Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to authorizing an increase in the amount to be expended annually in eight business improvement districts and two special assessment districts.”
• The City Council will hold a stated meeting at 1:30 p.m. As usual, this will be prefaced by a press conference led by City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.

On Thursday, there will be a public hearing for the NYPD’s body camera program.

At noon Thursday, the Manhattan Institute will hold a forum on disagreements over “fundamentally opposing constitutional traditions” -- the “living document” view and the “originalist” view. Randy Barnett, the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at Georgetown University, will be the featured speaker.

On Thursday at noon, "The U.S. Conference of Mayors, in partnership with the NYU Wagner Graduate School for Public Service, will host a bipartisan discussion with mayors and the presidential campaigns on why infrastructure in U.S. cities is key to both economic security and public safety, and to urge a stronger federal partnership with cities." A discussion will be moderated by NY1's Errol Louis: "USCM President Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, USCM Vice President New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, USCM Second Vice President Columbia, SC Mayor Stephen Benjamin, USCM Past President Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and USCM Advisory Board Member Albuquerque Mayor Richard J. Berry, will engage in an interactive question-and-answer session with surrogates representing both the Trump and Clinton campaigns who will present their candidates' views on infrastructure."

On Thursday at 4 p.m. at Medgar Evers College, a "Why She Ran" event encouraging women to run for public office and to work in government, hosted by the City Council's Women's Caucus, led by Council Members Laurie Cumbo, Inez Barron, and Darlene Mealy. Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will give remarks.

At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Baruch College’s Robert Zicklin Center for Corporate Integrity and Corporate Communication International (CCI) will co-host “Ads, Money and Politics: The Impact of Citizens United on the 2016 Election.” This event will look at the consequential Citizens United Supreme Court Case in 2010 and how the decision is influencing the current election.

At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the Brooklyn Historical Society will hold “100 Years of Planned Parenthood: Born in Brooklyn, Building for the Future.” Alex Sanger (Chair of the International Planned Parenthood Council and grandson of Margaret Sanger, the co-founder of the first birth control clinic in the U.S.), Imani Gandy (Senior Legal Analyst at Rewire News and co-host of This Week in Blackness Prime), and Professor Lynn Roberts (CUNY School of Public Health) will be the panelists. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! will moderate the discussion.

Friday and the weekend
Friday is the last day to register to vote for the November general election. Find information on voter registration at NYC Votes' register to vote page.

At 8 a.m. Friday, the Association for a Better New York will host Mayor Bill de Blasio for a breakfast speech. De Blasio will discuss the his Equity and Excellence education agenda.

***
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by Brendan Birth and Ben Max
@GothamGazette

(photo via The Governor's Office)

The numbers are bad again, additional proof that New Yorkers don’t pay much attention to local elections or make voting in them a priority. There were several hotly contested state legislative party primary elections on September 13, even a few for open seats, yet the best an individual New York City-based Assembly or Senate district did was 20% participation among active eligible voters.

The winner of this unglamorous prize was Assembly District 65, Sheldon Silver’s old seat, where short-term incumbent Alice Cancel was defeated in the Democratic primary by Yuh-Line Niou. Of 43,094 active eligible Democrats in the Lower Manhattan district, 8,880 votes were cast, equal to 20.61%.

Niou was one of three challengers to unseat New York City incumbents this primary cycle.

Another, all the way Uptown in Inwood and nearby areas, saw long-term incumbent Assemblymember Guillermo Linares defeated in the Democratic primary by Carmen De La Rosa. There are 57,053 active eligible Democrats in AD72 and 8,511 voted (4,485 for De La Rosa), for 14.91% turnout.

In Queens’ AD30, long-time Assemblymember Margaret Markey lost to Brian Barnwell in a Democratic primary that saw 8.72% turnout -- Barnwell won the primary, and thus the seat, with 1,710 votes to Markey’s 1,082. There are 32,162 active registered Democratic voters in the district.

All three of these seats, like in most New York City districts, are overwhelmingly Democratic, so the primary winner is all but certain to win the November 8 general election. Sometimes there isn’t even a general election opponent on the ballot.

The 150-seat state Assembly is dominated by New York City Democrats, whereas the 63-seat state Senate is almost split between Democrats and Republicans. This November’s elections look like they will again go a long way to determining which party controls the Senate. New York City-based races are rarely competitive in November, though there are a few city districts where Republicans hold seats or can show well.

In most cases, though, the real action is in the Democratic primary. Yet, very few people vote. General elections for Mayor of New York City or Governor of New York have recently seen record low turnout. New York ranks near the bottom of all 50 states when it comes to turnout. The 2016 primary numbers closely track their 2014 and 2012 predecessors.

Some blame New York’s antiquated voter registration, voting, and election laws - there is a long list of voting reforms that New York could pass given the political will: things like same-day voter registration and early voting, among others. There is also the fact that New York does things like scheduling three different primary days, which happened this year: an April presidential primary, a June congressional primary, and the September state legislative primaries. There are also issues related to one-party control, which may depress voter engagement, especially in the heaviest Democratic or Republican strongholds, like much of New York City.

Yet even the strength of Democrats in New York City could mean more robust primary contests. While several candidates may run, turnout remains quite low.

In the September contests for seats currently open or opening up due to retirement, the numbers were in the same ballpark as the three races listed above where incumbents lost.

In the lone currently empty state Senate seat, five Democrats jumped into the race to replace for Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson, who resigned for a job in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration. The district is mostly in the Bronx, but stretches into Westchester and is home to 123,140 active registered Democrats (Senate districts are a lot larger than Assembly districts.) With 9.44% turnout, Jamaal Bailey won the primary with 6,938 votes. No other candidate cracked 2,000 votes.

For a state Senate seat opening up Uptown, SD31, currently held by Senator Adriano Espaillat, who is heading to Congress, a crowded primary field yielded 18.46% turnout among active registered Democrats. There were 25,937 votes cast by 140,387 active registered voters in the district. Marisol Alcantara won a very close race with 8,469 votes -- about a third of the 25, 937 votes cast. Runner-up Micah Lasher received 8,175 votes.

There are three New York City-based Assembly seats already vacant or being vacated -- AD33 in Queens and AD44 and AD56 in Brooklyn. Respectively, these primaries saw 10.12%, 16.29%, and 12.11% turnout among active registered Democrats. The primaries were won by Clyde Vanel, Robert Carroll, and Tremaine Wright, respectively.

In a variety of other primaries in which incumbents were being challenged, turnout was in the same neighborhood, though often lower than the aforementioned numbers. In a couple of Bronx districts, turnout was around 7% of active registered Democrats. A few saw around 15% turnout, topped by the unsuccessful challenge from Kate Cucco to Assemblymember Pamela Harris in Brooklyn’s Assembly District 46, which saw 16.54% turnout.

Voter turnout for the November general election is expected to be much higher given the draw of the Presidential race. State Assembly members and Senators with nominal general election competition and those who won crowded open-seat primaries will receive thousands more votes than they did in competitive primaries because more voters will head to the polls to vote for President and select candidates down the ballot.

Research performed by Brendan Birth.

Note: numbers have been updated since publish to reflect absentee ballots and final Board of Elections certified results.

Gov. Cuomo (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor's Office)

A day after United States Attorney Preet Bharara unveiled a myriad of corruption charges against two of his closest allies and some of his biggest donors related to their abuse of the state’s economic development programs, Gov. Andrew Cuomo traveled to Buffalo to announce he was expanding the program that sparked Bharara’s investigation.

Cuomo publicly acknowledged the “truly disappointing” allegations and told the gathered crowd that his administration plans to learn from revelations about bid-rigging and bribery schemes. He also promised not to “miss a beat” and pledged his administration will “redouble our efforts” on economic development projects in Buffalo and Western New York.

What exactly Cuomo has learned and what he and his administration actually plan to do about the alleged corruption - which was uncovered by reporters and watchdogs over a year ago and outlined by Bharara last week - remains largely unclear. The lack of clarity is especially stark given the amount of time the administration has had to formulate a response to problems and change protocols.

On Friday, Cuomo announced that the Empire State Development Corporation would take over a portfolio of projects previously overseen by SUNY Polytechnic President Alain Kaloyeros, who was suspended without pay after he was charged Thursday in two separate bid-rigging investigations (one by Bharara and one by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman).

“We are today going to take that portfolio of responsibility, those projects, transfer them all to the Empire State Development Corporation, which is run by a fellow named Howard Zemsky is his name, and he’ll take over management of that immediately,” Cuomo said on Friday.

Asked if the governor’s announcement would end the use of nonprofits under SUNY Poly to administer economic development projects, Cuomo spokesperson Dani Lever told Gotham Gazette that “ESDC will oversee all economic development projects.”

Cuomo said this week that Zemsky will formulate new procedures and oversight mechanisms to be unveiled in January during the governor’s State of the State Address. Cuomo is also expected to debut a new phase of the Buffalo Billion in the same speech.

On Friday, Cuomo also cited a report from Bart Schwartz, a lawyer retained by the governor in April after it became public that Bharara had subpoenaed a number of Cuomo officials and allies as part of his Buffalo Billion probe.

“We engaged an organization headed by a former prosecutor to review our entire procurement system. We have that report. It recommends changes to the procurement system,” Cuomo said on Friday of Schwartz’s investigation. “We accept all the changes to the procurement system and we are going to be instituting them immediately to make sure whatever can be done to protect the taxpayer dollars is going to be done.”

However, the Cuomo administration has not made Schwartz’s report public. Cuomo announced that the “independent” investigation came to a conclusion on the same day Bharara unveiled related charges, in an apparent attempt at moving the conversation from the charges toward reforms. The governor said earlier this year that he wouldn’t have a problem releasing Schwartz’s report, but that it may not be made public depending on whether Bharara’s office approved its release.

Bharara’s office declined to comment on whether its representatives had spoken to Schwartz or the Cuomo administration about the report.

Schwartz’s office declined to comment on whether the report will be made public or how it will be implemented.

The Cuomo administration failed to return requests for comment about whether the report will be made public and what kind of changes will be made to the state’s economic development programs to reduce corruption risk. Representatives for Cuomo also failed to respond to a question about whether Schwartz looked into, or continues to investigate, malfeasance in the state’s economic development programs.

When Bharara announced the charges at a Thursday news conference, he said that his investigation is “ongoing.” Bharara said that Cuomo was not implicated in the criminal complaint, but would not comment about whether the governor is an ongoing target. On Wednesday, Cuomo told reporters that he was not interviewed by Bharara’s office and that he did not expect to testify in Percoco’s trial, if there is one.

David Friedfel, director of state studies for the Citizens Budget Commission, said CBC welcomes the handover of state projects to Empire State Development Corp. “We certainly think the move to the ESDC is a good idea. In general we take the view that if you can’t do what you want to do with economic development through a government entity you should not be able to do it or be allowed to create a non-government entity to do it,” he said.

While ESDC does appear to have stricter contracting rules in place than SUNY Poly and its nonprofits, in the end both are controlled by Cuomo.

And ESDC didn’t go untouched by the recently revealed criminal charges, which were brought against nine people and showed a system lacking oversight. One of the charges against Cuomo’s close friend and former top aide Joseph Percoco is that he took a $35,000 bribe to get ESDC to select a company for a project it didn’t technically qualify for.

Watchdogs believe the state used SUNY Poly and the nonprofits it oversees, like Fort Schuyler Management, in an end-run around standard state contracting protocols and to reduce public scrutiny, in part to fast track expensive projects. On Wednesday, Cuomo repeatedly blamed the alleged corruption on that same system, which he has done nothing to reform. He told reporters on Wednesday that the system “had worked fine for 15 years. In retrospect I did not revisit their procurement system because they’re a separate branch, they’re a separate agency,” Cuomo said, appearing to reference SUNY Poly. “We will do just that,” he promised of such a reexamination.

Cuomo said on Friday in Buffalo that Zemsky will “learn from what happened and to see how we can improve the system to make sure that it never happens again.”

The idea that there isn’t already a blueprint on the table on how to avoid the pitfalls connected to the administration’s use of nonprofits to administer economic development programs is laughable to many groups that have been calling for drastic changes for years and warning of corruption.

“Right now all we have are vague, undefined reforms wrapped in secrecy,” said John Kaehny of Reinvent Albany, a group that has followed economic development projects closely. “The questions we have about the administration’s approach remain the same as the questions we had last year.”

While Cuomo plans to wait until January to unveil his changes to the state’s economic development procurement system, a number of watchdog groups have been clear for over a year on what changes needed to occur to better prevent corruption. Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has also complained that Cuomo and the Legislature stripped him of his ability to review contracts at SUNY, something watchdogs have echoed. State legislative leaders have said little about the issue.

In a letter dated September 23, 2015, several groups, including CBC, Reinvent Albany, Citizens Union, Fiscal Policy Institute, and the New York Public Interest Research Group, called on Cuomo to increase accountability and transparency surrounding economic development projects. The groups asked Cuomo to consider “making one state agency the sole negotiator and implementer of state subsidy deals with public review and input, and ending the use of state controlled non-profit groups and the state university system in the contract award process.”

In a letter dated December 23, 2015, some of the same groups called on the state to implement a “database of deals” to allow for greater transparency and give New Yorkers a better idea of whether businesses that receive subsidies, like SolarCity, are actually keeping their promises to the state on deliverables like jobs.

Wall Street’s faith in SolarCity has been shaken in recent months and the company has altered the timeline for what it will produce. Meanwhile, the state paused a payment to the company this week that would allow it to purchase factory equipment it needs for its Riverbend Plant. The state has repeatedly skipped scheduled payments to SolarCity this year, as reported by Politico New York.

Friedfel said that CBC would prefer to see the state stick to economic development programs where businesses are forced to deliver on their promises before they see payment from the state. “Our view, taken apart from the criminal charges, is that economic development should be done with set metrics that are accomplished ahead of time the state makes any payments,” he said. “The state should only spend after promises are delivered on.”

Note: Gotham Gazette is an independent publication of Citizens Union Foundation, sister organization of Citizens Union.

State Sen. Jeff Klein, center-right & other Bronx electeds (@RepEliotEngle)

In January 2011, State Senator Jeff Klein declared himself leader of a group of four breakaway Democrats who were united in their dissatisfaction with the recent dysfunction of their conference’s leadership. They created the Independent Democratic Conference, or IDC, despite the fact that Klein had been deputy leader of the Senate Democrats and was in control of the New York State Democratic Senate Campaign Committee during the 2010 elections, all through the now legendary strife and controversy that was part of Democrats’ brief control of the Senate.

Since then, Klein has allied IDC with Senate Republicans, thereby winning himself a seat at the budget negotiating table, larger offices and increased staff funding for his members, and a political forcefield that protects him and his allies from criticism hurled by Republicans or Democrats, lest he side decide to ally with the other side.

This year, Klein has increased the IDC’s power with new fundraising and campaign spending tools and an incoming member, Marisol Alcantara, who won a crowded Uptown primary in some part thanks to the financial support of the IDC. When the dust settles after November’s elections, Klein is likely to be in prime bargaining position as mainline Democrats and Senate Republicans seek a ruling coalition deal with the IDC.

Lost in the shuffle of these power dynamics, which can have immense consequence for the people of New York, is the story of how Klein managed to turn a disastrous run at the top of the Senate Democrats’ power structure into a position that has allowed him to play kingmaker every two years and become, after overcoming a serious primary challenger in 2014, virtually untouchable politically.

“Breaking away from this dysfunctional conference gave him a voice,” said Douglas Muzzio, professor of political science at Baruch College, who added that the move appears to have indefinitely altered power dynamics in state government. “He can use corruption and dysfunction as much as he likes but it doesn’t mask the fact that it was a bald face power move. He can couch it in principle, but it was still about power,” said Muzzio.

In 2009, after winning a majority for the first time in decades, a number of Democrats including Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. and then Sens. Carl Kruger and Pedro Espada agreed only to vote for then Sen. Malcolm Smith as leader in exchange for certain perks and leadership positions. Only a few months after the year’s legislative session started, the fragile agreement was destroyed as Espada and then Sen. Hiram Monserrate bolted to join Senate Republicans, launching a hostile coup on the Senate floor.

The Senate was paralyzed for months until Espada and Monserrate were lured back to the Democratic fold. After the incident, then Sen. John Sampson took over as Senate leader. (Most of the players involved - Krueger, Espada, Smith, Monserrate, and Sampson - are no longer in the Senate, having been removed from office on corruption charges unrelated to the Senate coup.)

Republicans won back the majority through the 2010 elections. In 2012 their fortunes took a turn with Democrats picking up seats, but Klein struck a deal alternating the title of temporary President of the Senate with Skelos. In 2014, Senate Republicans won a number of seats and Klein again pledged to work with them. He did so after undercutting his Democratic primary opponent by pledging to work with Democrats if they picked up enough seats to form a governing coalition.

To many, Klein looked like a voice of reason when he created and fortified the IDC. “Who would want to go back to chaotic Democratic control?” asked his supporters. This is a line of reasoning Klein and his allies have used repeatedly as they have continued to ally themselves with Republicans. This year Klein is set to determine who controls the Senate again.

“Jeff was so above it all,” laughed one Democratic Senator. “No, Jeff was one of the guys calling the shots at the time. In fact he was the guy in charge of calling all the shots for the DSCC.”

Candice GIove, spokesperson for Klein and the IDC, declined to make Klein available for an interview. She also refused to take questions from Gotham Gazette about the history of the IDC.

Klein, from the Bronx, was first elected to the Senate in 2005 after serving nearly nine years in the Assembly. He maintains the IDC’s power thanks to years of legislative redistricting that has helped Senate Republicans draw lines that favor their incumbents. The 2010 redistricting process saw the creation of a 63rd Senate seat that benefited Republicans and further concentrated Democratic voters in urban districts.

The Senate is now nearly split down the middle in terms of party control. Republicans currently hold 31 seats - one shy of an outright majority - and Sen. Simcha Felder, a Democrat from Brooklyn, conferences with them. Republicans also have a deal with the IDC, which currently holds five seats. Alcantara is expected to join them in the fall, making six in the IDC and taking one seat away from mainline Democrats, who currently have 26 members (there is one vacant seat, likely to be filled by a Democrat). Democrats are expected to pick up seats this year, as they have in every modern presidential election year - though the questions are if they do and how many.

The Assembly is made up of a Democratic super-majority. The Governorship has been controlled by Democrats since former Gov. Eliot Spitzer won in a landslide in 2006, replacing Republican Gov. George Pataki, who had served three terms. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has sought to strike a balance between progressive social policy and conservative fiscal ideas. Many believe Cuomo has blessed the IDC’s alliance with Senate Republicans.

After the 2008 elections Klein became a major figure in the Senate Democratic Conference, serving as deputy majority leader and head of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. Klein not only had say in policy-making, but was responsible for deciding which candidates and races to back with Democratic cash.

Klein certainly wasn’t above jockeying for power and influence during the 2009 coup. He met with various Democrats and Republicans in an attempt to create an alternate governing structure in the Senate; one that would do away with the need for Espada and put Klein at the helm. Those negotiations failed. Klein floated the idea of a new bipartisan governing coalition in a press release at the time and has previously discussed those attempts with members of the media.

In 2010 Klein faced an uphill battle in maintaining his power and influence with the Democratic Conference - his ties with many members were frayed. Things were so bad during the coup that at more than one point conference meetings nearly broke into physical altercations. On top of the distrust and dislike Klein faced from fellow Democrats, as head of the DSCC, he was also entrusted with building the Democratic majority.

Many Democrats and political observers believe Klein used his position as head of the DSCC to try to marshal enough supporters to make himself Democratic Leader. The DSCC spent heavily on a number of races in 2010, far more than many Democrats thought was reasonable. Money poured into districts held by entrenched Republican incumbents many believed unwinnable for Democrats. In perhaps the most extreme example, the DSCC spent over $500,000 supporting Sue Savage’s unsuccessful attempt to unseat Sen. Hugh Farley.

Spending was also increased in districts where the DSCC was playing defense, futilely trying to protect vulnerable suburban Democrats from Republican challengers. They lost seats on Long Island held by more moderate Klein-minded Democrats and one belonging to former Sen. Darrel Aubertine in the North Country. The DSCC spent over $1 million on the Aubertine race.

Democrats lost control of the Senate and the DSCC was left nearly $3 million in debt. It took them until 2014 to pay it off.

“Jeff left us at the bottom of a pit of debt,” another Democratic Senator told Gotham Gazette, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “He was spending like crazy on races we had no chance of winning. All those expenditures were approved by Jeff.”

After Klein left the conference, Democrats put the erratic spending on his shoulders. However, it appears to many that Sampson was also able to authorize expenditures. Klein told The TImes Union in January 2011 that the Democratic caucus was distracting from the issues by focusing on who was to blame for the DSCC spending. “This is exactly why I formed an independent caucus," he said. "They continue to talk trash about me as an attempt to distract from the real issues."

Eventually, more than a dozen Democrats signed promissory notes, personally agreeing to make good on portions of the debt wracked up by the DSCC, in order to secure $2 million in loans to restore the organization’s solvency. Klein wasn’t one of them.

While 2010 was a generally terrible year for Klein and Senate Democrats, it had some silver linings. Espada was defeated in a primary by Sen. Gustavo Rivera, who ran on a reform platform (and did not have the support of the DSCC). Sen. Eric Schneiderman, now attorney general, successfully led a movement to oust Monserrate from the chamber after Monserrate was convicted of a misdemeanor for dragging his girlfriend down a hallway. Her face had been slashed in an earlier altercation.

Democrats had slowly begun to deal with their corruption and dysfunction problems, even as Sampson, who would later be be convicted on corruption charges, led the conference.

On December 20, 2010, Sampson appointed newly-elected Queens Sen. Mike Gianaris as head of the DSCC. Klein had lost his source of power in the conference to a younger rival.

Less than a month later Klein announced the creation of the IDC.

It began as Klein, Sens. Diane Savino, David Carlucci, and David Valesky.

In December 2012, the group celebrated the addition of a new member. In some ways Klein was putting the band back together when he invited Malcolm Smith to join the IDC. Smith was the first member of color for the conference. Then Queens Assemblymember Tony Avella told The Queens Chronicle at the time that the move was a “power grab” and “unfortunate because it defeats the will of the people who voted in favor of having the Democrats control the Senate.”

Avella joined the IDC in February 2014 - but not before Smith was charged with bribery and corruption for using state funds to buy his way onto the Republican ballot line in an attempt to run for Mayor of New York City. The IDC booted Smith after the charges became public in April 2013.

In the Summer of 2014 Klein and Avella faced tough primaries backed by left-leaning and abor advocates and, at least initially, by Senate Democrats. Behind the scenes Mayor Bill de Blasio negotiated with Klein on conditions of a deal where Klein would co-lead the Democrats, assuming the party won enough seats to make the deal plausible. Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Klein announced that the IDC would create such a governing coalition.

“We are not rejoining the Democratic Conference because clearly the IDC will live on and the IDC will remain intact, but what we are saying is the IDC is going into the next legislative session six months from now ready to fight for the core Democratic policies that are left undone,” Klein told the Daily News on June 24, 2014.

Democrats and advocates pulled back their support for the challengers to Klein and Avella - former City Council Member Oliver Koppell and former City Comptroller John Liu, respectively. The coast was clear for the IDC.

In November, Republicans gained the backing of newly elected Sen. Felder, a nominal Democrat, while picking up Republican seats, and the IDC-Democratic alliance became a moot point.

There were major issues at play. For example, over the past few years Democrats unsuccessfully tried to pass through the Senate the entire 10-point Women’s Equality Agenda and a version of the DREAM Act. They blamed Klein for empowering Republicans who oppose codifying abortion rights and who have campaigned for years against the DREAM Act. Klein and his allies repeatedly pointed to members of the Democratic Conference who are not pro-choice and who don’t support the DREAM Act.

It is during issue fights like these when advocates have complained that the IDC is subverting the will of hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters from across New York City by empowering Republicans and stifling the influence of nearly 30 elected Democrats for the empowerment of five members, all of whom are white. Short of the impending addition of Alcantara, who is Hispanic and will represent Washington Heights and other Uptown neighborhoods, all IDC members have been from more suburban areas of the city or its outskirts.

“The IDC going with the Republicans counters the demography of the state, it nullifies the power of the Democrats in the Assembly, but Albany remains dysfunctional,” said Muzzio, summarizing results of the IDC and its power-sharing agreements.

In May 2015, then Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos, the man Klein repeatedly cut deals with to form a governing coalition, was indicted on multiple corruption counts. The trial that followed contained a series of wiretapped phone conversations between Skelos and his son, the contents of which were enough to make even the hardened denizens of the Capitol blush.

“I heard you left a handprint on somebody’s ass,” Adam Skelos said to his father over the phone on December 22, 2014, the same day the elder Skelos informed Klein that he wanted to continue their working relationship. Dean Skelos paused, seeming to process the comment. After realizing his son was talking about Klein and that Republicans had more leverage over him, the elder Skelos told his son that Klein would retain the title of co-leader despite Republican victories in 2014 that made the alliance technically unnecessary, and pointed to how useful the IDC could prove to be in 2016. The younger Skelos scoffed at the idea, but Dean assured him: “I’m going to control everything,” he said. “He’s going to get very little. Believe me. Very little. Everybody’s going to know.”

The elder Skelos then went on to explain how he would use Klein to “Keep them separate and fighting and hating each other. That’s what’s worked for the last six years.”

Despite the turmoil in both houses following the 2016 convictions of Skelos and former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, on multiple corruption charges, it would prove to be the most important year in the IDC’s brief history.

The IDC continued to push Cuomo and Senate Republicans on paid family leave through 2015 and into 2016. This year, Cuomo picked up the issue despite having previously dismissed it while also suddenly championing a $15 minimum wage. By the end of session the IDC was able to claim they were instrumental in passing major progressive legislation. This summer, Klein paired with the Independence Party to create a campaign committee that allowed the IDC to pour nearly $100,000 into the Democratic primary to replace Sen. Adriano Espaillat.

That investment paid off as the IDC’s candidate, Alcantara, won a narrow victory over former City Council Member Robert Jackson and Micah Lasher, former chief of staff to Attorney General Schneiderman.

Alcantara told Politico New York that her main focus will be passing the DREAM Act. She’s also indicated that she didn’t review the politics involved in the creation of the IDC before she said she would join it. The IDC has faced significant blame for effectively blocking the DREAM Act by allying with Republicans. The bill was brought to a vote in the Senate in 2014 -- it failed by two votes. At the time, Klein had say over which bills came to the floor and many saw the move as a way to neutralize the issue for the year.

Meanwhile, many Senate Republicans have used the DREAM Act as a lightning rod against Democrats in their districts. It is unlikely the DREAM Act has a real chance of becoming law if Klein chooses to empower the Republican Conference next session. Alcantara, a former union organizer, has promised that she will continue to be progressive as a legislator.

Many insiders wonder how Klein can possibly work with Senate Democrats come 2017. Over the last six years, by most accounts, Senate Democrats have cleaned up their act. Members like Kruger, Sampson, Espada, Monserrate, and Smith have all left the chamber one way or another. Sen. Gianaris, who still runs the SDCC, has been talking a lot lately about negotiating with Klein in anticipation of Democratic successes in November. The mainline Democrats also posed no primary challenger to Klein or any IDC member.

Klein has toned down talk about Democrats being dysfunctional this past year, but he’s given no strong indication he favors a reunion with them.

In a July interview with Gotham Gazette, Klein gave an indication of his allegiances, speaking highly of Republican Senate President John Flanagan. “I worked extremely well this year with Senator John Flanagan and yes, this session we were able to work well with [Democratic Minority Leader] Andrea Stewart-Cousins - it is a much better relationship,” Klein said, “but I think the Republican Conference has been even better and a lot of credit has to go to the relationship with Senator Flanagan, again.”

New York City Hall

What to watch for this week in New York politics:

The week starts with all eyes on the Presidential race and the first presidential debate Monday night. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will debate at 9 p.m. Monday from Long Island. Mayor Bill de Blasio made a trip to Wisconsin over the weekend to campaign for Hillary Clinton and he'll attend the debate Monday evening at Hofstra. City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Gov. Andrew Cuomo will also attend the debate.

De Blasio will first hold a press conference at 11 a.m. Monday at FDR High School in Brooklyn to make "an education announcement." According to his public schedule he will limit press questions to "on-topic" only. Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña and Public Advocate Letitia James will be at the press conference.

There will also continue to be attention this week on the fallout from last week's federal corruption charges brought against nine people involved with Governor Cuomo's economic development programs, including a close former aide and friend to the governor, Joseph Percoco, multiple developers who received major state contracts and have been big donors to Cuomo's campaigns, and the powerful head of many state projects, Alain Kaloyeros. Cuomo said on Friday that he had no idea about any of what was detailed in U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's 80-page complaint against those alleged to have committed the crimes involved. While no charges were brought against Cuomo, Bharara said the investigation is ongoing and questions have been raised about how Cuomo could not have known what was alleged to have happened under hs watch.

On Tuesday, Cuomo is set to give a speech in New York City in front of the Association for a Better New York, and he is likely to take questions from members of the media afterward.

Another highlight of the week ahead is that on Thursday the City Council is scheduled to hold an oversight hearing on what happened in the lifting of deed restrictions on Rivington House, the Lower East Side property that was a nursing home for AIDS patients and is becoming high-end condos after the city agreed to lift restrictions on the property and it was flipped in a series of now-controversial transactions. The city's Department of Investigations and city Comptroller Scott Stringer have each already released reports on what happened in the Rivington mess (the DOI said after receiving more information from City Hall that its investigation was "ongoing"). While Mayor Bill de Blasio said that things went very poorly with the process and announced a new process for deed restrictions, City Council members andn others are proposing legislation to change how the lifting of deed restrictions are handled, adding them to a City Council-involved process known as ULURP, which includes several checks outside of the mayoral administration.

And, speaking of the presidential election, there are just a couple weeks left to register to vote for those not registered and wishing to cast a ballot November 8 -- in the presidential election and/or others. Brooklyn Boulders and Rock the Vote are hosting two events this week in New York City, Tuesday in Queens and Thursday in Brooklyn, to register voters. Tuesday is also National Voter Registration Day.

As always, there's a great deal happening all over the city, with many events to be aware of - see our day-by-day rundown below.

***Do you have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics?
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The run of the week in detail:

Monday
Mayor Bill de Blasio starts his week with the aforementioned press conference and, with his wife Chirlane McCray, attending the presidential debate.

• At the City Council on Monday:
  The Committee on Courts and Legal Services will meet at 10 a.m. to discuss “a Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to providing legal counsel for low-income eligible tenants who are subject to eviction, ejectment or foreclosure proceedings.”
• The Committees on Consumer Affairs and Transportation will hold a joint meeting at 1 p.m. for the oversight of and on legislation regulating the Sightseeing Bus Industry.
• The Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services will meet at 1 p.m. to discuss numerous proposed laws.
• The Committee on Housing and Buildings will meet at 1 p.m. to discuss two local laws which would amend administrative codes.

Regarding and prior to the 10 a.m. hearing, “There will be a press conference and public hearing on Int. 214A-2014, a local law that will provide legal representation for low-income tenants who are subject to eviction, ejectment or foreclosure proceedings. This bill is sponsored by Council Members Levine and Gibson, and signed by 40 additional City Council Members.” The press conference will include “Council Members Mark Levine and Vanessa Gibson, NYC Public Advocate Letitia James, NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer, former Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, Manhattan BP Gale Brewer, Bronx BP Ruben Diaz Jr., Brooklyn BP Eric Adams, several other city and state elected officials, legal services providers, tenant advocacy groups, faith leaders, unions, and the NYC Bar Association.”

At 11 a.m. Monday City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito will speak at the Supportive Alternatives to Violent Encounters (SAVE) grand opening in her East Harlem district. At 1 p.m., she'll deliver remarks at the Council Fire and Criminal Justice Committee hearing on her bills related to the Department of Corrections. And at 3:30, Mark-Viverito will speak at the 16th Annual Gladys Ricart and Victims of Domestic Violence Brides March.

At 11:30 a.m. Monday, City Council Member Andy King, officials from the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), NYCHA tenant presidents, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Sanitation will hold a joint press conference to announce upgrades to NYCHA buildings in King’s City Council District; entrance of the Gun Hill House in The Bronx.

On Monday evening in Manhattan, City Limits News will hold its 40th anniversary gala, at which the news organization will honor journalist Wayne Barrett and union leader Henry Garrido.

The first of three Presidential debates will be held at 9 p.m. on Monday. This debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be hosted by Hofstra University and moderated by NBC Nightly News Anchor Lester Holt. (There is also one Vice Presidential debate scheduled for early October.)

Tuesday
At the City Council on Tuesday:

• At 1 p.m., the Committees on Economic Development and Civil Service and Labor will hold a joint oversight hearing on the city’s Employees’ Paid Parental Leave Program.
• At 1 p.m. the Committee on Environmental Protection will meet for oversight of and on legislation regarding idling restrictions.

September 27 is National Voter Registration Day.

The New York State Joint Commission on Ethics will meet on Tuesday morning in Albany.

At 8 a.m. Tuesday, the New York City Economic Development Corporation will begin its two-day conference, “REV Future 2016.” This conference “will bring together key stakeholders, technology providers, and utilities and state policy makers to discuss actionable business strategies to operationalize the ongoing initiative for a clean, resilient, and affordable energy system in New York City.”

At 11 a.m. Tuesday, Maria Torres-Springer, president and CEO of the city Economic Development Corporation, will be speaking at SoBRO’s South Bronx Leadership Forum.

At 11 a.m. Tuesday, the Assembly Standing Committee on Agriculture will hold a public hearing to discuss “Oversight of the SFY 2016-2017 State Budget for the New York State
Department of Agriculture and Markets.”

At 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, the Association for a Better New York will have a luncheon with Governor Andrew Cuomo.

"This Tuesday, Sept. 27, from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm, Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer will sponsor a public forum on “driverless” vehicles in New York City, featuring a display of of Audi’s prototype piloted vehicle, an adapted A7 named “Jack.” The panel will address the questions facing dense urban areas such as New York City as driverless cars and trucks begin to roll on the nation’s roads, on the heels of this week’s announcement by the Obama Administration of guidelines for automated vehicles, and of Uber’s pilot of driverless vehicles on the streets of Pittsburgh this month." Moderated by Recode journalist Johana Bhuiyan, panelists will include: Sarah M. Kaufman, Assistant Director for Technology Programming at the NYU Rudin Center for Transportation; Jeff Garber, Director of Technology and Innovation at the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission; William Carry, Senior Director for Special Projects at the NYC Department of Transportation; and Brad Stertz, Director of Government Affairs at Audi.

At 6 p.m. Tuesday, City & State will hold its 10th Anniversary Gala. In conjunction with the gala, City & State will celebrate prominent and influential figures in New York City politics who have made their mark on the city over the last ten years with a special print edition entitled “The Newsmakers of the Decade.” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara will be keynote speaker. New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and former Governor David Paterson will also be speakers at the event.

At 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Day One will hold its 2016 Benefit to End Dating Violence Among Youth. Tamron Hall of NBC News and New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito will make remarks at the event.

Wednesday
At the City Council on Wednesday:

• The Committee on Finance will meet at 10 a.m. to discuss two resolutions.
• A Stated Meeting of the City Council will be held at 1:30 p.m. This will be prefaced, as usual, by a press conference led by Speaker Mark-Viverito.

On Wednesday, Families for Excellent Schools will hold its “Path to Possible March” in Prospect Park. Congressional Rep. Hakeem Jeffries will headline the pro-charter schools march and deliver the keynote speech.

At 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, the Citizens Budget Commission and Tech:NYC “will co-host a panel discussion on...New York City's Competitiveness in Attracting and Retaining Talent.” CBC will release its “2016 Competitiveness Scorecard,” which evaluates how the 15 largest metropolitan areas in the United States compare “in their capacity to attract the young, highly talented workforce essential to retaining strength in core industries and successfully cultivating emerging ones.” Edward Skyler, chair of the Citizens Budget Commission, and Maria Torres-Springer, president of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, will be among the participants in this discussion.

On Wednesday at noon, the Manhattan Institute will hold a symposium on whether America’s education-accountability movement has progressed or regressed in recent years. This symposium will feature former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

On Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the CUNY Graduate Center, "Paying the Price," an event focused on "College Costs, Financial Aid, & The Betrayal of the American Dream," with Prof. Sara Goldrick-Rab as featured speaker and Nicholas Freudenberg (CUNY Public Health) & Mark Zuckerman (The Century Foundation, moderated by Prof. Anna O. Law (Brooklyn College).

Thursday
At the City Council on Thursday:

• At 9:30 a.m, the Committees on Governmental Operations and Oversight and Investigations will hold a joint meeting to discuss the oversight of “The Lifting of the Rivington House Deed Restrictions,” and discuss a law which would change deed restriction protocols.
• At 1 p.m. the Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management will meet to discuss “in relation to regulation of the heating oil supply industry by the business integrity commission.”

At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the Brooklyn Historical Society will hold “Wild New York.” At this event, Jarrett Murphy, publisher of City Limits, will talk with “a panel of experts about the effects of the changing urban environment on nature and its creatures, and how the city is working to understand, manage, and mitigate the issues that result.”

Friday and the weekend
At the City Council on Friday:

• At 10 a.m., the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises will hold a joint meeting with the Committee on Small Business to discuss the oversight of “zoning and incentives for promoting retail diversity and preserving neighborhood character.”
• At 1 p.m., the Committee on Veterans will meet to discuss “a Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to the creation of a veterans resource guide.”

At 8 a.m. Friday, there will be a New York Building Congress Breakfast Forum which will focus on the Midtown East rezoning. City Council Member Dan Garodnick and City Planning Commission Chair Carl Weisbrod will speak. 

***
Have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics? E-mail Gotham Gazette executive editor Ben Max any time: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (please use "For Week Ahead" as email subject).

***
by Brendan Birth and Ben Max
@GothamGazette

Cuomo in Buffalo (photo via The Governor's Office on Flickr)

After laying out multiple corruption and bribery charges against nine players involved with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signature economic development program, including his former aide and close friend Joe Percoco, family friend and confidante Todd Howe, and a number of major developers and Cuomo donors, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara refused to say whether the governor is a target in the probe or if it is reasonable to hold him accountable for the conduct of the people he empowered. The prosecutor noted the case remains open as a “general matter.”

Alluding to things possibly to come, though, Bharara said, "I really do hope that there is a trial in this case, so that all New Yorkers can see, in gory detail, what their state government has been up to.”

Whether or not Cuomo is indeed being investigated, or will see charges, those brought by Bharara on Thursday are an indictment of a system that the governor has presided over, and one that other leaders in state government have done little to oppose.

Cuomo issued a statement lamenting the charges and promising justice will be served: “If the allegations are true, I am saddened and profoundly disappointed. I hold my administration to the highest level of integrity. I have zero tolerance for abuse of the public trust from anyone. If anything, a friend should be held to an even higher standard. Like my father before me, I believe public integrity is paramount. This sort of breach, if true, should be and will be punished.”

Cuomo and his administration have continuously responded to reports about corruption in his economic development programs as though they are surprising and have caught them off guard, but the administration has been receiving warnings for years that the system was being abused.

Watchdogs have been setting off alarms that the state’s economic development system is ripe for corruption, while the press has consistently reported what appeared to be instances of bid-rigging related to the Buffalo Billion and government favors for donors to Cuomo’s electoral campaigns.

All the while, the Cuomo administration has taken the criticism and spun it as attacks on the effectiveness of the investments and on the needy communities they benefit, especially Buffalo. And while the governor did hire an “independent” investigator, Bart Schwartz, to examine and oversee the system last Spring, it was only after the administration was rocked by a storm of subpoenas. Schwartz and his firm can earn up to $450,000 for their work examining the system, a job watchdogs say should have been carried out by the state Legislature, Comptroller, and Attorney General.

Schwartz’s office declined to comment on the charges or what his role will be going forward now that the charges have been unveiled.

“The real story here is the system is broken. Everything we thought was going on, was going on, and is actually worse than we thought,” said John Kaehny, executive director of Reinvent Albany, a group that has been pushing for major reforms to the state’s economic development systems and greater budget transparency.

Kaehny noted that the scandals related to bid-rigging in Buffalo, Syracuse, and Albany involve over $1.5 billion in taxpayer funds. “These indictments shine a light on a broken and corrupt system -- not a few bad apples,” said Kaehny.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in state funds flow through opaque non-profits that the state established, a practice that predates Gov. Cuomo but he has expanded. Large sums of cash are approved in the state budget with little debate and the money is given little scrutiny by the Legislature thereafter.

The major beneficiary of the alleged malfeasance, besides those charged with unfairly winning contracts and those accused of taking bribes, appears to be the Cuomo campaign. Developers involved in the scandal gave generously to Cuomo around the times they won state economic development contracts.

According to Reinvent Albany, three of the executives now charged in bid-rigging schemes are some of Cuomo’s biggest donors. Louis Ciminelli of LP Ciminelli has given Cuomo’s campaign $143,550 in contributions and received over $600 million worth of contracts through state-controlled non-profits. Joe Nicolla of Columbia Development has given Cuomo $320,000 while receiving $190 million in contracts through state-controlled non-profits and Steven Aiello of COR Development has given $338,500 to the Cuomo campaign while receiving $105 million through state-controlled non-profits.

Among those charged is Percoco, a childhood friend of Cuomo’s who has followed the governor throughout his various political positions. Percoco was known as the governor’s enforcer when he worked under him in the Capitol and later as a high-pressure fundraiser when he worked for Cuomo’s campaign. He is accused of using his position to take state action on behalf of contractors in exchange for bribes.

Alain Kaloyeros, now the former head of SUNY Polytechnic, which has awarded contracts to Buffalo Billion developers, was also charged Thursday. Kaloyeros is charged with bid-rigging.

Also charged were developers including Aiello, Ciminelli, and Joseph Gerardi.

Bharara’s office also unsealed a guilty plea by Todd Howe, a lobbyist and Cuomo family friend who has faced financial trouble over the years and was advocating for contractors while also overseeing and working with Kaloyeros.

Up until very recently the system allowed the state to funnel money to two non-profit entities overseen by SUNY Polytechnic. Those entities issued requests for proposal that in several instances were written specifically to only fit developers that had donated generously to Cuomo’s campaign. Bharara charges that Kaloyeros actually tipped his favorite contractors far in advance of issuing an RFP to give them a leg up.

The nonprofits have resisted transparency, only recently opening board meetings to the press. Additionally, the state appears to have been extremely lax in holding recipients of economic development funds to their promises, like how many jobs they plan to deliver or how much a project will cost.

Legislative leaders, the comptroller, and attorney general have raised little fuss about an economic development system that appeared to evade standard state contracting procedures by using a complicated system of nonprofits controlled by the State University to award bids and dole out funding.

Even with the spectre of Bharara’s investigation hanging overhead, the Legislature made no broad attempts to reform the system, instead mostly deferring to the Cuomo administration.

Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office raised concerns this year about its ability to audit economic development projects, but DiNapoli has a reputation as being non-confrontational. When an audit of his challenged the effectiveness and oversight of Cuomo’s Excelsior Jobs Program, the administration hit back hard, attacking the competence of DiNapoli’s staff. Cuomo said DiNapoli should “educate” himself and called his audits of economic development's “opinion.” DiNapoli has said he’s not intimidated and that he does his mandated job.

Cuomo and the Legislature actually stripped DiNapoli of the ability to review contracts issued by SUNY and CUNY ahead of time, part of creating a secretive system without clear checks and accountability.

On Thursday afternoon, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman unveiled bid-rigging charges of his own, these having to do with the construction of dorms near SUNY Albany, against Kaloyeros and Nicolla, of Columbia Development. Kaloyeros has spearheaded economic development programs under Cuomo and routinely appeared by Cuomo’s side for years.

According to Schneiderman’s office the investigation took a year and was performed in partnership with the probe by federal agents led by Bharara’s office. Schneiderman accused Kaloyeros, who was the state’s highest paid employee until being suspended without pay on Thursday, of rigging bids to go to developers who in turn directed grants and other benefits to SUNY Polytechnic. Kaloyeros’ compensation package was directly tied to the activity he oversaw at SUNY Polytechnic, therefore he benefited from the bid-rigging.

Last year Kaloyeros contacted this reporter by Facebook messenger after reading and apparently being upset by a story about the role he played in the Buffalo Billion. When asked if he would like to set up an interview to correct any misunderstandings or inaccuracies, he replied that he would like to give a tour of the nano facilities he oversees, but any discussion of federal investigations would be off limits. "The issue we have is confidentiality. We were instructed in no uncertain terms not to comment on the inquiry from down South with the threat of jail which is being interpreted as we are the target of an investigation,” Kaloyeros wrote. “So that part we cannot comment on beyond what we were authorized to say publicly. The rest is not a problem.”

The article attracted attention to Kaloyeros and he later deleted his Facebook profile.

Now with the “gory” details of the charges out for all to see, Reinvent Albany is calling on the state to take quick action to fix the system. It wants the state to freeze any new economic development activity by SUNY Poly and its subsidiaries; a phase out of using state-controlled non-profits to oversee economic development funds; a uniform contract process by the state, public authorities, and SUNY; new pay-to-play controls limiting contributions from those doing business with state entities; the creation of a database that reports the details of state subsidies and contracts given to businesses; and restoration of the Comptroller’s ability to review contracts issued by all state entities before they are signed.

Asked for a comment on Reinvent Albany's reform suggestions in light of Thursday's charges brought by Bharara, a spokesperson for Gov. Cuomo did not respond.

Jennifer Rodgers, executive director of The Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity at Columbia Law School and a former prosecutor who served in Bharara’s office, said that the charges give proof that the state’s economic development system failed.

"As shown by the allegations in the indictment, there was a clear failure here in the oversight of the bidding procedures related to these Buffalo Billion projects,” Rodgers said in a statement. “We need greater transparency in these processes and stronger oversight; hopefully this will prevent recurrences of a situation where public funds made their way into the defendant's' pockets instead of being used for the benefit of the people of New York."

IDC leader Sen. Jeff Klein (photo via The Governor's Office on Flickr)

As the Independent Democratic Conference of the State Senate prepares to cut a power-sharing deal, its hand has been bolstered by two new accounts, one of which has already paid dividends. The IDC, led by Senator Jeff Klein of the Bronx, has a new campaign committee that allows spending in races of interest and a party housekeeping account allows the IDC to raise unlimited cash to spend on party building, headquarters, and staffing expenses.

Currently five members including Klein, the conference, which has aligned with Republicans and may do so again after November’s elections, is set to add a sixth member. Thanks in part to the spending of its new campaign committee, the IDC bolstered the candidacy of Marisol Alcantara, who won a crowded September 13 primary to replace Senator Adriano Espaillat, who is headed to Congress. Alcantara has pledged to sit with the IDC when she takes office in January. Recent filings show the IDC spent over $97,000 on ads and other support for Alcantara.

While the New York political world has focused on Alcantara readying to join the IDC’s ranks and the spending of the new campaign committee, it is the party housekeeping account that could allow the IDC to establish itself as a more permanent fixture in state politics.

The rules governing housekeeping accounts have been criticized by a host of reform-minded politicians, good government groups, and even the defunct Moreland Commission on Public Corruption, set up and prematurely disbanded by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Housekeeping accounts tend to take in massive amounts of cash from limited liability corporations, or LLCs, allowing corporations and the wealthy outsize influence on the party apparatus. And, groups like Common Cause/NY have found that housekeeping accounts routinely violate restrictions that forbid them from spending on individual races.

Senator Klein himself has vowed that he wants to enact major reforms - he has called for banning outside income for legislators and instituting campaign finance reform. Klein has repeatedly touted that the IDC is the only conference to have signed on to “The Clean Conscience Pledge” pushed by good government groups that calls for closing the LLC loophole, limiting outside income, and making budget spending more transparent. The IDC has also repeatedly introduced “The Integrity in Elections Act” that establishes public financing of campaigns while limiting certain kinds of transfers between political committees and puts limits on independent expenditure campaigns.

Yet, the IDC has had a power-sharing agreement with Senate Republicans, who are steadfastly against campaign finance reform, closing the LLC loophole, and other reform measures. With the establishment of the campaign committee and housekeeping account, the IDC appears set to advance itself through the existing system.

Questions remain whether the creation of the committee and account are actually legal and those questions won’t likely be answered unless someone challenges them in court. Two parties that could do that - mainline Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans - don’t want to anger the IDC before it chooses who to caucus with and may not even want to anger the IDC afterwards, with future alliances in mind. Balance of power in the 63-seat state Senate is almost evenly split and there are a handful of swing districts around the state being decided upon in November. The IDC could provide a definitive bloc in chamber control.

Both the Senate Independent Campaign Committee and the housekeeping account were created in cooperation with the Independence Party, which has a limited electoral profile but does maintain a ballot line and its endorsement is sought after in many races. As of April 1, there were 475,566 New Yorkers registered to vote with the Independence Party, according to the state Board of Elections, many of whom have likely mistaken it for registering as an “independent,” or party-unaffiliated voter.

Campaign committees can take over $100,000 from single donors and distribute unlimited amounts to their candidates’ campaigns. This has allowed donors to skirt lower limits on direct contributions to candidate campaigns (and has landed Mayor Bill de Blasio and his associates under investigation from their 2014 efforts to swing the state Senate to Democrats).

“I really want to use this campaign committee as a vehicle for change,” Klein told Gotham Gazette during an interview in July, noting that he wanted to “elect new IDC members.” The IDC has positioned itself as a conference with appeal to the middle class and homeowners, backing a number of tax cuts and initiatives while also supporting charter schools. Short of Alcantara, its members are from more suburban communities. The IDC has also championed some progressive causes like paid family leave and tends to seize on headline-grabbing, hot-button issues, recently backing, for example, legislation designed to protect young Pokemon players from sex offenders.

Richard Fife, the campaign manager for Robert Jackson, who came in third place in the race to replace Espaillat, questioned the legality of the IDC’s spending on behalf of Alcantara. “We have these laws that we abide by and they found tricks,” Fife told The Daily News.

While the benefits of the IDC campaign committee is glaringly obvious, it has yet to be revealed what kind of role the housekeeping account will have.

According to state law, a party housekeeping account can be used for party building, paying staff, and promoting the party and its issues. It can’t spend on individual candidates or races.

However, one prominent New York election lawyer and a Democratic Party insider told Gotham Gazette they believe the IDC’s housekeeping account can’t spend to promote itself because the IDC is not actually a registered party -- its members all run on the Democratic ballot line.

The attorney also told Gotham Gazette that he believes the creation of the committee and the account could be easily challenged in court by anyone who takes issue with their creation. “No one has pushed back,” the lawyer said, “it will stand until someone challenges it in court.”

Both the lawyer and the Democrat, who requested anonymity to avoid getting personally involved in the complicated politics at play, framed the creation of the housekeeping account as being “creative” with the law. Klein has promised that he supports reforming the state’s campaign finance laws.

It will remain unclear for months what the housekeeping account is spending on because state law only requires housekeeping accounts to file their spending with the state Board of Elections in January and July. Gotham Gazette asked IDC spokesperson Candice Giove to disclose what the party has spent on and would be spending on, but she declined.

"The SICC housekeeping account will be used for housekeeping expenses in accordance with New York State election law,” said a spokesperson for the Senate Independence Campaign Committee.

Lawrence Mandelker, a lawyer representing the SICC, told Gotham Gazette that he felt legal concern with the creation of the committee is “Totally just noise-making,” and that he didn’t expect the committee and housekeeping account to be challenged in court. “Everything we did was totally researched, and complies with the letter of the law,” Mandelker said.

Pushed further for information on what the housekeeping account could be used for, Mandelker replied, “The Independence Party did this. We didn't create it, the Independence Party did it, you should talk to them.”

The only disclosed contributor to the SICC housekeeping account at this point is the IDC’s political action committee, The IDC Initiative, which gave two donations totaling $699,424 on August 16.

Independence Party Chair Frank MacKay did not respond to requests for comment.

Democratic Board of Elections Co-Chair Douglas Kellner told Gotham Gazette that although the BOE has yet to issue a formal opinion of the IDC’s use of a campaign committee and a housekeeping account, he personally sees nothing wrong with it. “If the Independence Party is saying it is their party, then I’m not aware how it would violate state statute.”

It is unlikely Democrats or Republicans will challenge the creation of the SICC and the SICC housekeeping account until after the IDC concludes its bi-annual negotiations and announces which conference it will empower. Even then, there may be no challenge.

Klein has spent this summer improving his negotiating position by electing Alcantara, spending at least $97,000 through the SICC on ads and polling in the process, according to the SICC’s 11-day pre-primary filing.

In aiding Alcantara, Klein has also cemented his alliance with Espaillat, who is himself building a powerful coalition and could prove a useful ally to the IDC in the future.

The SICC’s spending and addition of Alcantara may also go a ways toward quieting critics who have charged that the currently all-white conference has been effectively nullifying the votes of hundreds of thousands of diverse Democratic voters.

In the end, the housekeeping account may prove just as vital of a role but short of voluntary early disclosure by the IDC, voters won’t know until January.

A Common Cause/NY report from 2013, “Life of The Party,” detailed how housekeeping accounts have historically been used to benefit candidates, in direct conflict with state law. ""Non-campaign" soft money housekeeping expenditures regularly peak in the months prior to an election indicating that much of the spending is campaign related,” the report reads. “The election season spikes in housekeeping expenses are correlated to sharp increases in spending on advertising and mass-mailings, as well as hiring of political consultants.”