Heastie, Cuomo, Flanagan June 2015 (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor's Office)

Last week, the Senate came to standstill as the star of popular beer commercials came to the Capitol as a guest of Senate Republicans. Legislators of both parties fawned and snapped pictures with Jonathan Goldsmith, of Dos Equis fame. Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan’s office proudly posted a picture of the two men together on Twitter; Democratic legislators quoted catchphrases of “the most interesting man in the world” on the Senate floor. While it's fairly customary for both houses of the Legislature to honor various heroes and celebrities, it was striking to see the house come to standstill with less than two weeks left in the legislative session and a myriad of major policy issues not being given a moment of public debate.

On Wednesday, the Legislature will return to Albany after a long Memorial Day weekend facing just nine remaining scheduled session days. Many legislators and advocates have abandoned hope for any significant, substantive policy victories. After a particularly contentious budget process that yielded major victories for Governor Andrew Cuomo on a path toward a $15 minimum wage and paid family leave, the leadership of both houses appear to be more concerned with the impending election season than hashing out deals on a variety of subjects. The spectre of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has also chilled legislators’ appetites for deal-making. And yet there remain some policy matters that will likely be smashed together into a casserole of legislation that has come to be be known as “The Big Ugly.”

The convictions of both former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos on multiple federal corruption charges led many legislators and advocates to assume that this year would see significant action on government ethics reform. Gov. Cuomo put forth an ambitious ethics agenda during his January State of the State speech.

New Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan refused to negotiate ethics reforms in the March budget deal and has since stonewalled on any reform issue other than legislation to strip pensions from state employees convicted of felonies. The Assembly has refused to move on the Senate version of that bill because labor unions are concerned their members would lose their pensions after offenses.

Despite a standoff on ethics, legislators don’t appear worried that passing bills to allow fantasy sports gambling, online poker, mixed martial arts fighting, and easier access to liquor will hurt their chances at reelection this fall.

However, a new Siena Poll released Tuesday shows that 96 percent of voters say passing ethics reform legislation should be the top priority for legislators at session’s end - with 81 percent calling it “very important.”

Good government groups see the pension forfeiture measure as a token reform and have pressed for the closing of the “LLC loophole” that allows businesses to create multiple limited liability companies to donate virtually unlimited amounts of campaign cash; public financing of candidate campaigns; the end of lump sum appropriations in the budget; limits on political contributions by companies with business before the state; limits on legislators’ outside income; and a renovation of Albany’s ethics watchdog, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE).

Only one of those proposals, closing the LLC loophole, appears to have any life left this session. Meanwhile, top priorities for lawmakers appear to include legislation around the aforementioned topics like daily fantasy sports, but also regulations of for-hire vehicle services like Uber, combating the heroin epidemic and a couple of more serious issues - the governor has also mentioned an interest in a breast cancer screening program. High-profile legislation like the DREAM Act, which would make undocumented students eligible for state financial aid, and raising the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 17 or 18, appear completely off the table.

There is, though, the issue of mayoral control of New York City schools, which will expire at the end of June unless it is renewed, and whether Cuomo and legislative leaders can reach a memorandum of understanding around how $2 billion in budget money targeted for affordable housing will be spent.

As lawmakers, lobbyists, and advocates hit the home stretch of legislative session, the following issues may be on the verge of some action:

Campaign Finance Loophole
Gov. Cuomo recently proposed eight bills, all of which would restrict each LLC to giving $5,000, for every combination of different elected offices, and make the people behind LLCs more transparent. The legislation would not limit the number of related LLCs that can donate, though, nor would it address the issue of labor unions and their local subsidiaries, which some compare to the issue of LLCs.

One bill would cover only the Governor’s race - Cuomo said that bill was to “show that I’m willing to go first, and I’m willing to go it alone.”

State Senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat from Manhattan, said that she welcomes the effort despite not thinking the legislation goes far enough and not believing Senate Republicans will pass anything. Action on the LLC loophole would likely force Krueger and her allies who are suing the State Board of Elections to end the loophole to have to start the process all over again. “It might interfere with my lawsuit and yet I welcome it,” Krueger told Gotham Gazette. “Yes it will only limit LLCs to $5,000 and most of these real estate guys have tons of LLCs, but it's a start that I would welcome. However I don't have much faith the Senate will allow it.”

Senator Daniel Squadron, also a New York City Democrat, has repeatedly tried to force his bill to close the loophole to a vote in the Senate only to have it bottled up in committee. Squadron issued a statement supporting the governor’s menu of reforms. “However,” wrote Squadron, “it’s critical the Loophole be closed for the Legislature, especially given the central role the Loophole has played in ethics scandals in both houses. Anything else would be a cop-out by the Senate Republican Majority.”

Flanagan quickly shot down Cuomo’s efforts in a statement, rejecting the LLC loophole as a reform issue and insisting reform efforts should focus exclusively on reforms related to activities of Mayor Bill de Blasio, despite the fact that his predecessor, Skelos, was convicted on corruption charges that involved the influence of real estate groups that have flooded legislators’ campaign coffers with donations through the loophole. De Blasio is being investigated for efforts he led to flip the Senate into Democratic hands in 2014 and is the subject of other controversies that Flanagan referenced.

“We need to bolster our money laundering laws, move aggressively against straw donors and unmask the identity of those groups or individuals who want to operate in the shadows. We should take action to stop non-profits who flout transparency and who donate unlimited sums to directly support a politician’s agenda by regulating them through the Board of Elections, JCOPE or another appropriate agency with jurisdiction. We should clarify the laws which could potentially shield the so-called “agents of the City” and subject these secret agents to the same code of ethics and disclosure laws as the government officials they work for. And, we must provide more frequent and more timely disclosure, and insist on strict enforcement of the laws that are already on the books,” reads Flanagan’s statement.

Krueger said she is disappointed by what she sees as an attitude held by many legislators that there is nothing wrong with the status quo. “I can’t believe my colleagues wake up in the morning and think things are really OK here because things really are not OK,” said Krueger.

Heroin Opioids
Senate Republicans have made dealing with opioid and heroin addiction a priority for the year and Cuomo and legislators have held panels across the state in the last few weeks on how to address the problem. There will be another in Brooklyn on Wednesday.

“We will get a comprehensive plan done before session ends,” Cuomo said at a related event on Long Island on Wednesday. “We are not going to leave Albany until this state has the best plan to deal with this. Period.”

Cuomo is calling the crisis a health issue and said he agreed with a panel member who called on insurers to cover rehab for prescription pill addiction and said he would also like them to fund education efforts.

“Pharmaceutical companies have made a fortune selling these drugs,” Cuomo said. “We should now go back to them and say, 'you have to do an education effort and tell people about the dangers of these drugs,' which they have not done. And I would make them pay for it at their cost.”

Senate Republicans issued a report on May 17 proposing a “four pronged” approach to fighting heroin and opioid addiction. The report focuses on increasing awareness of the problem, expanding treatment through insurance coverage, providing better treatment programs, employment and diversion programs for recovering addicts, and giving law enforcement more leeway to fight drug trafficking.

“This report reinforces the notion that the scourge of heroin and opioid addiction does not affect one region of the state, or one race, or one ethnic group,” said Sen. John Bonacic, a Republican from Mount Hope, in a statement accompanying the release of the report. “It’s a global problem that affects everyone, and this report along with its recommendations, is a positive step towards the goal of one day ending this terrible epidemic.”

It is unclear how Cuomo’s task force will interact with the Senate findings, but a package deal on the crisis is expected to be reached before the end of session. Some of the criminal justice aspects could be contentious.

Alcohol Business
Gov. Cuomo is backing an overhaul of the state’s liquor control laws that date back to the days of prohibition as one of his top priorities. Cuomo has sought to make New York’s breweries and wine-making operations a draw for tourists and a boon for local agriculture. His omnibus bill introduced on May 18 would cut back restrictions on when alchohol and liquor can be served, lessen some burdens for the permitting process to serve alcohol, and reduce fees for wholesalers.

However, Democrats in the Assembly and Senate have expressed concerns that the bill goes too far and could create tension in New York City neighborhoods where bars are sited close to churches and residential areas. “I have a real concern that the governor’s alcohol legislation will end up locating bars near churches,” Krueger told Gotham Gazette. “It is an issue of space unique to New York City, and I’m not sure that has been taken into account.”

Assemblymember Robin Schimminger, a Democrat from Buffalo, expressed similar concerns to Politico New York. “It looks as though this bill would allow ex-cons to get licenses to operate taverns adjacent to churches and sell shots and beers as early as 8 a.m. on Sunday mornings,” said Schimminger. "Obviously, there are many issues with this package.”

Schimminger told Politico he doubts the bill will pass this session as it stands.

Daily Fantasy Sports & Other Betting
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman had barely announced his suit against major fantasy sports operators FanDuel and DraftKings for violating the state’s gambling laws before legislators rushed to promise to legalize the practice. The companies reached a settlement with Schneiderman in late March, promising to cease operations in the state to give the Legislature a chance to change the law.

Assemblymember Gary Pretlow, a Democrat from Mount Vernon, and Sen. Bonacic have led the charge to legalize in their respective houses to legalize daily fantasy sports betting. Bonacic’s bill has moved forward in the Senate while Pretlow introduced his on Friday. There are differences in the bills, but both include legalization as well as a licensing fee and a tax. Both bills would tax companies 15 percent.

Bonacic is also sponsoring a bill to legalize online poker.

Some legislators are concerned that the allure of money - both revenue for the state and campaign contributions from major gambling interests - has effectively killed any debate about the impact of gambling on New Yorkers, especially as the state just recently allowed the construction of a number of casinos.

“It is telling that this is a priority at the end of session,” Krueger said. “This is just another example of an industry with loads of money that is going to get what it wants without any real consideration of how what they are asking for will impact the state.”

A number of Democrats say even without the question of morality they wonder when the legalization of so many ways to gamble in the state - from racetrack betting to video slots, casinos, online games, the state lottery, and more - will eventually lead to diminishing returns.

Housing
Senate Republicans and Gov. Cuomo have been pushing for a renewal of the 421-a property tax credit used toward the development of affordable housing that expired at the end of last year. Housing advocates insist that if any discussion of the issue comes up, rent regulation laws must be renegotiated as the two were tied together last year. The tax break expired after real estate and labor failed to come to a deal. The fate of the bill was put in their hands by Cuomo and legislative leaders after the governor insisted any deal had to include wage guarantees for labor - a position the governor still holds despite the fact that no deal has been reached and there are concerns about the development of affordable rental housing in New York City. With few days left in session many doubt anything will come to pass on 421-a or the rent laws.

However, one major housing issue remains that can’t be legislated but should be taken up in a technical process by the governor and legislative leaders. Two billion dollars in funds was included in the state budget to be spent on the creation of affordable housing. While the cash was appropriated Cuomo and legislative leaders neglected to actually spell out how any of the cash would be spent. They are now expected to negotiate an memorandum of understanding to spell it all out. Legislators concerned with how the plan will be decided have said for weeks they expect negotiations with Cuomo’s office to start soon but it is unclear where things currently stand.

A group of housing advocates especially focused on funding supportive housing, which includes social services, has launched a campaign to push Cuomo to finally cut a deal and release the funds. “Promises don't build housing," Mary Brosnahan, president and CEO of the Coalition for the Homeless, told The Daily News. "Tens of thousands of homeless New Yorkers await the governor to take immediate action and make good on his promise to build supportive housing. We need Gov. Cuomo's leadership to secure the required MOU."

Mayoral Control
It is assumed, despite Flanagan’s repeated lashings of de Blasio and the fact that his conference is set on using the mayor as a boogeyman in upcoming Senate races, that there will be some sort of extension of mayoral control of New York City schools in order to keep the system alive. How long the extension will be is unclear - some legislators have begun to assume that Senate Republicans will demand another simple one-year extension as they did last year in order to punish de Blasio. Assembly Democrats recently passed a three-year extension, which is what the governor proposed in his budget.

'Playing Defense'
The budget deal or end-of-session “Big Ugly” are notorious for packaging major bills with a number of narrow, industry-tailored pieces of legislation that are not subject to appropriate scrutiny. Last year, the Legislature barely managed to tackle any substantive issues in the budget, but did approve a tax break for luxury yacht buyers that was supported by yacht retailers. One of the arguments for the bill, made by Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie at the time was that “Right now, no one purchases their yachts in the State of New York because Florida offers a similar program.”

Krueger said that at this point in session she is past thinking about what good might get done and is focused on trying to catch bad legislation that may get forced through in a last-minute deal.

“I’m really playing defense now. I don’t have much hope for this session,” Krueger said. “I’m on the outlook for those really bad bills that tend to sneak out while no one is paying attention.”

New York City Hall

What to watch for this week in New York politics:

This week we're continuing to look for developments in the investigations into Mayor Bill de Blasio, his administration and allies and into Governor Andrew Cuomo's economic development programs, his administration and allies.

Meanwhile, there are nine legislative session days left in Albany, if lawmakers use them all, including this week’s Wednesday and Thursday meetings. Mayoral control of New York City schools must be dealt with - it is due to expire at the end of June. There are a variety of other high-profile issues that may see legislation, like changes to the state's laws around child sex abuse and daily fantasy sports betting, as well as government ethics reforms like limiting the LLC loophole or modifying pension forfeiture laws; but lawmakers may do very little and get out of town. All 213 seats in the Assembly (150) and Senate (63) are up for election this fall and legislators may be eager to devote their full attention to their home districts, campaign fundraising, and re-election efforts.

And as we hit June, it's also crunch time in city budget season, so we're following the final negotiations between Mayor de Blasio and the City Council. It has been a fairly quiet budget season, though the Council is pushing for several additions to funding before a final budget is adopted by the July 1 start of the new fiscal year. Those items include additional funding for arts programs, summer camps, and summer youth employment.

While it is a fairly quiet post-holiday week in terms of events, there are several hearings at the Council and more 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?
e-mail Gotham Gazette editor Ben Max: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.***

The run of the week in detail:

Monday - Memorial Day

Tuesday
Mayor de Blasio has no public events scheduled Tuesday. The same goes for Gov. Cuomo.

On Tuesday at 9 a.m. at Fordham University, schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña “will deliver brief remarks at a professional development for bilingual educators, hosted by the DOE's Division of English Language Learners and Student Support.”

At the City Council on Tuesday: at 1 p.m., the Committee on Environmental Protection will hold an oversight hearing on facilitating solar energy production in the city.

At 1 p.m. Tuesday at the David Dinkins Municipal Building, there will be a Gun Violence Awareness Month press conference. Public Advocate Letitia James, Comptroller Scott Stringer, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Council Members Jumaane Williams, Vanessa Gibson, and Laurie Cumbo; representatives from the de Blasio administration; and leading community activists will speak.

Wednesday
Both houses of the state Legislature are in session on Wednesday in Albany.

On Wednesday at 10 a.m. in Albany, the Senate Standing Committee on Banks will hold a hearing examining credit and capital access for Minority and Women Owned Businesses.

On Wednesday, The Fund for the City of New York will announce the recipients of the 2016 Sloan Public Service Awards, the leading independent honor for City employees given each year to those who have built long careers serving New Yorkers. This year’s recipients—who have worked for the City for a combined 200 years—include longtime employees of the NYPD, MTA, Human Resources Administration, Department of Health and Hospitals, Department of Environmental Protection, and Department for the Aging.

On Wednesday evening, "Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., together with Council Members Ritchie Torres and James Vacca, will co-host the borough’s sixth annual LGBTQ & Allies Pride Awards Ceremony."

Thursday
Both houses of the state Legislature are in session on Thursday in Albany.

On Thursday City Council Member Andy King will hold a “Wear Orange/National Gun Violence Awareness Day” press conference at 7 a.m. in front of PS 111..."Dedicating themselves to reducing the deadly crisis of gun violence, more than 100 public school students will be dressed in orange -- the official color of National Gun Violence Awareness Month -- to speak out against gun violence." Then, at 8 a.m., Council Member King "and the Justice League NYC will kick off the “March4Ramarley” March...at 749 E. 229th St...The group will march 17 miles from the home of the slain Bronx teen Ramarley Graham, to 1 Police Plaza, Manhattan, calling on Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Bratton to fire all the NYPD officers involved in the killing of Graham."

At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, New York State Senator Jesse Hamilton will highlight improvements the community has made over the last year and present his policy priorities for 2016 and beyond at his State of the District Address, to be delivered in conjunction with a Community Resource Fair.

At the City Council on Thursday:

• 9:30 a.m., the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises will meet.
• 10 a.m., the Committee on Women’s Issues will hold a hearing on three bills that would require free feminine hygiene products be provided to inmates at the Department of Correction, supplied by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene at temporary shelters, and supplied by DOHMH to all schools. [Read more about the bills and what to expect at the hearing: Council to Hear Bills on Providing Tampons at Prisons, Shelters & Schools]
• 11 a.m., the Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Siting and Maritime Uses will meet.

Friday and the weekend
At the City Council on Friday at 10 a.m., the Committee on Recovery and Resiliency will hold an oversight hearing on the financing of the city’s recovery from Hurricane Sandy.

***
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 Aaron Holmes and Ben Max
@GothamGazette

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

In trying to stifle the blaze that has become U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s investigation into the Buffalo Billion economic development program, Governor Andrew Cuomo has repeatedly invoked the name of Bart Schwartz, a former federal prosecutor the administration has retained (or is in the process of retaining) to carry out an “independent” review of the project.

In acknowledging that people close to him were being investigated in relation to the Buffalo Billion, Cuomo announced Schwartz’s hire on April 29.

When the Public Authorities Control Board met this week and approved without debate another $485 million for a key Buffalo Billion project, the administration quickly reminded reporters that Schwartz would now provide another layer of oversight by considering approval of disbursement of the funds.

The day before, Cuomo told reporters he had yet to finalize Schwartz’s contract. The governor also appeared unsure whether Schwartz would make his findings public. Administration officials later clarified Schwartz would release his findings as long as doing so wouldn’t interfere with Bharara’s investigation, which appears to be focused on bid-rigging and a web of relationships among private and public entities.

Even as Schwartz’s presence is held up as a measure of confidence in the Cuomo administration and the state’s vast economic development apparatus, several questions about Schwartz’s role and power remain. These include whether Schwartz has already started his work; when his contract will be available to the public; if his efforts are duplicative of the U.S. attorney’s office’s; and what authority Schwartz will invoke to audit the nonprofits that oversee the Buffalo Billion, which are said to be independent from the Governor’s Office.

Both the Cuomo administration and Schwartz’s recently-hired public relations firm failed to respond to Gotham Gazette’s questions about Schwartz’s role.

“In the real world someone doesn’t start work before they have a contract,” said Blair Horner of The New York Public Interest Research Group.

In conjunction with Cuomo's office, Schwartz issued a statement April 29 detailing some of his plans and saying he would begin immediately.

“The state has reason to believe that in certain programs and regulatory approvals they may have been defrauded by improper bidding and failures to disclose potential conflicts of interest by lobbyists and former state employees,” Schwartz wrote, in apparent reference to Cuomo associates Joseph Percoco and Todd Howe.

“As the state needs to continue operating these important programs, they have asked me to commence an immediate review of all grants and approvals – past, current and future – in certain programs and operations including the Buffalo Billion/Nano Economic Development Program,” Schwartz wrote.

It remains unclear exactly what Schwartz will be reviewing and how he will conduct his work. Part of the uncertainty and unease around Schwartz’s role held by some stems from Cuomo’s messaging around the investigation and various long-standing concerns about the Buffalo Billion.

There are three major questions about the Buffalo Billion raised by watchdogs and, it seems, Bharara’s office: Was the contracting process designed to benefit Cuomo campaign donors? Did Cuomo loyalists use their connections to play both sides of the contracting process? Are SUNY Polytechnic, the college that oversees the distribution of Buffalo Billion funds, and its associated nonprofits doing enough to make sure corporations like SolarCIty make good on their jobs promises and other deliverables. SolarCity recently appeared to revise the number of jobs it expects to host in its Buffalo Billion-funded factory and pushed back the factory’s open date.

Cuomo himself appears to have introduced a fourth question, which goes something like: Did someone steal money? It's a question watchdogs see as misdirection given that many of them doubt any money was actually secretly taken by lobbyists or contractors - they are more concerned about contracts being awarded improperly.

While Cuomo is calling it a measure to ensure integrity, Schwartz’s appointment is seen as a smokescreen by many legislators and watchdogs who are concerned about the Buffalo Billion. The governor has continued to tell the press that the investigations by Bharara and Schwartz will examine the possible wrongdoing of “one or two” individuals while analysts say Bharara’s subpoenas indicate an investigation into systemic corruption.

“This is a major effort the state is running that is working extraordinarily well and is vitally important to upstate New York,” Cuomo told reporters in Syracuse on Wednesday of the Buffalo Billion. “There is no reason to stop investing in upstate New York, to hurt the upstate economy, because a couple of people may or may not have done something wrong.” He went on to say: “You have questions raised about the conduct of several individuals. That’s now being investigated by the U.S. attorney. We also started our own internal investigation by a former prosecutor.”

Cuomo has also said he will “throw the book” at anyone found to have violated the public trust, and that he holds every Buffalo Billion dollar as “sacred.”

Without seeing Schwartz’s contract it won’t be possible to ascertain what Cuomo has actually tasked him with investigating. It also won’t be clear what the public is actually paying him to investigate a project that watchdogs say should have already been monitored by the state Comptroller.

“It’s ironic that [Cuomo] has gone out and hired someone who apparently will have access to contracts and information that the Comptroller of New York, who is independent, doesn’t have access to,” said E.J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center for Public Policy. McMahon did note that Schwartz isn’t “political” or “one of the governor’s people,” though.

When Schwartz’s role was first announced on April 29, Cuomo Counsel Alphonso David said of the Buffalo Billion, “Any grants made by this program will be thoroughly scrutinized – past, current or future.” David’s statement accompanied Schwartz’s in the same release to the media.

Schwartz may indeed be performing duties that once belonged to the Comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, who was formerly allowed to review SUNY and CUNY contracts. That ability was stripped by Cuomo and the Legislature in 2011. SUNY Polytechnic has created two nonprofits to distribute state cash to various economic development projects across New York.

John Kaehny of Reinvent Albany, a group that has been closely tracking the Buffalo Billion, said that it is unclear to him what problems the governor has asked Schwartz to examine, especially because Schwartz’s contract has yet to be made public. “Where is his contract? Exactly what does it say?” Kaehny asked, wondering whether Schwartz is focused on everyday expenditures or aspects of possible pay-to-play and conflict of interest in the awarding of contracts.

After news broke this month that Bharara had subpoenaed Cuomo’s office, DiNapoli unveiled a series of reform proposals that watchdogs say would upend how the Buffalo Billion is administered and overseen by the state. His plan would ban lump sum appropriations, create a council to plan capital spending, and require economic development program proposals to be scored and ranked in a public database.

“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,” reads a release from DiNapoli’s office detailing the reforms. “DiNapoli’s proposal would require state-funded public authority projects to be scored and ranked using measurable and objective criteria. His proposal also requires more disclosure of public authorities’ spending and financing activities.”

DiNapoli also recently indicated that he may investigate parts of the Buffalo Billion.

“Why, other than Cuomo saying so and Schwartz saying so, is there any reason to think that Schwartz is completely independent of the governor's office?” asked Kaehny. “Schwartz is not a court appointed monitor, nor is he reporting to a board of directors. He is effectively reporting to a CEO with no board whose top associates are under federal investigation.”

Dick Dadey, executive director of government reform group Citizens Union, said it is critical for the integrity of Schwartz’s work to make the terms of his employment clear. “If this investigation is about transparency it should start by making this contract public to reassure people that there will not be a repeat of the Moreland Commission where the governor promised independence but abruptly shuttered it.”

Cuomo told reporters on Tuesday “We're doing a contract that's being finalized now. When it's finalized we’ll give it to you.” He added negotiations were about “the dollars.”

The use of nonprofits to disburse government funds has led many to question the application of state procurement rules requiring an open request for proposals process. The RFPs for two major Buffalo Billion projects appeared tailored for the two firms that won them, both of which donated generously to Cuomo.

Kaehny, in a press release, asked members of the Public Authorities Control Board, a five-member group appointed by the governor, four of whom are recommended by heads of the Legislature’s majority and minority conferences, that is tasked with approving funding for state economic development projects, to pose that very question in their meeting on Wednesday. It was not asked.

However, the Assembly Democrats' representative on the board said she was voting for disbursing the funds with several conditions of more transparency and oversight.

SUNY Poly has previously insisted that the nonprofits do abide by those rules.

“SUNY Poly and our related entities follow New York state government’s well-established and legally defined procurement procedures — to the letter,” David Doyle, a spokesman for SUNY Poly, told the Times Union in a September letter.

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office declined to comment on whether the office believes the law actually applies to the nonprofits.

For the first time, on Wednesday Cuomo denied having influenced the contracting process for the Buffalo Billion. “The way it worked...the state didn't do any of the contracts," Cuomo was quoted as saying by The Post Standard. "It's all done through SUNY, the state university system. They are the ones that actually managed the contracting process. They are the ones who ran the contracts, ran the competitions, made the selections," he said. "I had absolutely nothing to do with that. It was done by SUNY.”

However, as Cuomo distances himself from SUNY Poly and its decisions in contracting, his appointment of Schwartz brings into question just how much control the governor does have over the SUNY nonprofits. It appears, in a sense, by hiring Schwartz Cuomo is saying he has direct authority over all the entities involved despite legal and rhetorical framework painting them as independent.

Kaehny said he doesn’t believe Cuomo has “the legal authority” to direct the Empire State Development Corporation or SUNY’s nonprofits to allow Schwartz to review their contracts or approve them. “ESDC is a public authority with a legally independent board and the nonprofits also have legally independent boards,” said Kaehny. “If they want to vote to subject themselves to control by Schwartz, they could do that, but that would be abdicating their fiduciary duty to a consultant to the governor, which raises questions of separation of powers. Are these entities independent of the governor or not? If they are not, then why are they exempt from state contracting and conflict of interest rules?”

SUNY Poly and a representative of Fort Schuyler Management, one of SUNY Poly’s nonprofits that administers the Buffalo Billion, failed to return requests for comment on whether Schwartz had begun his work and whether the boards of Fort Schuyler Management and Fuller Road Management had decided to give Schwartz access to their decision making processes.

On Tuesday Cuomo was asked about the scrutiny of his use of nonprofits and whether he would consider changing the process. “What's interesting is that all predated me, right?” Cuomo said to reporters. “That went back to Governor Pataki, who was a saint. That was all in place and we used the existing mechanism; we did not design that mechanism.”

Watchdogs say this is another misdirection by Cuomo as the particular system he has used to expedite Buffalo Billion was pioneered by SUNY Poly head Alain Kaloyeros during Cuomo’s time in office.

“The governor said the structure was here when he got here,” said McMahon of the Empire Center. “That isn’t true. It was set up by a very ambitious college president [Kaloyeros] who wanted to expedite the construction of his empire. The governor has used it because he can get done what he wants to get done faster. It avoids the niceties that usually go into spending public money.”

Dadey said there should be no mistake that Schwartz’s full task is to examine systemic issues in the Buffalo Billion and not just look for possible wrongdoing. “The SUNY cartel is hard to follow and that is a problem. Bart Schwartz's task is not just to find out if someone did something wrong, but to examine this opaque system and suggest ways to improve it, so voters can have faith in it.”

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

IBM (photo: Patrick via Flickr)

International Business Machines (IBM) has a long history in New York - its headquarters is located on the New York-Connecticut border in Armonk; it used to be one of the largest employers in the state; and it was part of a 2011 deal to bring $4.4 billion in investments to upstate New York through the creation of a high-tech computer chip manufacturing plant. The success of the company and the overall state economy have travelled similar paths, both flourishing at times, but when IBM laid off scores of employees, the state suffered.

Given its massive business interests it isn’t surprising that the company contracts with a host of New York-based lobbying firms. But IBM’s choice of a new firm in 2013 is raising eyebrows.

That year, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo ramped up his Buffalo Billion economic development program, IBM retained Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP. A few months later, IBM was part of a September 2013 Buffalo Billion deal that saw the state pledge $55 million to create information technology infrastructure in the beleaguered western New York city Cuomo had targeted for roughly a billion dollars of investment. In turn, IBM pledged to bring 500 information technology jobs to the area.

Whiteman Osterman & Hanna is one of Albany’s largest firms, with 75 attorneys, a wide variety of service offerings, and a location across the street from the state capitol. The firm has been influential in securing development deals with SUNY Polytechnic and its nonprofits that oversee the distribution of Buffalo Billion funds.

The Washington, D.C. subsidiary of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, formerly run by lobbyist Todd Howe, is a target of the federal probe into the Buffalo Billion by the office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, and the Cuomo administration has banned state employees from interacting with that subsidiary, WOH Government Solutions.

Whiteman, Osterman & Hanna is deeply involved in a web of relationships surrounding the Buffalo Billion program. Hiring the company is an apparent gateway to major business with state entities.

IBM retained WOH for the first time in early 2013, according to filings with the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE), a state regulatory body that tracks lobbying. In September of that year SUNY Poly entered into a deal with IBM, which would see the state invest $55 million into the Buffalo Information Technologies Innovation and Commercialization Hub. The hub is being designed and built by the state and IBM, other information technologies firms will have access to its resources. Cuomo announced the project in February 2014.

IBM promised in return to bring the 500 new information technology jobs to Buffalo by September of 2020. Company officials have stressed that not all of the jobs will be IBM employees - they expect some to be provided by firms that deliver services to the technology center.

Essentially, the state funded the creation of a ready-to-use research center and has handed it over to IBM while expecting other businesses and state agencies to also utilize the infrastructure.

“New York State will commit, through CNSE (College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering), $55 million, which includes $25 million to establish an open innovation facility and $30 million to purchase IT equipment and software to be used at the Buffalo Information Technologies Innovation and Commercialization Hub,” reads a February 2014 announcement from the Cuomo administration. “The Hub will be owned by New York State with IBM as the first anchor tenant and made available to all IT units at all state agencies. The facility will open in early 2015 in downtown Buffalo.”

Jerry Gretzinger, spokesperson for SUNY Polytechnic, said that funding for the project is going towards purchase of the building, infrastructure, equipment, and installation. “IBM has taken up residence in Buffalo with hundreds of employees working in Key Tower. The company is receiving no funding, which is consistent with the state's economic development model,” Gretzinger told Gotham Gazette.

The federal probe into the Buffalo Billion appears to be examining possible bid rigging around the construction contracts for both the SolarCity project and the information technology innovation center. There are concerns the requests for proposals (RFPs) for both projects were designed specifically for large Cuomo donors to win. McGuire development, winner of the information technology innovation center contract, donated $35,500 to Cuomo from December 27, 2013 to October 12, 2014. The project was announced in February 2014. The largest single donation from McGuire Development, $25,000, came in May of 2014.

McGuire development wasn't the only major Cuomo donor to benefit from IBM's participation in the Buffalo Billion. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Ciminelli Real Estate lost a major tenant at its property, The Key Tower, in 2013 - IBM has since moved in to the tower as part of its deal with the state. Paul Ciminelli, head of Ciminelli Real Estate, has donated $9,000 to Cuomo. His brother Louis Ciminelli, head of LPCiminelli, donated $29,200 to Cuomo in January 2014, just before the firm was awarded a contract, now reported to be under federal investigation, to develop parts of the Buffalo Billion. The Times found that the Ciminellis and their associates have donated $150,000 to Cuomo's various campaigns.

Recent subpoenas appear to target the relationship between former Cuomo aides Todd Howe, the aforementioned lobbyist, and Joe Percoco and work they did lobbying for clients to win Buffalo Billion contracts. No one, including IBM, has been charged with any wrongdoing.

Three sources familiar with the workings of the Buffalo Billion program say that WOH and Howe’s D.C. subsidiary were seen as critical in getting the attention of the Cuomo administration on Buffalo Billion projects. IBM did not return requests for comment, neither did WOH. WOH’s website advertised Howe and the services he could provide for New York clients until the page was removed after news broke of Bharara’s probe into Howe’s relationships and dealings.

JCOPE filings show IBM paid WOH a combined $240,000 in 2013 and 2014 and $120,000 in 2015. WOH was the only new New York-based lobbying firm IBM hired in 2013. The filings do not list any lobbying activity by WOH on behalf of IBM on any specific legislation or issue. However, the WOH employee listed on the disclosure, Richard Leckerling, a partner at WOH specializing in government contracts and government relations, is listed as managing the account. Another WOH lobbyist listed on the disclosure, William Crowell, is shown to have the sole area of practice as government relations according to the firm’s site. Leckerling did not respond to requests for comment.

Leckerling also serves on the board of the SUNY Poly’s children’s museum along with three members of SUNY Poly.

The Investigative Post has detailed Leckerling’s involvement with the two nonprofits that SUNY uses to funnel money to Buffalo Billion projects.

Fuller Road Management Corporation, one of Suny Poly’s nonprofits, paid $330,000 in legal fees to WOH from 2012 to 2014, according to The Investigative Post. Meanwhile, Leckerling has attended meetings of SUNY Poly’s other nonprofit, Fort Schuyler Management Corp.

Robert Samson, former head of IBM’s global public sector, serves on the board of Fort Schuyler Management Corp. Samson has served as a technology advisor to Cuomo and has donated to Cuomo’s campaigns. He joined the Fort Schuyler board in 2014.

The Whiteman Osterman & Hanna website advertises its government affairs work and ability to help clients land government business. “Whiteman Osterman & Hanna’s focus on matters at the intersection of the private and public sectors has led to the natural development of a vibrant practice of advising and assisting commercial enterprises and public entities through the state and municipal procurement processes. Based in Albany, New York, the Firm has represented commercial enterprises in a wide range of commodity and service procurements, including telecommunications, information technology, industrial supplies, food commodities, and environmental and financial services,” reads the firm’s site.

State law bans lobbying on procurement after the state issues requests for proposals, but IBM’s residency in the technology center did not come about as the result of an RFP. Like a host of other subsidy projects aimed at large corporations, negotiations around IBM’s involvement in the Buffalo Billion appear not to have taken place in public or through a public process.

SUNY Polytechnic reported doing business with WOH in 2015 for $2,056. The work is listed as lobbying related to “higher education” and involving the Assembly, Senate and executive branch. SUNY Poly’s founding president and chief operating officer, Dr. Alain Kaloyeros, is also a target of the U.S. Attorney’s investigation.

As the Buffalo Billion probe has ramped up and become more public, Whiteman Osterman & Hanna fired Todd Howe, a Cuomo family confidante who worked on at least one of Andrew Cuomo’s campaigns. Howe worked with SUNY Polytechnic as well as a number of firms with business before the state that won contracts with the Buffalo Billion while he ran the WOH subsidiary in D.C.

Howe worked for former Governor Mario Cuomo for a decade and is reported to have been a key member of the Cuomo clan. He worked for Andrew Cuomo during his time at HUD and on his reelection campaign and has done fundraising work for him. Howe landed major clients as a lobbyist because of his status as a Cuomo insider. At the same time, a recent New York Times profile painted a picture of someone struggling to hide a serious personal financial crisis while maintaining the image of a successful lobbyist. The Cuomo administration issued statements acknowledging there may have been improper lobbying involving Howe and Percoco, who was a long-time aide to Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo has sought to distance himself from Howe. “I wouldn’t call us close friends,” the governor told reporters earlier this month. “He worked for the state for a number of years, but I had no knowledge of his personal situation.”

De Blasio testifies in Albany, May 4 (photo: Demetrius Freeman/Mayor's Office)

In 2009, then rank-and-file Assembly Member Carl Heastie was the lead sponsor of a bill designed to weaken then Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ability to determine education policy in New York City. Seven years later, Assembly Speaker Heastie is thought to be Mayor Bill de Blasio’s greatest ally in the fight to renew the system of mayoral control of city schools as is.

The 2009 bill, called the Better Schools Act, would have removed the mayor’s ability to name the majority of members of the Panel For Educational Policy, allowed the city’s Independent Budget Office to audit "financial investments and academic achievement," and provided training for parents and teachers to be more involved in the system.

The bill never came to a vote in the Assembly as then Speaker Sheldon Silver was a supporter of mayoral control. The bill died in the education committee two years in a row. It did, however, get a vote in the Senate in July 2009 where it was voted down. Bloomberg, in 2002 the first mayor given mayoral control of schools, won a six-year extension.

That extension came due mid-way through de Blasio’s second year in office last year and the mayor was given just one year more as his ongoing conflicts with Senate Republicans, who control that chamber, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, dominated policy-making in a turbulent Albany rocked by scandal.

Both Senate Republicans and Gov. Cuomo disagree with de Blasio on several aspects of education policy, like support for charter schools, while also having major political problems with the mayor.

Cuomo has proposed a three-year extension and stayed out of the public discussion, but the dynamics between de Blasio and Senate Republicans appear to have killed any chance at a nuanced debate as an extension is again being considered and de Blasio was asked to participate in two May hearings on mayoral control of the schools. He attended the first, in Albany, and sat for four hours of testimony, but declined to appear at the second, in New York City, letting his schools chancellor, Carmen Fariña appear. Senate Republicans, especially Majority Leader John Flanagan, were not happy.

The irony, which applies to many involved in this education debate, is that de Blasio’s belief in the concentrated system of power that mayoral control provides more closely aligns with his biggest critics, while de Blasio’s allies are forced to support a system they largely criticized under Bloomberg.

Education reform groups, largely funded by major donors to Senate Republicans, have staged protests of de Blasio’s policies, but continue to support mayoral control as a governing system. The city’s teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), was often at odds with Bloomberg and is very close with de Blasio, but has not been a vocal supporter of mayoral control. The UFT and Senate Republicans are often antagonists and the union declined to testify at either hearing this month.

Sen. Diane Savino, a member of the Independent Democratic Conference from Staten Island, was a cosponsor of the Better Schools Act and said it was obvious to her why the tune in Albany has changed. “Then it was Bloomberg and now it’s de Blasio. It’s just about who is mayor,” Savino told Gotham Gazette. “Quite frankly politics has taken over the issue in both houses. We should be talking about how to make the system better. The concerns everyone had in 2009 are still concerns today. If the PEP was a problem then, the PEP is a problem now. If parental involvement was a problem then, it’s a problem now.”

Heastie’s office did not return request for comment on his past support of the bill and whether he would be interested in voting on a bill that alters the current school governance system. A spokesperson for Senate Republicans declined to comment on Heastie’s support and whether Flanagan is considering changes to mayoral control. Flanagan has been critical of de Blasio on a number of fronts, including in a statement after the mayor’s Albany testimony in which Flanagan said de Blasio had not answered questions to his satisfaction.

The Better Schools Act would have expanded the PEP from 13 to 17 members serving two-year terms, with the mayor appointing eight members, each borough president one, one by the City Council, one by the Governor, and one by each head of the Assembly and Senate majorities.

Now, the panel’s 13 members include eight appointed by the mayor and one each by the five borough presidents.

“Bloomberg had gravitas and immense wealth; de Blasio has neither,” said Doug Muzzio, professor of political science at Baruch College, when asked what he saw as the major difference between the 2009 and 2016 battles for extending mayoral control.

In 2009 Senate Republicans were Bloomberg’s greatest ally. The mayor was seen by many as the conference’s financier, but for the first time in decades they were technically no longer in control of the chamber. That is until then Senator Dean Skelos teamed with rogue Democratic Senators Pedro Espada and Hiram Monserrate to stage a coup, suddenly casting a leadership vote that other Democrats protested. The following legal and political battles saw the chamber sit empty for months. State government was crippled and mayoral control expired. Technically, the system reverted back to the old Board of Educaiton set-up with more decentralized power, something many have called inefficient, ineffective, and rife with nepotism and corruption.

When Democrats regained control of the chamber in 2009 then Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson insisted on making a number of changes to mayoral control to increase parental involvement, angering Bloomberg. Sampson and other Democrats continued to hold a grudge against Bloomberg for his generous financial support of Senate Republicans.

Despite their general support for Bloomberg, a number of city-based Republicans at the time also advocated changes to increase parental participation in education decision making.

Some of the major players against mayoral control included Sampson, Espada and Senators Carl Kruger and Shirley Huntley. All of them have since been convicted on corruption charges (as has Skelos).

Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters, a group that is opposed to mayoral control, said she recalls being disillusioned after having a much-anticipated meeting with Assembly Speaker Silver (also since convicted on corruption charges). “He just shrugged and blew us off. We made no headway with him whatsoever,” said Haimson. “We didn't have a chance in hell getting anything through because Shelly Silver wouldn't do anything and we knew Senate Republicans were going to do anything Bloomberg wanted, that was very clear.”

Eventually Bloomberg abandoned negotiating with Senate Democrats and invoked Neville Chamberlain in a an interview. Senate Democrats were outraged saying Bloomberg had compared them to Nazis. Asked by a reporter whether he meant to compare Democratic state senators to Nazis, Bloomberg replied: “I certainly did. What part of that did they not understand? This is ridiculous." The mayor’s team later walked things back, saying he hadn’t heard the question.

The New York Post, meanwhile, ran a month-long series of pieces highlighting the benefits of mayoral control, titled “City Schools, City Rules.” The Post later celebrated its own coverage, running an August 2009 story with collected quotes from public officials, including Bloomberg, praising its reporting on the subject and taking some credit for the deal that was reached. Post front pages that spring had been unsparing, salacious attacks on the dysfunction in Albany - the paper even sent a clown and had her pose for pictures with legislators. Those pictures later became even more salacious covers.

The deal that was struck gave Bloomberg a six-year extension, but included new checks and balances: the IBO with more oversight over education spending, required hearings over the potential closure of underperforming schools, and Panel for Education Policy approval of Department of Education contracts worth more than $1 million.

Last year, as mayoral control was heading toward sunset, the Legislature was rocked by the indictments of its legislative leaders - Silver and Skelos. The Legislature was finding its footing under the new leadership of Assembly Speaker Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Flanagan as the mayoral control deadline approached. Bloomberg was no longer mayor, his large donations to Senate Republicans had ceased. Heastie, a Bronx Democrat, and de Blasio were developing a strong alliance.

De Blasio not only wasn’t donating to Republican candidates - quite the opposite - he was finding creative ways to donate to swing-district Democratic candidates in their bids to unseat Republicans and win back control of the chamber. Flanagan balked at proposals to renew mayoral control by the six years it been extended under Bloomberg or even the three proposed by Gov. Cuomo and others. De Blasio was calling for it to be made permanent. When the legislative session’s “big ugly” hodgepodge of legislation was unveiled, de Blasio was left with a somewhat shocking one-year extension.

The mayor knew Senate Republicans were behind the minimal renewal, but he also blamed Cuomo for not going to bat for him - part of why de Blasio unleashed a very public tirade against Cuomo on June 30.

This year, de Blasio’s position is even weaker and Albany only slightly less chaotic. The year started with the convictions of both Skelos and Silver and then news of federal investigations into de Blasio’s fund-raising and Cuomo’s economic development programs. Senate Republicans are now on edge as they lost the seat Skelos held for decades to Democrat Todd Kaminsky and they face the prospects of a number of aging and retiring members. But the de Blasio scandal has given them hope as the probe into his 2014 fundraising for those state Senate races has led investigators to a number of districts with races that could determine control of the chamber. Democrats are sure to continue to dominate the Assembly. Carl Heastie remains de Blasio’s most important Albany ally.

Flanagan has held hearings on mayoral control over de Blasio’s head. The first hearing, on May 4, went smoothly by most accounts, with Democrats and Republicans praising the mayor’s responses and saying they expected a renewal. But Flanagan later issued a statement criticizing the mayor’s testimony, saying, “Too often, the mayor showed a disturbing lack of personal knowledge about the city schools. In addition, he has left too many unanswered questions and failed to provide specifics on many of the issues raised by my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Until that occurs, I will not entrust this mayor with the awesome responsibility of operating the New York City school system.”

De Blasio then decided not to testify at the second hearing last week, further angering Flanagan.

"I am extremely disappointed the Mayor doesn't believe this hearing is significant enough to attend," he said. "With the future of mayoral control at stake, Mayor de Blasio has left too many unanswered questions about his stewardship of the New York City school system."

During both hearings this year, Democratic Senators have repeatedly mentioned that they favor renewing mayoral control for de Blasio but are concerned about how another mayor might run the system. The issues of oversight and parental involvement have been raised yet again by people on both sides of the aisle. De Blasio and many others - including the 100-plus business leaders who announced their endorsement of an immediate extension - have argued that the discussion is not about a particular mayor’s policies, but about the mayoral control system as a governance structure.

“Politics seems to be major factor in people's positions now, and politics should not decide the governance of the education system for the largest city in the country,” said Haimson. “Whether you are for or against a particular mayor shouldn't come into it. It is supposed to be about whether the system works.”

De Blasio at City Hall on Wednesday (photo: Demetrius Freeman/Mayor's Office)

Just one day after Mayor Bill de Blasio appeared at City Hall with a bevy of business leaders to push for extending mayoral control of New York City schools, the state Senate education committee held its second hearing on the issue right across the street. Administration officials, education professionals and advocates testified to make their case for and against mayoral control (mostly for) as state Senators demanded answers on a wide range of educational policies, while repeatedly noting the conspicuous absence of the mayor himself.

The debate around mayoral control has reignited as the June 30 deadline for extending it fast approaches. The Democrat-controlled Assembly gave the mayor a three-year extension on Tuesday and the ball is now in the Senate’s court, where Republicans who have control of the chamber have been reluctant to extend it beyond one year, if at all. The mayor has spent the last few weeks pushing his administration’s accomplishments to make his case for extending mayoral control for seven years. Having spent four hours at the first hearing in Albany on May 4 arguing for a seven-year extension, de Blasio declined to testify on Thursday. His absence was not taken lightly.

“We are missing the mayor, and he’s the chief player and he’s the person in charge and we would like him to have been here,” said Senator Carl Marcellino, chair of the education committee, in his opening remarks. Without giving examples, he stressed that many questions from the May 4 hearing had been left unanswered and the mayor should have been there to answer them.

Instead, the administration was represented by schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña, who had testified by the mayor’s side in Albany. Throughout her testimony, Fariña sought to establish the gains from mayoral control - increased graduation rates, fewer dropouts, the implementation of universal pre-kindergarten, increased arts education investment, the success of the Renewal Schools program, to name a few.

“Mayoral control also allows us to plan more fully and with more confidence for the future,” Fariña said. “Without mayoral control it would be nearly impossible for a mayor to lay out a long-term detailed vision for our schools such as Equity and Excellence.”

Marcellino, while insisting that Fariña’s testimony was “fantastic,” bookended it with another call out to the mayor. “This would’ve been a better situation if the mayor was here to defend his, and I don’t mean defend in a negative way, but to defend his running of the city schools,” Marcellino said. Other Senators made similar remarks throughout the hearing, including Senators Jose Peralta of Queens and Simcha Felder of Brooklyn.

While the stated agenda of the hearing was mayoral control, it was quickly apparent that it would not be limited solely to the system as a governing structure for education policy-making. Over the course of four-and-a-half hours, the hearing touched on numerous aspects of education policy and planning in the city - overcrowding, school closures, school safety, the number of psychologists per student, the Panel for Educational Policy, and the ever-touchy subject of charters schools.

As he often does, Senator Bill Perkins of Manhattan in particular railed against charter schools, stressing that they are an outcropping of the “dictatorial” mayoral control system. At one point during the hearing, Marcellino seemed to rebuke Perkins for deviating from the issue at hand and even offered to hold a separate hearing on charters. A similar scene had unfolded at the May 4 hearing. In this case, Farina was forced to carefully answer charter school-related questions that the de Blasio administration would rather avoid. After battles with charter school, the administration has moved toward a peaceful coexistence model, especially after new state laws forced their hand.

About 20 advocates, education professionals, and experts testified and most were in favor of mayoral control, albeit often with caveats. Some proposed shorter extensions while others proposed reforms to the system at various levels. Some emphasized that their support of mayoral control did not necessarily imply support for all of de Blasio’s policies, or even some. Indeed, the current situation creates an often dissonant reality where some of those who were the strongest proponents of mayoral control under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who first won the power in 2002, are now twisting in knots as they criticize de Blasio’s policies but do not go so far as to call for the end of mayoral control.

Others who testified did oppose mayoral control even while suggesting reforms if it is extended. “Any system of governance must have checks and balances,” said Teresa Arboleda, chair of the Education Council Consortium’s legislative committee, insisting on more local control and parent input in educational policy. “We cannot have a new school system every time there is a new mayor.”

Some of the reforms proposed included:

• Changes in composition to the Panel for Educational Policy to allow it more independence and insulate it against ‘rubber-stamping’ the mayor’s decisions
• Reforms in how Community Education Councils are constituted, making CECs more transparent and giving them increased authority
• Expanding the Citywide Council on Special Education
• Mandatory experience and qualifications for the schools chancellor
• More clearly defined discipline policies
• Equal treatment of charter schools as compared to district schools
• More transparency in Department of Education contract procurement and policy making

Jacob Mnookin, founder and executive director of Coney Island Preparatory Charter School, supports an extension of the system, he said, but insisted that the mayor should stop letting his political agenda interfere with student education. The mayor has been a very vocal opponent of the charter school movement in the city. “All public school students deserve to be treated equally no matter what politics are at play,” said Mnookin. “The mayor must address these inequalities present in the public school system of New York City.”

The two most important people were not at Thursday's hearing, though: Mayor de Blasio and Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan. Flanagan, formerly chair of the education committee and a critic of de Blasio, had chastised the mayor's refusal to appear before the committee a second time in a Wednesday statement. Though he was not there, Flanagan had also criticized de Blasio after the May 4 hearing in Albany, saying he had not answered many of the questions posed to him in a satisfactory fashion, which surprised many who had witnessed it. Flanagan will negotiate extension of mayoral control with Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a de Blasio ally, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is in a long-standing feud with the mayor. Cuomo did call for a three-year extension of mayoral control in his January budget.

Although there emerged plenty of ideas about how to change the system on Thursday, and ample criticism of its weaknesses, most people did not want to see a reversion to the old school board system. Not many could even articulate what would happen if mayoral control did indeed lapse. The final speaker of the day, Dennis Walcott, president and CEO of the Queens Library system, perhaps had the most informed perspective on that issue. Walcott served as Schools Chancellor before Farina and deputy mayor of education under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

He stressed that the old Board of Education system was chaotic and plagued by “patronage, waste, dysfunction” and that mayoral control reversed that. “Mayoral control is about making the mayor, elected by the people of New York City, take responsibility for the education of our city and effectuate the best education possible for our children,” he said.

The Westchester Rent Guidelines Board is undergoing a shakeup as the two tenant representatives on the nine-member board have tendered their resignations over an appointment they say inappropriately benefits landlords and reeks of cronyism.

Like its counterparts in New York City and other jurisdictions, the Westchester RGB sets increases in rents for affordable housing in the region just north of the Bronx. Board members are nominated by the Westchester Board of Legislators and appointed by the New York Department of Homes and Community Renewal (DHCR), a state agency. The board consists of two tenant-friendly members, two landlord-friendly members, and five public members including the chair.

On Friday, the two tenant members of the Westchester RGB resigned their positions in letters to DHCR Chair James Rubin and Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Both cited DHCR’s appointment of Michael Rosenblatt to a public seat on the RGB as the impetus for their resignations. Rosenblatt is a former DHCR counsel and currently works for one of the city's largest real estate focused law firms, Rosenberg & Estis.

Tenant member Genevieve Roche resigned effective Friday, May 13, writing, “I cannot in good conscience continue to serve on a Board to which the DHCR has appointed as a public member its former deputy counsel who currently works as counsel to the largest landlord real estate law firm in New York.”

Rev. Emma Jean Loftin-Woods’ resignation is effective December 31,2016, after the board concludes its work for the year. “Unfortunately the composition of the current Board and the disregard for providing an open and fair forum for consideration of the issues hasrendered our advocacy for tenants voiceless,” she wrote in her resignation letter.

Roche and other tenant advocates say that Rosenblatt’s appointment was not only inappropriate because he is employed by Rosenberg & Estis, a firm that bills itself as “Comprehensive Real Estate Representation,” but because his name was put forward by current DHCR counsel Charles Lesnick and appears to them to be a case of cronyism.

Rosenblatt was approved by the Board of Legislators last May over one other candidate in the running. He was then certified and appointed by DHCR despite protests from some legislators and tenant advocates.

“I love them both,” Rosenblatt told Gotham Gazette of Roche and Loften-Woods. “They’re great advocates for the cause. I will miss them both.” Rosenblatt added that he worked prosecuting landlords for DHCR and his current firm also represents tenants.

“I want to stress again, regardless of what Genevieve thinks about the propriety of DHCR appointing me to the position, I don’t feel I’m another landlord member of the board,” Rosenblatt said. “I’ll vote my conscience and my work doesn’t come into it.”

The Westchester RGB functions much like New York City’s: both are made up of nine members and the two-two-five breakdown. The RGB debates and decides rent increases for regulated units subject to the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974 each June - more than 25,000 units of affordable housing across Westchester County in cities including Yonkers and White Plains.

Westchester is known for its wealth, but affordable housing has been a major point of contention there for decades. Gov. Andrew Cuomo resides in the county where his former gubernatorial rival Rob Astorino is county executive. Tenant advocates say they feel the influence of both men in their struggle to keep rents affordable. A spokesman for Astorino declined to comment on the RGB resignations citing the fact that the board is not overseen by the county executive.

Ken Jenkins, a Democrat representing Yonkers on the 17-member Board of Legislators, and his colleagues voted down a motion to move Rosenblatt’s name to consideration by the entire chamber during a committee meeting last year, but the nomination advanced after Joe Montalto, another candidate, removed his name from consideration. Jenkins said he suspects landlord interests and Republican legislators were motivated to put Rosenblatt’s name into contention. The Board of Legislators is ruled by a bipartisan coalition.

“For too many years the public members [of the Westchester RGB] have tended to be mortgage banker types who do not appreciate the fact that the rent laws are there to protect tenants and keep housing affordable,” said Michael McKee of Tenants PAC. “Joe Montalto is exactly the kind of thoughtful, fair-minded person needed for the five public member positions. For the Cuomo administration to appoint a landlord lawyer as a public member is outrageous.

Roche attempted to explain her opposition to Rosenblatt’s appointment last year at a board meeting but was shouted down by a number of representatives. She eventually submitted her concerns as a written statement. “My main problem is that DHCR recommended its own former deputy counsel who otherwise spent his entire career working for law firms that work in the interest of landlords,” Roche told Gotham Gazette. “DHCR reviewed its own conduct in making the recommendation and appointment and found that it had acted appropriately.”

Jenkins wrote then-DHCR Commissioner Darryl Towns on May 12, 2015, asking him not to approve Rosenblatt’s appointment. Jenkins wrote that Lesnick, of DHCR, had confirmed “interference with the county board’s recommendation.” He continued, “any candidate suggested by Mr. Lesnick should be rejected at this time.” Jenkins went on to say that Rosenblatt testified during an interview that he had never suggested names of potential candidates for the board when he served in the same position.

Roche and other tenant advocates say it is unprecedented for DHCR to put forward candidates while Lesnick indicated to Gotham Gazette that it was fairly standard procedure. Lesnick declined to comment on the record, as did a spokesperson for DHCR.

Gotham Gazette obtained an email from Lesnick to an employee of the Westchester Board of Legislators from March 17, 2015, that appears to show when Lesnick put Rosenblatt’s name forward. In the exchange, subject: “re: WRGB Members expiration date,” Lesnick writes: “With respect to the additional public member position I have spoken to two people who would be qualified.” He first puts forward Rosenblatt, noting that he “needs no training” because he “served the board for 14 years.” He then puts forward another name, Diana Browne-Temple, and says he has asked both candidates to contact their local legislators. Browne-Temple is president of the Yonkers NAACP.

Rosenblatt said he was relatively uninvolved in the appointment process. “I got a phone call from someone on the Board of Legislators about my interest in the position,” he said. “I saw it as an extension of my public service. I ran it by people at my firm and they said ‘go ahead, keep us up to date.’ Next thing I know I’m appointed. I don’t know what was said behind my back or during the process.”

Roche, who has resigned from the RGB, has been seen as an especially effective tenant advocate, putting together sophisticated presentations opposing rent increases using economic arguments and accounting practices. In 2011 the board approved a rent freeze. In January of this year the board decided to limit the amount of time both tenant and landlord members have to make presentations and instead of giving a chance for rebuttals at later meetings, decided to have an immediate vote on agreed upon rent increases unless members want more time.

These changes concern both Roche and Loftin-Woods. Roche, an accountant and attorney, said she thinks they were designed to lessen the impact of her presentations and to expedite compromise so that rent freezes can be avoided all together. “I can't contribute to a board that does not allow for discussion. I can’t lend my credibility to a board that is not open,” she said.

Jenkins said he is frustrated by the resignations. He notes that the board will go ahead in June short one tenant representative. “I heard about the concerns they had and I suggested we would find mechanisms to raise concerns about the appointment,” Jenkins said. “I’m not quite sure how resigning helps tenants rights to protection. I feel Genevieve [Roche] is trying to bring attention to the issue, but I’m not sure it is the mechanism to make a change. We won’t be able to replace her before the new guidelines come out. This is a challenging situation.”

Skelos, Cuomo, Silver (l-r) (photo via The Governor's Office, Jan. 2015)

Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos were each told by their judge during recent prison sentencing that their corrupt actions have increased public cynicism around state government. Their corrupt actions, they were told, make people question what might have been different in the budgets and policy deals they negotiated, government decision-making that impacted millions. Judge Kimba Wood told Skelos we “can’t know” how his budget advocacy would have differed had he not been corrupt.

In fact, everything that has come through the state Legislature during Silver’s or Skelos’ tenure is open to questioning based on the facts that we now know they were illegally using their public positions for private gain and that nothing goes through either chamber without its majority leader signing off. In the wake of their convictions, every decision either was involved in could be worth reviewing, not that such an investigation is necessarily warranted or welcome.

For years, SIlver and Skelos were two of the “three men in a room” negotiating budget and other deals, approving what legislation came to a vote in their houses and directing policy initiatives. The third man in that equation, Governor Andrew Cuomo, currently faces a vast probe into his administration’s signature economic development program.

As Albany grapples with a wave of corruption convictions highlighted by those of Silver and Skelos, it does so with ethics laws negotiated by two men who have now been sentenced in major federal corruption cases and under the watch of an ethics body they not only helped create but appointed members to. The latest convictions also follow the shutdown of The Moreland Commission on Public Corruption, which was ended prematurely in a deal among Cuomo, Skelos, and Silver.

A Siena poll released on the day of Silver’s early May sentencing found 93 percent of New Yorkers think corruption is a major problem for the state and 97 percent want new laws to combat corruption.

With 16 lawmakers forced from office due to misconduct in the last six years, the nearly simultaneous downfall of the two legislative leaders, and U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s continued insistence that everyone “stay tuned,” the questions arise: How tainted were the budget- and law-making processes? Should decisions engineered and shepherded by corrupt officials stand?

Those are questions, according to former Assemblymember Richard Brodsky, currently a Demos scholar, that are in the hands of Governor Cuomo and the Legislature.

“If the governor or Legislature has concerns about the integrity of a law, it can be repealed, re-enacted, etcetera,” said Brodsky. He added, though, “Remember, the motive of a bill's author is what it is. It takes 76 Assembly votes to pass a bill no matter who the sponsor is.”

It is nearly impossible to imagine the governor or lawmakers wanted to revisit decisions made during the tenure of Silver or Skelos to investigate whether certain decisions were made in relation to their scandals.

Gerald Benjamin, professor of political science at SUNY New Paltz, concurred that no matter how powerful Skelos or Silver was, laws passed by the Legislature are the action of “an institution,” not “one legislator.”

Benjamin said he knows of no case where a law was later “examined due to a general charge of corruption.”

Jennifer Rodgers, a former U.S assistant attorney and current head of Columbia Law School’s Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity, said that the Silver and Skelos convictions don’t prove that either of them manipulated legislation. “And the opacity of the proceedings leaves us in the dark as to what they actually did,” she said, referring to Albany’s “three men in a room” decision-making culture. Because of that, Rodgers said repealing a law due to corruption does not seem to be “a realistic avenue to pursue -- you couldn't prove that the bribe caused the legislation to pass or fail.”

Silver, the long-time Democratic Assembly Speaker known for getting his way in budget deals by holding out longer than anyone else, was convicted of sending government money to a doctor who researched cures for mesothelioma in return for the researcher referring patients to a law firm that in turn paid fees to Silver. Able to tap into opaque pots of discretionary money called State and Municipal Facilities Program funding, Silver quietly funded the doctor’s work.

Silver had a similar deal with two real estate firms that moved their business to a law firm that paid Silver in exchange for supporting rent legislation that they backed.

At the time of his misdeeds, Silver was considered by some to be tenants’ best hope in negotiations over rent laws as Senate Republicans favored real estate. Tenant advocates now see many of the actions taken by Silver, including renewing controversial tax breaks for developers and his back-room dealings on the extension of rent regulations, as tainted.

Skelos, meanwhile was accused of extorting three firms with business before the state to employ his son Adam, who rarely showed up to work and often made problems when he did. Those businesses were real estate firm Glenwood Management; an environmental technologies firm, AbTech Industry, which wanted to earn lucrative state contracts having to do with Hurricane Sandy and hydraulic fracturing; and Physicians Reciprocal Insurers, which gave Adam Skelos a $78,000-a-year job. PRI was hoping for favorable action from Dean Skelos on legislation having to do with medical malpractice.

Skelos also benefited from State and Municipal Facilities Program, or SAM, funds. He was able to secure hundreds of millions of dollars in discretionary funding for projects at universities and colleges all over Long Island.

In Albany it is rare for major legislation to move independently. Legislative leaders and the Governor generally have two major sets of negotiations a year: early in the year around the budget, especially in the days leading up to the April 1 deadline, and during the post-budget legislative session, especially the days nearing its June end.

Budget negotiations are notorious for being sorted out in intense, closed-door meetings by the three leaders while rank-and-file legislators remain mostly in the dark. Items included in negotiations rarely adhere to generally accepted budget issues and allow the governor to trade spending increases or threaten cuts for other policies.

In post-budget session, lawmakers usually jam through a “big ugly” deal at the end, again with much secrecy and little time for many legislators or the public to review.

With so much opportunity for behind-the-scenes horse-trading it is impossible to know what exactly was influenced by Silver or Skelos, but it is also impossible to rule out that the corrupt practices they were convicted of didn’t color the major deals they oversaw.

Laws have been challenged in court due to what plaintiffs charge were improper procedures. The gun control package Cuomo pushed in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting faced a lawsuit over the use of a message of necessity. State law requires bills to age three days before coming to a vote. Cuomo issued a message of necessity, saying that introducing the bills and allowing them to age would lead to a rush on gun stores. Courts withheld Cuomo’s use of the message and have generally deferred to the governors on such matters. The governor has repeatedly used messages of necessity to move budget deals through, giving legislators minimal time to review thousands of pages of bill language before having to vote.

“Concerns of disruption and consequences of undoing laws weigh heavily on all of this,” said Professor Benjamin, indicating how unwieldy a review process could be.

Rodgers said that “unwinding legislation is not one of the remedies available in a criminal case.”

Even if it were, she said she sees “A huge problem to this notion of trying to undo legislation (even if it is procedurally possible, which I don't know enough to offer an opinion on), which is proving causation."

Rodgers said “given the lack of transparency of how things are actually passed in Albany,” even if there was a lawsuit brought seeking an injunction on behalf of an impacted company that wanted to undo legislation, “It seems to me that even in a civil court it would be impossible to prove that a bribe, even if the bribe itself was proved beyond a reasonable doubt in criminal court, was the proximate cause of the plaintiff's harm, assuming a plaintiff could even prove harm.”

Keith Wright, Charles Rangel, and others (photo via Wright's campaign)

New York Assemblymember Keith Wright’s congressional campaign has flooded inboxes declaring him a “champion” for tenants. Many see it as an appropriate description for the housing committee chair - his campaign touts the support of “100 tenant leaders” and he has a long history of advocating for renters, starting in the 1980s as the head of the tenant association in Harlem’s Riverton Houses, where he still lives. Wright and his fellow tenants recently settled a lawsuit with their landlord for $2 million after alleging they were charged improper rent and other misdeeds.

One of several campaign emails to supporters seeking donations based on Wright’s tenant advocacy reads: “Keith has been a voice for our neighborhoods for decades. His leadership has made sure that NYC protects and expands affordable housing. He pushes to stand up for tenants and hold NYCHA management accountable.”

Wright is a leader in the crowded Democratic primary to replace retiring Rep. Charles Rangel, who has endorsed him, and he’s very much running on his housing record.

There is another view of Wright held by some tenant advocates and legislators, though, who see him as being an outspoken advocate on housing issues who has failed to turn his bully pulpit and considerable power and influence in Albany into actual results.

These critics maintain that Wright failed to buck former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Governor Andrew Cuomo and fight for drastic changes to the rent laws that would do away with what they see as incentives for landlords to increase rent and drive out rent-controlled tenants.

In the 13th Congressional District largely made up of Harlem and Washington Heights, Wright is facing state Senator Adriano Espaillat; Clyde Williams, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton; Assemblymember Guillermo Linares; and former Assemblymember Adam Clayton Powell. Appearing the favored establishment candidate, Wright - along with Espaillat and Linares - has faced criticism from Williams and others for connections to Albany and its notorious corruption and dysfunction.

Several tenant groups were excited when Wright took over the housing committee from disgraced Assemblymember Vito Lopez in 2013, but a number of them were quickly disillusioned, representatives say. They believe Wright has simply maintained the status quo and amassed power in anticipation for his run for Congress. They point to Wright’s fundraising records that show he’s taken significant donations from real estate interests and question his loyalty to tenant issues such as doing away with the process by which landlords can deregulate affordable units or ending the 421-a subsidy they call a giveaway to developers.

“The problem with Keith is that he says all the right things but then follows orders, resulting in the ongoing destruction of our rent-regulated housing. And I am disturbed by the staggering amount of real estate money he has amassed for his congressional race,” said Michael McKee of Tenants PAC, which organizes around affordable housing issues and backs like-minded candidates. Tenants PAC does not endorse in national races.

A 2014 study by the Community Service Society, an advocacy group for low-income New Yorkers, found that the city lost 40 percent of apartments for low-income residents over the prior decade.

Wright defended his record in an interview: “As chair of the housing committee we’ve had to work against a very conservative state Senate,” Wright said, referring to the Republican-controlled upper house of the New York Legislature. “Listen, no matter what you do you are not going to be able to please everyone. Sure you get folks who want me to hold up the budget and this that, but I’ve been through those days before and it didn't quite work. If I thought it would work I would do it again. You can’t please everyone.”

As for his major wins, Wright counts his “greatest achievement” as a 2014 lawsuit he filed with his fellow tenants at Riverton Square accusing the landlords of illegally inflating rent, improperly evicting tenants, and overstating the value of the improvements made to apartments. In February the landlord, CWCapital and CompassRock, agreed to a $2 million settlement that will be paid in rent credits (they admitted no wrongdoing).

Wright was also a key player in negotiations of the recent sale of Riverton to A&E Real Estate. Part of the sale included an agreement that A&E would repair homes and include 975 apartments, including Wright’s, in a 30-year affordability agreement.

Two of Wright’s major wins didn’t come legislatively, but instead in actions he took to protect his own housing complex.

Wright rejected the idea that contributions from real estate influenced his fight for stronger rent laws. “Ask him why he’s taken so much Wall Street money and D.C. money,” Wright said, apparently referencing his opponent Clyde Williams, who brought up donations Wright has taken from real estate interests in recent debates. “We’ve all taken real estate money. It has nothing to do with my commitment to the tenants of New York City. I think my record is plain on its face.”

Filings with the State Board of Elections and Federal Elections Commission dating back to 2013 show that Wright has taken tens of thousands of dollars in donations from major real estate and construction interests and their subsidiaries. Real estate groups are known for donating to many state politicians in hopes of influencing policy.

Major donations to Wright from real estate interests include $2,050 from the Real Estate Board PAC; $4,100 from JSignal LLC, which is connected to Cayuga Capital, a real estate management and development firm; $500 from John Banks, president of the Real Estate Board of NY; $2,700 from Eliot Spitzer, the former governor who now focuses on real estate; $5,000 from Empire PAC, which represents real estate interests; $2,500 from REBNY member Daniel Zucker; and a total of $4,200 over three contributions from Donald Capoccia, head of BFC Partners, a development firm that specializes in affordable housing.

Wright’s first action as housing chair in 2013 was to introduce a package of housing bills that included a surprise: renewal of the lapsed J-51 program. The program is intended to provide tax breaks to landlords who make improvements to affordable housing, but tenant groups asserted it was abused by landlords. A study found half of the tax breaks went to owners of market-rate buildings.

“I was named housing chair on a Friday and we had a very large bill that was somewhat controversial that had to be done on Monday," Wright told Gotham Gazette during an interview in February 2013. "I know folks in the tenant movement were upset, they wanted that bill to be used as leverage, but it was a bill for coops, condos, and lofts, and those type of people do live in New York City. We had to do this bill.”

Last year, as rent regulations that govern affordable housing in the city and across the state came up for renewal, tenant groups were hoping Wright and newly sworn-in Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Bronx Democrat, would be able to win significant changes to the rent laws to do away with what they call incentives for landlords to take apartments off of the affordable housing rolls. Instead they say they got tweaks.

The threshold for rent at which a vacant apartment can be deregulated was increased from $2,500 to $2,700. The deal also required landlords stretch out the period they increase tenants’ rent after making major capital improvements. Landlords were also limited in how much they can increase rent between tenants. The wins were seen as small, minimal in comparison to what Cuomo and the Assembly publicly pushed for. Wright said he was nevertheless proud of the changes that were made.

Last year was a not a typical year - both legislative leaders Dean Skelos and Sheldon Silver were indicted during budget season (and later convicted). Rather than a traditional negotiation of the expiring rent laws and 421-a program that gives tax breaks to developers for including affordable housing in their projects, Cuomo allowed real estate and labor interests to negotiate 421-a renewal on their own, outside the Legislature.

Tenant groups say 421-a is a “tax suck” that has been demonstrated to produce very few affordable units and been the subject to major abuse and fraud by developers. Investigations, like one by ProPublica, have proven those claims to be true. Still, Mayor Bill de Blasio and others want to see a new, strengthened 421-a program enacted.

Cuomo attributed giving real estate and labor control of negotiations to the sensitivity of legislators towards the Silver and Skelos scandals that included revelations about the political influence of Glenwood Management, a real estate company that was the state’s largest campaign donor.

Labor and real estate failed to reach an agreement on renewing 421-a, so the program lapsed. Still, Cuomo and other stakeholders appear loathe to let it go, to the dismay of some tenant groups.

Results of the legislative negotiations on rent laws last year were hailed as “historic” by Cuomo, but tenant groups found it lacking. They say it basically cemented the status quo allowing landlords to steadily raise rents and move apartments off the affordable housing rolls.

"We pretty much got nothing," said Delsenia Glover, director of Alliance for Tenant Power, said at a press conference in Albany in early April. "At the time Governor Cuomo said they were the 'strongest rent laws in history.' It's not true, we got nothing."

Glover, who is from Harlem, does not blame Wright for the rent law negotiations. “Keith is extremely supportive,” Glover told Gotham Gazette in a recent interview. “He was one of our lead champions last year along with Speaker Heastie. He worked as hard as he could on the rent laws.”

The focus of Alliance for Tenant Power’s April press conference was demanding that if Albany does decide to find a replacement for 421-a that they must also reopen negotiations on rent laws. Glover says lawmakers should end current rules that incentivize landlords to make apartments unaffordable.

“Instead of discussing benefits for rich developers, all attention should be on fixing the major loopholes in the rent regulation system that houses 2.5 million tenants in approximately 1 million units with no cost whatsoever to the taxpayer,” Glover wrote in an April op-ed at Gotham Gazette.

Glover and other tenant groups deride the idea of any replacement for 421-a. Wright attended the press conference and appeared to agree, despite the fact he introduced what many tenant advocates saw as a direct replacement. Wright proposed a program that would provide $100,000 to developers per affordable unit they build that would be funded by the state abandoned property fund.

Wright said at the time that the bill was negotiated with the Real Estate Board of New York the NYS Association for Affordable Housing, and the Building & Construction Trades Council. All three groups indicated to the Daily News at the time that they didn’t actually support the plan.

“I’m sorry the press picked it up as a replacement for 421-a,” Wright told Gotham Gazette, implying that his plan was not aimed to be such and that a lack of enthusiasm for it was the result of that mistaken characterization.

Asked for her take on Wright’s plan, Glover demurred, saying, “You’d have to ask someone who was in the room.”

Barika Williams, deputy director of the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development (ANHD), praised Wright for bringing together disparate groups to discuss the creation of “a tool” to spur the creation of affordable housing. “It was a unique table that brought together different parts of the for-profit and nonprofit set. You saw a lot of people who don’t normally sit at the same table. We were looking at achieving the deepest affordability and trying to target resources to those buckets of the population that are desperately in need.”

Williams said that in the end all of the groups may not have been on the same page because not all the groups involved were present for the entire process. “It was a long process that took commitment and being consistently involved for over two months.”

Wright has been criticized by advocates and fellow legislators for not being properly versed in the bills he supports. He’s also been criticized for being too close to Governor Cuomo.

Wright said he would love to see the rent laws reopened for negotiation this year.

City & State NY recently reported that Tom Cayler, chair of the West Side Neighborhood Alliance’s Illegal Hotel Committee, was unhappy with a bill Wright carries that is technically designed to deal with illegal hotels.

Wright’s bill would create a process by which permanent residents of certain apartment buildings could register to rent their apartments in the short term - similar to how Airbnb functions.

Cayler said the bill would simply allow residents to rent their apartments as “illegal hotels,” rather than ending the practice. There is a good deal of pushback against Airbnb in Manhattan. The group met with Wright and were asked to send him a memo with their concerns. They say they never heard back.

“It was really shocking to us that he didn’t actually seem to know much about the bill he had his name on,” Cayler told City & State. “He was not well-informed about it. His chief of staff was the one who knew about this particular bill.”

Wright’s spokesperson Emma Forbes told City & State that the bill was designed to increase transparency and that the bill had yet to move because there wasn’t “consensus” from residents and stakeholders.

Asked about Cayler’s criticism Wright told Gotham Gazette: “I thought he was somewhat misinformed.”

Wright said his door is always open and he is willing to discuss legislation.

WIlliams, of ANHD, countered the idea that Wright was ill informed about legislation. “I think from our experience Assemblymember Wright understands the complexity of housing and the complex mix of interests that are involved. With all of that in mind, his goal always seems to be thinking about deep affordability and how to help those folks in New York City who are struggling and who are the most underserved.”

Asked if he expects legislation on illegal hotels to move this session, which ends in mid-June, Wright replied, “The bill is in my name in a committee I head and I control the bill and it hasn’t moved.” “So if it quacks like a duck...,” he added, implying there was little chance the bill would advance.

Wright said he is proud of his record as a tenant advocate and that despite the overwhelming support he has received from the Democratic establishment, including words of support from former President Bill Clinton and formal endorsements from Gov. Cuomo, Speaker Heastie, and Rep. Rangel, he does not take it for granted that he will be leaving Albany for Washington. “We have a lot to do here,” Wright said, adding that should he be elected to Congress his main focus will be on changing the definition of area median income because of the way it impacts affordable housing in the city.

“The reason I’m running is to change the definition of area median income and the way it is put forward with affordable housing,” said Wright. “The housing that is being built is called “affordable,” but it's not affordable to anyone I know or even me.” (Wright, who lives in rent-stabilized housing, has an Assembly salary of $79,500, not including the stipend he receives for heading the housing committee, and he has served for 24 years.)

Citing the fact that the AMI used for New York City to determine rent thresholds takes into account Westchester and Rockland counties, greatly increasing the number, Wright said that reform would benefit city residents.

“Changing the definition is what I want to do the first day I get to Congress, most definitely,” said Wright.

New Yorkers are tired of seeing condos going for millions of dollars while they worry about paying the bills and staying in their neighborhood, Wright said.

“The people of Harlem shed blood, sweat, and tears to make their neighborhood a safe place to live,” Wright said. “People are scared to death their children won't be able to afford to live in the neighborhood because it won’t be affordable.”

Assembly Member Rosenthal, right, and Council Member Ferreras-Copeland (photo)

A difference of a few words is all that stands in the way of New York State becoming the sixth in the nation to exempt feminine hygiene products from state sales tax, though that could soon change. The Assembly sponsor of the bill, Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, told Gotham Gazette on Thursday that she and state Senator Sue Serino, the Senate sponsor of the bill that has slightly different language, have agreed on new amendments that will make their bills identical.

However, Serino’s office declined to comment as to whether or not the two had actually reached an agreement, raising doubts about whether a compromise had truly been reached on an issue that is so strongly supported that both houses unanimously passed the bills to eliminate the so-called ‘tampon tax.’

Rosenthal said that, having agreed upon a few amendments to the legislation, the bill will head to the Governor “probably next week” after moving through both houses. Rosenthal is in the Assembly’s Democratic majority, Serino in the Senate Republican majority. Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has already expressed his support for the legislation and will sign a bill to exempt feminine hygiene products from the tampon tax if and when it does reach his desk. The Legislature has just 15 days of legislative session left before its June end.

In March, the Assembly passed Rosenthal’s bill to exempt “feminine hygiene products, including, but not limited to, sanitary napkins, tampons, and panty liners,” from the state sales tax. In February, Serino introduced the same bill as Rosenthal, yet amended it some time after “to specifically exempt sanitary napkins and tampons from the tax,” according to a press release from Serino’s office. The Senate then passed that more limited version of Serino’s bill in April.

News of the bill’s passage in the Senate was met with celebration, and many outlets incorrectly reporting that the same bill had passed both houses and was heading to Cuomo’s desk.

Yet, the slight but significant difference between the two bills means legislation to eliminate the tax on feminine hygiene products can’t be signed into law by Cuomo - not until the language is identical.

According to Rosenthal, after speaking with Serino last week, the two agreed upon a few amendments to the bills that would make the two identical. “We put back other feminine hygiene products and added panty liners,” Rosenthal said on Thursday. The tax exemption “will include feminine hygiene products, including, but not limited to, tampons, sanitary napkins, and panty liners, because the world of products to meet the needs of women menstruating is actually expanding right now, so we didn’t want to have to revisit this at some point. It will be done,” Rosenthal said.

Organizations like NOW-NYC and the Campaign for a Pro-Choice New York (both of which either supported Rosenthal’s bill or lobbied for its passage) would prefer the more inclusive language of Rosenthal’s bill become the law.

“Obviously it’s always better if it’s more inclusive, but I don’t know what the mechanics of putting it into place are,” Jean Bucaria, deputy director of NOW-NYC, told Gotham Gazette.

“In instances like this, we of course support the broadest possible version of this legislation that helps the most people,” said Danielle Castaldi-Micca, director of political and governmental affairs for the Campaign for a Pro-Choice New York.

It may be the case that Serino and other lawmakers prefer the more specific language of the Senate bill because the fiscal impact of exempting only those two products (pads and tampons) from the state sales tax is easier to predict and account for.

However, both Bucaria and Castaldi-Micca believe a compromise is likely to happen. “I have confidence that they’re going to get to a point of agreement and a single bill that the governor can sign,” Castaldi-Micca said. In Albany, deals are often elusive until the very end of session, when a bill package known as a “big ugly” gets passed at the last minute before lawmakers leave town for the rest of the year.

Besides amending the language of the bill to leave room for less-common, reusable menstrual products like sponges, cloth pads, and menstrual cups, Rosenthal says she and Serino have also agreed on an amendment to change the time when the exemption will go into effect, and an amendment to make the exemption exist in it’s own section of the tax code, rather than lump the exemption for feminine hygiene products in with exemptions for medical products.

Initially, the bill was to go into effect immediately, but “we changed that because there are four state tax reporting periods, so it will go into effect during one of those, it’s just easier to align it,” Rosenthal said.

In tax law, the coming exemption for feminine hygiene products, Rosenthal says, “stands on it’s own, it’s its own little section, it’s not connected with the other tax exemptions. It was a regressive tax on women and their bodies and it’s related to a natural biological function, so it shouldn’t be viewed as a medical problem or anything else, so it has it’s own line - section 3A.”

It seems some movement has indeed been made on Rosenthal’s version of the bill - according to the Senate website, on May 11, the bill was recalled from the Senate, returned to the Assembly, and amended on third reading. The latest version of the bill in the Assembly does indeed include all of the amendments Rosenthal mentioned above: it would take effect on the first day of a sales tax quarterly period; it would add a new section to the tax code, rather than lumping it in with drugs and medicine; and it maintains the more inclusive language.

These amendments have not yet been included in the Senate version of the bill, according to the Senate’s website, and no changes have been made to the bill since it passed in the Senate last month.