Winners, losers in Cuomo's 1st six months

ALBANY - Same-sex marriage? Check. Budget reductions? Check. School-aid cuts? Check.

Property-tax cap? Power plant siting regulations? Check and check.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said it is "not about a scorecard," but in his first six months in office, he got just about everything he put on his "to do" list for the legislative session.

Not everyone is happy about that, especially teachers' unions whose clout diminished noticeably in the halls of the Capitol. The Conservative Party loved the start of the session but hated the finish. And local governments are nervous about how the state's new property-tax cap will play out.

Here's how the major players fared:

Gov. Cuomo

The governor is easily Albany's biggest winner for the 2011 legislative session. He reduced spending for the first time in New York in 15 years, through cutbacks in school aid and Medicaid and won passage of one of his top priorities, same-sex marriage.

Working with business-backed groups, he ended a surcharge on high earners that some called the "millionaire's tax." He forced Republicans to assent to a plan to close prisons.

In the home stretch, Cuomo picked three goals he thought he could achieve: a property-tax cap, a new ethics law (although critics say it is flawed) and same-sex marriage. Using a combination of sweet talk and public pressure, he coaxed lawmakers to pass all three.

And at the eleventh hour of the session, he threw in a five-year tuition hike plan for the State University of New York and renewed a power-plant siting law, known as Article 10.

The governor was satisfied. As the session closed, he called it "a period of historic progress on all fronts."

"We made a difference," Cuomo said. "This is a record that shows that you can make this thing called government work."

Sen. Dean Skelos

There was more good than bad for Majority Leader Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) in this, his second chance at calling the shots in the state Senate. On many fronts, he and Cuomo were on the same side, which helped Senate Republicans score victories -- chiefly on the fiscally conservative state budget.

Skelos also teamed with Cuomo to kill the millionaire's tax and reduce Medicaid spending. He got the statewide 2 percent property-tax cap he wanted, which will probably be the Republicans' major campaign theme in 2012. By delaying a vote on same-sex marriage, Skelos was able to add to the tax cap bill a program of "mandate relief" to remove some cost burdens from local government. He also got Cuomo to give Republicans three of the four Senate seats on the new ethics panel.

Skelos ceded on the new ethics law that will require lawmakers to disclose more information about their outside incomes and business interests and in allowing a vote on same-sex marriage. The latter action angered some in the GOP, as did the two-week buildup filled with protests and national media attention. But members strongly denied rumors that anyone was challenging Skelos' position as leader.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver

Silver (D-Manhattan) suffered some losses as he largely deferred to the agenda of a first-year governor -- a strategic retreat that Albany's most experienced player has employed before.

Just as he acquiesced to Gov. George Pataki during the Republican's first year in office, Silver let Cuomo drive the agenda. Silver wanted his fellow Democrat to do well and recognized that he was outnumbered on the budget and the millionaire's tax. He did win the one item that was most crucial to his New York City-dominated caucus -- a strengthening of the state's rent-control laws.

Senate Democrats

Given that they had a fellow Democrat in the executive mansion, how did they end up in the loser's column? They were the vocal minority on the budget, school aid and the millionaire's tax. Some members, especially from the Black and Puerto Rican caucus, were irate that Cuomo and Republicans forcefully shut down their opportunity to debate the budget and same-sex marriage.

Unions

Easily the session's biggest losers this year, especially the teachers' union. Normally the most powerful lobbying voice, the teachers unions lost on the state budget and saw lawmakers move to restructure the tenure/evaluation process.

The public-employee unions also lost in the budget battle. With their contracts in limbo, the unions are being forced to choose between pay freezes or layoffs. The largest, CSEA, last week tentatively agreed to accept the former.

Conservative Party

It's a mixed bag for the minor party. They cheered the budget but suffered a major loss with the passage of same-sex marriage. Despite political threats, Chairman Michael Long of Brooklyn failed to block the bill from reaching the Senate floor.

Business lobby

They scored big wins on the overall budget and the property-tax cap. One group, the Committee to Save New York, served as Cuomo's wingman, bankrolling an extensive ad campaign to support his budget.

Good government groups

They endorsed the new ethics law while pointing out its holes - chiefly that inquiries against legislators could be blocked by just three of the 14 members of a new ethics panel established by Cuomo and lawmakers.

But their calls for an independent redistricting process have so far gained little traction.