Cuomo names Schwartz as chief aide

Government veteran Lawrence Schwartz, a former Suffolk deputy county executive, will serve as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's top aide, replacing the current secretary to the governor just six months into Cuomo's term, the administration announced Friday.

A senior adviser to Cuomo and a holdover from Gov. David A. Paterson's administration, Schwartz, 54, played a key role in budget negotiations and on the property tax-cap law passed two weeks ago.

"We wouldn't have had the success that we've had without him," Cuomo said in an interview Friday on TALK 1300 AM radio. "He really gets county government and local government."

Schwartz replaces Steven Cohen, who previously worked for Cuomo in the attorney general's office and is expected to return to private law practice.

Schwartz, who attended Comsewogue High School in Port Jefferson Station, is no stranger to budget battles at the state and local levels.

"He's a no-nonsense guy who gets things accomplished and protects the guy he works for," said Democratic political consultant Hank Sheinkopf, who met Schwartz in the 1980s when they were working on a State Senate campaign. "He knows politics, he knows government and he knows how things really work."

After working on Democrat Patrick Halpin's successful campaign for Suffolk county executive in 1987, Schwartz joined the administration as a deputy and developed a reputation for being a tough negotiator.

"Larry is very direct," said Halpin, who now hosts a political talk show for Cablevision, Newsday's parent company.

Schwartz was 30 when he joined Halpin's team of aides, which included Kevin Law, now president of the Long Island Association, the Island's largest business group. Law recalled that Schwartz always carried a pad to write down ideas to make government more efficient.

After Halpin's defeat in 1991, Schwartz became a political consultant and worked on Gov. Mario Cuomo's unsuccessful 1994 re-election campaign. Another political campaign brought him back into county government work, this time for Andrew Spano, who won the 1997 election for Westchester county executive. Schwartz became Spano's top aide and stayed on until Paterson tapped him in 2009 to serve as secretary.