Advisers to Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo include a former political rival, a prominent upstate New York Republican, a nemesis of the man Cuomo replaced as attorney general, and the financier who helped solve New York City's fiscal crisis in the 1970s.
They were among those named Thursday to either the transition team chaired by Cuomo's running mate or to a council of 19 economic advisers.
With Lt. Gov.-elect Robert Duffy directing the transition from Gov. David Paterson's administration, others on the team include Rep. Nydia Velazquez, Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney, former state Comptroller Carl McCall and former Municipal Assistance Corp. Chairman Felix Rohatyn. Mahoney is Republican. The others are Democrats.
Saying they have a deep understanding of the state's challenges, Cuomo said he will work with them to attract the best talent to the new administration.
Duffy is Rochester's mayor. Rohatyn, a longtime investment banker at Lazard Freres, helped resolve New York City's financial crisis in the 1970s. Cuomo ran against McCall in 2002 in a failed bid for governor. Velazquez, a native of Puerto Rico, represents part of New York City in Congress.
Advisers on fiscal issues include Rohatyn, state Business Council President Ken Adams, former Avis chief executive and ex-state Republican chairman Pat Barrett, New York State AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes, American Express Chairman Kenneth Chenault, Highbridge Capital Management co-founder Glenn Dubin and Ken Langone, chairman of Invemed Associates.
"Fiscal reform will be a top priority of my administration," Cuomo said in a statement accompanying the announcements. "We must overhaul our government, clean it up and pare it down while simultaneously putting New Yorkers back to work and making New York once again the jobs capital of the nation."
Barrett had backed Democrat Eliot Spitzer in his 2006 run for governor. Langone, former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange's compensation committee, was investigated by Spitzer as attorney general in an ultimately failed attempt to recover a $187.5 million compensation package for former NYSE Chairman Richard Grasso.
Others named were Mario Baeza, founder of Baeza Group; Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown; Jim Chanos, president of Kynikos Associates; Derrick Cephas, president of Amalgamated Bank; former U.S. Labor Secretary Alexis Herman; Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League; Rossana Rosado, chief executive of El Diario; Peter Solomon, former New York City deputy mayor of economic policy and development; Martin Sosnoff, chairman of Atalanta Sosnoff; Bob Wilmers, chief executive of M&T Bank; Deborah Wright, president of Carver Bancorp; and Frank Zarb, former chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange.
The groups will begin meeting next week and they're not being paid, Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto said.
Several of those named to the panels Thursday donated to Cuomo's campaign, in amounts ranging from $250 from Hazel Dukes, president of the NAACP in New York, to $40,000 from Sosnoff. Barrett, the former state Republican party chairman, gave Cuomo at least $15,400.
Cuomo, who takes office in January, also named a transition committee for economic development and labor to lead the staff search for the state agencies that deal with those issues. The committee includes legislative leaders from the Senate and Assembly, other lawmakers and several business representatives.
Check out more of Cuomo's transition advisers:
The Council of Economic and Fiscal Advisors includes:
- Ken Adams, President & C.E.O., Business Council of New York State
- Mario Baeza, Founder & Executive Chairman, Baeza Group Founder
- Pat Barrett, former Republican Chairman; C.E.O., Avis
- Byron Brown, Mayor of Buffalo
- Jim Chanos, President and Founder of Kynikos Associates
- Derrick D. Cephas, President & C.E.O., Amalgamated Bank
- Kenneth Chenault, C.E.O. & Chairman, American Express
- Glenn Dubin , Co-founder & C.E.O., Highbridge Capital Management
- Alexis Herman, former U.S. Secretary of Labor
- Denis Hughes, President, AFL-CIO
- Ken Langone, Founder, Chairman & C.E.O., Invemed Associates LLC
- Marc Morial, President, National Urban League
- Felix Rohatyn, Special Advisor to Chairman and C.E.O., Lazard; former Chairman, Municipal Assistance Corp
- Rossana Rosado, C.E.O., El Diario
- Peter J. Solomon, Solomon Company, L.P., former New York City Deputy Mayor of Economic Policy and Development
- Martin Sosnoff, Chairman and C.E.O., Atalanta Sosnoff
- Bob Wilmers, C.E.O., M&T Bank
- Deborah C. Wright, President and C.E.O. of Carver Bancorp
- Frank Zarb former Chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange
The Committee on Economic Development and Labor includes:
- Haejin Baek, President, Barclays Structured Finance
- Ruben Diaz, Jr., Bronx Borough President
- Jamie Dinan, C.E.O. York Capital
- Garry Douglas, Plattsburgh Chamber of Commerce
- Hazel Dukes, President, NAACP New York
- Rob Dyson, Chairman and C.E.O., The Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corp.; President, Dyson Foundation
- James Francis, Founder and C.E.O., Paradigm Asset Management; Member, NYC Partnership
- Barbarlee Diamonstein-Spielvogel
- Jim Gerace, President, New York Region, Verizon
- Barry Gosin, C.E.O., Newmark Knight Franks; Partnership for NYC Board
- Hakeem Jeffries, New York State Assembly
- John Johnson, President, Watertown Daily Times
- Brian Kolb, Minority Leader, New York State Assembly
- Kevin Law, Long Island Association
- John Liu, New York City Comptroller
- Edward Mangano, Nassau County Executive
- Howard Milstein, C.E.O., N.Y. Private Bank & Trust and Emigrant Bank
- Dean Norton, President, Farm Bureau
- Peter Rivera, New York State Assembly
- Van B. Robinson, President, Syracuse Common Council
- Lisa Rosenblum Senior Vice President, Cablevision.
- Asheesh Saksena, Senior Vice President, Time Warner Cable
- John Sampson, Conference Leader, New York State Senate
- Sheldon Silver, Speaker, New York State Assembly
- Dean Skelos, Minority Leader, New York State Senate
- Rob Simpson, C.E.O., CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity
- Jay Snyder, Principal, HBJ Investments, LLC; N.Y.S. Commission for Public Authority Reform
- Elinor Tatum, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, Amsterdam News
- Peter Ward, President, New York Hotel & Motel Trades Council, AFL-CIO
- Danny Wegman, C.E.O., Wegmans
- Sandra Wilkin, Founder & President, Bradford Construction Corporation; President of the Women’s Builder Council
