Politico interviewed Manatt’s Bruce Gyory, a senior advisor in the firm’s government and regulatory practice, for an article on why renewing mayoral control of New York City schools has hit a brick wall.
Politico reports that at least part of the reason is that key officials — including two-thirds of the Albany’s ruling troika — either dislike or are indifferent to Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose agenda was the biggest casualty in this year’s legislative session. Previous mayors had key allies and worked to develop alliances in other parts of the state — like Bloomberg did with gun control and reducing public pensions.
“When you realize you’re in that kind of a political pickle, you have to take a compensatory stand. The thing that has been a surprise to me is that the mayor comes up to Albany without any effort of making coalitions,” said Gyory. “When you went and saw senator x and senator y, if you were sitting next to their political ally the local mayor, it would strengthen your position.”
Read the article here.