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Amazon's $ 2.5 billion campus demise on Long Island City may have its first impact in the east on Long Island.
People familiar with the collapse of the agreement said that the appointment by Senegalese Democratic Senator of Senator Queens, Mike Gianaris, to a state council dominating the project created a level of uncertainty that
Amazon.com
Inc.
the leaders did not want to stay.
Gianaris opposed the project in his district, in part because city and state officials had pledged up to $ 3 billion in incentives in exchange for a promise to create 25,000 jobs. His position was motivated by concern over the project's impact on the surrounding neighborhoods, but also by a dynamic base of progressives who were organizing against the deal and could in the future anger his anger against any politician who would support the project.
The deal was more popular in the suburbs, including Long Island, where five electoral victories helped propel Democrats to the Senate in the majority. After the plan was dissolved, Senate minority leader John Flanagan asked business leaders to raise money for the GOP, saying the collapse proved Democrats "openly hostile to business and concerned only with narrow political interests of their members in New York ".
Republicans have no chance of overthrowing Mr. Gianaris. But Long Island is still competitive. The six Democratic senators out there will face Republican attacks, even though they supported the Amazon deal as being important to the regional economy.
Dani Lever, spokesman for Governor Andrew Cuomo, criticized the Democratic Conference for adopting the position of Mr. Gianaris. "Amazon was not a political issue in the Queen, it was an important economic project that concerned all members of the conference," said Ms. Lever.
Last week, Ms. Lever also publicly accused Senator Todd Kaminsky, a senior member of the island's Democratic delegation. He stated that he had supported the project both publicly and in internal conversations with Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
Mr. Kaminsky stated that Ms. Lever was wrong to blame the proponents of the project as he himself for terminating the agreement. He said that Long Island lawmakers would use the result of the Amazon as a point of reference, as they had advocated during budget negotiations.
"We know we are under a microscope. Everything we do will be compared, whether it's numbers in a budget, to the old Republican majority, "Kaminsky said.
Gianaris said last week that the state's economy would be fine without Amazon and that the overthrow of the company proved that it would have been a bad partner. A spokeswoman for Stewart-Cousins blamed the governor for trying to split the Democrats in the Senate and said Flanagan had already criticized the Amazon deal.
RETURNING MEDICAIDE WARS: After eight years of silence, one of Albany's most powerful lobby groups is mobilizing against a proposed change in Medicaid spending.
The Health Care Education Project, jointly funded by the Greater New York Hospital Association and 1199SEIU, which represents health care workers, is planning a major TV and digital advertising campaign, as well as phone calls and phone calls. visits to legislators' offices, said HEP spokesman Brian Conway said.
Cuomo has proposed a $ 550 million reduction in Medicaid's planned funding increase for the next fiscal year, which HEP officials say could lead to hospital closures. Medicaid state spending will still increase by about $ 200 million to $ 21 billion. State Budget Division spokesman Morris Peters said the change was caused by a shortfall and that his agency would work with affected parties to mitigate their impacts.
State spending under the Medicaid program has increased steadily and predictably since Cuomo took office in 2011. But HEP has been running brutal campaigns against previous governors, including Eliot Spitzer. and David Paterson, to call for more funding.
When asked if the ads would target Mr. Cuomo, a HEP spokesman said they would not mention any elected representatives and were only meant to educate New Yorkers.
THE QUESTION: In the last part of the nineteenth century, which northern university owned the Anable Basin, site of what was to be the headquarters of Amazon in New York?
REPLY OF LAST WEEK: After Amazon, the largest incentive program based on state projects accounted for $ 1.2 billion
Advanced micro systems
,
later, GlobalFoundries, to build a semiconductor plant in Saratoga County in 2006.
Know the answer? Do you have another question or advice? Write to [email protected].
Write to Jimmy Vielkind at [email protected]
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