10 Crowley takes role
QUEENS WEEKLY, FEB. 24, 2019
at lobbying fi rm
BY BILL PARRY
Former U.S. Rep. Joseph
Crowley has moved on to his
next career as a lobbyist.
The Woodside native,
who represented western
Queens for 10 terms in the
House of Representatives before
he was upset by U.S. Rep.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
in the Democratic primary
last June, took a position
at Squire Patton Boggs, the
Washington-based law and
lobbying firm.
To take the job, Katie Honan
of The Wall Street Journal
reported on Tuesday that
Crowley resigned his position
as Queens County Democratic
Party chair. June
Bunch, a Democratic district
leader, is serving as interim
chair until Queens Democrats
elect a new leader.
Squire Patton Boggs, one
of the largest lobbying firms
in D.C, hired Crowley along
with retired U.S. Rep. Bill
Shuster, a Republican from
Pennsylvania.
“We were honored to
hear from many of the great
firms in town since leaving
Congress, and chose what we
think is the very best place
to continue our careers,”
Crowley said. “Serving in
Congress was an honor of a
lifetime and I look forward
to working on many of the
same issues in this new role.
It’s exciting to be joining a
firm with such a storied history,
great people and to be
doing so with a dear friend.”
The two will be added to
the firm’s global public policy
practice which already
features former Speaker
John Boehner and former
Senate Majority Leader
Trent Lott. Squire Patton
Boggs described the two as
“leaders in the respective
parties” and “two of the
most respected legislators of
their generation.”
Crowley served in the
House from 1999 to 2019.
He was a senior member of
the House Ways & Means
Committee and Chair of
the House Democratic
Caucus from 2017 to 2019
and as two-time chairman
of the House Democratic
Caucus, ranking fourth in
party leadership.
“Policy is a fundamental
part of our global practice
and differentiates how we
are able to solve complex
problems for clients. These
additions continue our tradition
as a ‘first and one
stop’ for senior executives
seeking both a legal and
legislative solution,” said
Ed Newberry Squire Patton
Boggs’ Global Managing
Partner said.
In September, Crowley
was re-elected as chairman
of the Queens County Democratic
Organization. As
party boss, Crowley holds
a great deal of influence in
the selection of Democratic
candidates, both political
and judicial.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is amending the 2020 budget to include reforms that could bring commuters one step closer to seeing
congestion pricing enacted. Photo via Flickr Creative Commons/John Winder
Cuomo eyes MTA fi x
Governor amends budget to reform transit authority
BY MARK HALLUM
Claiming the MTA’s
misfortune goes back
“decades,” Gov. Andrew
Cuomo announced new
amendments to the 2020
executive budget to keep
better tallies on how the
agency spends its money
among other items.
Cuomo plans to set up
an expert panel to not only
provide spending oversight,
but also set congestion
pricing rates, reform
the MTA board and overhaul
the agency’s “archaic”
bureaucracy.
“The MTA’s dysfunction
is no secret, and for
decades it has been suffering
due to a lack of investment,
accountability,
and creative thinking,”
Cuomo said. “Today we
are adding specific measures
to the Executive
Budget that will continue
our efforts at achieving
real reforms. The MTA
desperately needs money,
but it also needs a structure
that is rooted in accountability
and new
ideas that will ensure the
agency is finally operating
as it should be and as
New Yorkers demand.”
The proposed MTA
oversight committee
would be comprised of six
individuals with backgrounds
in auditing, corporate
restructuring and
risk management among
other things. A restructuring
plan would be required
under a different
amendment.
Another of the amendments
would establish a
pricing structure for the
different vehicles entering
Manhattan at different
times, and the funds levied
from those tolls would go
into a lockbox.
Makor capital projects
would incorporate the design
and construction stages
of a build effort into a
single contract, which Cuomo
claimed would cut back
on bureaucracy.
Riders Alliance spokesman
Danny Pearlstein
said that while he agreed
the MTA has been subject
to a generation of disinvestment,
it is still incumbent
upon sitting officials
to raise funds to address
infrastructure issues and
only then can reforms
be viable.
“The governor needs to
focus laser-like on passing
congestion pricing,” Pearlstein
said. “The governor
and the legislature is responsible
for funding the
MTA, full-stop.”
Pearlstein added that
the most important consideration
should be that
while deliberations been
the Cuomo and the legislature
take place, riders are
“suffering” under delays
and service cuts.
At a Feb. 1 press conference,
however, state
officials gathered at JFK
AirTrain concourse of
the Jamaica Terminal to
call for more clarity on
the Cuomo’s congestion
pricing proposal, refusing
to vote in favor or against
the plan without being presented
with more details.
“We showed up at the
budget hearing this year
fully expecting to hear
some details about what
this congestion pricing
plan would do, how much
would people get charged,
how much revenue does
the MTA actually expect
and how much congestion
will we be relieved
of?” state Sen. John Liu
said following the Jan. 30
hearing. “I certainly went
expecting the MTA just
to tell us, I didn’t think
we’d have to be there for
five hours asking the MTA
question after question after
question and getting no
answers whatsoever.”
Cuomo, however, issued
an ultimatum telling the
legislature that it had two
choices: pass congestion
pricing or riders would
face a 30 percent toll increase,
something which
has already been met
with intense resistance
across the five boroughs in
recent months.
“Congestion pricing is
the only logical and realistic
option to fund the MTA’s
capital needs and one person
must have the authority
to make decisions, hire
and fire, and reorganize,”
Cuomo said Feb. 7. “Let the
Legislature cast their vote
on the real choice – congestion
pricing or 30% fare
and toll increases. It’s A or
B, because there is no C.
If the public understands
the critical choice their
elected officials are making,
congestion pricing
will prevail.”
U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley is leaving the Queens County Democrats
to become a lobbyist. File photo