Dean Fuleihan, a former long-time advisor to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, was appointed Wednesday as the next budget director in the de Blasio administration. Mr. Fuleihan served as the Assembly speaker’s secretary for program and policy from 1992 to 2011 and secretary of the ways and means committee from 1997 to 2011.

The choice signals a desire by Mr. de Blasio to pick someone with a strong command of the numbers as well as valuable ties in Albany, political observers say. His appointment comes as de Blasio is pushing for a tax hike on those making $500,000 and higher next year in order to fund his universal pre-Kindergarten program — a proposal needs to be signed off on in Albany.

“During the hardest of times, when we had a Republican governor and State Senate determined to leave New York City’s most vulnerable to fend for themselves, Dean Fuleihan stood his ground. Dean is a true progressive who understands not only our limits, but our possibilities. He will ensure our priorities live up to both our responsibilities and our values,” said Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio.

“He’s a smart guy, obviously very close to the speaker,” John Cape, who served as budget director under Gov. George Pataki, told the WSJ. “We got along together pretty well even though we were in opposite parties.”

Upon accepting the appointment, Mr. Fuleihan stressed his goal of using the budget to address growing income inequality.

“While our city faces a daunting fiscal landscape, we can create a budget that is deeply committed to our priorities. We are going to confront inequality with critical investments in CUNY and other engines for the middle class. We are going to put new energy behind affordable housing and early education. This will be a fair, responsible and progressive budget that takes economic inequality in our city head-on,” he said.

(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)