By Joseph Spector
January 28, 2011
ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo turned to a key ally in the business community to head the state's economic development agency.
Kenneth Adams, president of the state Business Council, was nominated Thursday to lead the Empire State Development Corp., which oversees the state's job incentive programs. He replaces Dennis Mullen, a former Rochester business executive who has held the post since 2009.
Adams, a Brooklyn native, has been a staunch supporter of Cuomo's, and the Business Council made its first gubernatorial endorsement last year in backing him.
Adams has served on some of Cuomo's advisory panels and on the board of the Committee to Save New York, a business-backed group assisting the governor's cost-cutting agenda through television ads and other lobbying...
Business groups applauded the choice, in part because Adams has backed Cuomo's call for reducing state spending and imposing a property tax cap...
But Allison Duwe, executive director of the Buffalo-based Coalition for Economic Justice, said Adams has lobbied against reforms that would require more corporate accountability.
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