Hochul, show us action
A favorable first impression in politics can tip the balance for long-term success in a crowded field. Especially when suddenly and implausibly elevated from obscurity to the spotlight on a technicality, not an election, as Gov. Kathy Hochul has been.
So, by the Mayor Ed Koch meter, how’s she doin’ on the first impression front? Well, no skeleton has come tumbling out of the closet just yet, and after the enormous and exhausting lift of dumping Andrew M. Cuomo, New Yorkers are happy giving her a honeymoon. For now, they want her to succeed. That’s no small thing for her to build on.
But then there’s the Mitchell measure to consider. More than a half century ago, President Richard Nixon’s attorney general, John Mitchell, appropriately lecturing a newsman, delivered a pearl that continues to shine: “Watch what we do, not what we say.”
Hochul came out of the gate saying all the things we wanted to hear, about bringing back real transparency and broad inclusion to governance — you know, messy, long form democracy — and about restoring trust. Yet her very first bill advanced as governor, a rush job prompted by the need to extend the eviction moratorium, included a last minute add-on effectively suspending the state’s Open Meetings Law. Language that neither state legislators voting on it nor the public had a chance to digest ahead of time, limiting public meetings to virtual and not live attendance.
Hochul named the still-deadly pandemic as the reason, an arguable point, but still. She consulted local governments, but not good government groups promoting transparency. To be clear, it’s in effect only until Jan. 15, and the uproar that followed her gambit has stirred a legislative corrective response. But the alarming point here is that Hochul’s first instinct under pressure as governor was to act like her predecessor.
She has to show us she means what she says, and soon. Even just three weeks into her administration, pressure continues on Hochul to make a clean break from the administration she was part of for the last six years. Understandably awkward, but vital. Attorney General Letitia James’ landmark report that brought down Cuomo offers a road map naming names. Another will come with the Assembly judiciary committee report due in two weeks. Competency is not the test here. Complicity is.
As a practical matter, she can’t fire everybody, but she can certainly take out the Cuomo true believers, an orchard of poisoned fruit from the poisoned tree.
State ethics guru David Gran
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