Hochul hallmarks must be ethics, transparency, respect

In 2009, I was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as EPA regional administrator. Soon after I started, I was invited to the White House to attend an orientation for new Obama appointees.

One of the first speakers was a lawyer from the White House counsel’s office who made it clear to us that from the start the Obama administration

Judith Enck of Poestenkill is a former EPA regional administrator, president of Beyond Plastics and a visiting professor at Bennington College. created a work culture based on ethical governing. Ethical transgressions would not be tolerated.

As political appointees, we would feel political pressure on issues that reached our desks. If we ever felt pressured on anything related to ethics, we were urged to call him to get his guidance. He shared his office number, home number and five other ways to reach him. I sat there thinking that, in 11 years in state government, I never heard that particular speech.

Gov. Kathy Hochul can change the culture in Albany.

She has said she will “work like hell” for the people of the state. I believe she will, but she also needs to transform the gubernatorial staff and state agencies to create the most ethical and transparent administration we have ever seen.

Early attention will be on the agency commissioners. It is important to also focus one rung down, and engage the assistant commissioners and

press staff. They have endured years of hell, interacting with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and his often unpleasant staff. They need to now know that ethics, transparency and respectful treatment of colleagues, state legislators and the public, especially those with whom you disagree, will be the hallmarks of the Hochul administration.

I never bought into the story line that the toxic work environment in the Cuomo administration was inevitable because everyone was working hard and on call 24/7. I served in senior positions in state and federal government and will match my work ethic with anyone in the Cuomo administration. During my government service, we worked hard and long hours, while treating others with respect. We had many disagreements, but you listened to people with the intent to hear. Not the intent to destroy.

Here are a few tips for our new governor.

■ Many tough issues await you. COVID, racial equality, criminal justice, refugee resettlement, education. All of them need your energy but you first need to get smart, capable and ethical public servants who will work to solve these problems.

■ Don’t fire everyone who acted like a jerk in the past 10 years. If they are smart, ethical and hardworking, keep them so you have more institutional memory and continuity.

■ Require all state employees to take anti-harassment training and ethics training. Have your lawyer give them the ethics speech that the Obama lawyer gave to me.

■ We need an ethics cop on the beat. The Joint Commission on Public Ethics needs an extreme makeover.

■ Advise press officers to stop yelling at reporters. And return their calls in a timely fashion.

■ Fix the freedom of information backlog and allow the agency FOIL officers to do their jobs. Act like the public has a right to know. The governor’s office should not have to sign off on every little FOIL request.

■ Don’t hire mean people. We are tired of them.

■ And for the love of God, get serious about climate change. Extreme heat, sea level rise, flooding and wildfires are causing unprecedented and expensive problems. New York’s indigenous energy resources are wind, water, solar and geothermal. Let’s get off fossil fuels while building a clean energy future.

Public service is an honor. There are many dedicated people working in state government. Win them over. Inspire young people to enter public service. Create your own new tone. Out with toxic work cultures and in with competent, ethical and inspired leadership.