What’s the Agenda, Gov?
In her sitdown with us, Gov. Hochul was at her firmest when it came to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg: “I know full well the power that the governor has here” (namely, to remove him if he keeps refusing to do his job) and: “I will be monitoring the situation very closely.”
And even there, she hedged, noting he’s “only been on the job a very short time” and “I’m not prepared to undo the will of the people.” Indeed, “I’d like to hear from him on . . . any adjustments in his thinking and then tamper this all down.”
And that was as tough as she got in a chat that featured a lot more dodges and running out the clock than it did signs of anything that she’ll actually fight for.
She pretends she’s shown an agenda by releasing her budget plan. But spending a vast windfall of cash (“money from Washington we’ve never seen the likes of before”) on lots of nice things isn’t taking a stand.
Fine, she won’t negotiate in public. But she also won’t commit to her opening position, even as the Legislature’s leaders disgracefully oppose even considering fixes to the no-bail and Raise the Age laws that Mayor Eric Adams says are needed to get a handle on soaring crime, much of it deadly. Worse, she takes refuge in irrelevance, such as noting that crime “is a national problem.”
She also repeats the anecdotes that justified the original law, then insists she needs hard data, not just anecdotes, before deciding what changes she wants. Meanwhile, the clock is running out: She admits she has the most leverage with the Legislature now, while the budget’s being negotiated, but still talks as if she might somehow deliver what Adams’ city — indeed all New York’s cities — need later on, somehow.
Instead, she talks up interdicting illegal guns, since “I control the state’s borders.” What a red herring: The State Police can’t inspect even a minuscule fraction of the vehicles entering the state, just for starters.
She similarly dodged on support for raising the charter-school cap and naming what it will take for her to lift her school-mask mandate.
Why so cautious? With Attorney General Tish James out of the race, she’s safely on track to win the Democratic primary in June. Jumaane Williams is far too left and has only won races where next to no one was paying attention. Tom Suozzi can’t expand beyond his Long Island base unless she lets the crazy left set her agenda — yet that’s exactly what she’s risking.
Hochul wants to be liked, or at least doesn’t want to make enemies. She wants to be a rational, reasonable, collaborative centrist — in clear contrast with the last guy. But a leader needs to take a stand, as Adams did in last year’s mayoral primary.
And right now the Empire State desperately needs strong leadership.