Empowered lawmakers limit Hochul's options
Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, left, differed greatly from Gov. Kathy Hochul in how he dealt with the State Legislature. Credit: Office of the Governor
The most striking contrast in style so far between the tenures of the successive governors Andrew M. Cuomo and Kathy Hochul emerges in their very different dealings with the State Legislature.
While Cuomo over his 10 years in office was known for having "tamed" the Assembly and Senate, Hochul has visibly been forced to yield to the power and push of the houses and their leaders.
The freshest example is the recent drama over who would replace Janet DiFiore, the Cuomo-appointed chief judge for the Court of Appeals. The Senate for the first time voted down a governor’s top-court nominee. By all accounts Hochul was told in advance that her preferred pick, Hector LaSalle, would be rejected, and he was. The Senate’s Democratic majority got to confirm instead Rowan Wilson, whom they favored.
One cannot imagine such a scene playing out under Cuomo. Longtime Capitol observers believe he’d have sounded out the nomination, lined up votes in advance and browbeaten resisting lawmakers if he thought his nominee could ultimately win confirmation.
Last year, when the Democratic supermajorities in both houses approved redistricting plans designed to gain their party several congressional seats, Hochul signed it quickly. Even before the process began in earnest, she said upon taking office in 2021 that she'd try to help Democrats pick up U.S. House seats through redistricting, noting she’s a “loyal Biden Democrat.”
Then the DiFiore court struck down the plan, costing the party and helping fuel the GOP's return to U.S. House control.
But the context for Hochul's un-Cuomo-like shows of fealty to others in the party is important. Last year, to win election, she needed to tamp down rivalry from within. That meant avoiding alienation from other Democrats including legislators.
In addition, Hochul succeeded Cuomo amid a political landscape that had drastically changed since the pinnacle of his tenure. Leading Democrats, not opposition Republicans, pressured her former patron to quit. As a group, they’d bared their partisan teeth for all to see.
Also, the national blue-red polarization prompted New York Democrats to rail against the GOP like never before. To be on the blue side meant becoming bluer. Democrats had captured a clear majority in the Senate after years of Cuomo, as governor, accommodating and compromising with Republican leadership as a check against the state’s more left-wing Democrats. Hochul has no such option.
Another illustration of her situation comes from New York City. Time after time the city’s mayors, and governors of their party, have famously clashed, as if natural rivals.
But Hochul, a western New Yorker, needed to maximize city votes last year as she survived a strong challenge by Republican Lee Zeldin. The city is key in any state vote. So don’t expect Hochul to start dissing Mayor Eric Adams, who’s been pushing her to roll back bail reform and take other anti-crime steps.
By contrast Cuomo, with his Queens roots, seemed quite glad to trade denunciations with ex-mayor Bill de Blasio.
Remember: Hochul took over the governorship after six years as Cuomo’s lieutenant governor, and a member of Congress with a sense of party politics developed in Washington.
For Hochul’s critics, both inside and outside the party, the question is whether she can shift to a more assertive, detailed and strategic role, using her wide budgetary powers, to lead her legislative frenemies.
So far, Hochul still seems to rely, as the state party's top player, on the approach of not being Cuomo. Will it be enough to succeed?
Columnist Dan Janison's opinions are his own.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
