Tag Archives: New York Governor Kathy Hochul

Rules For Thee But Not For Me

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The people who are in a panic about climate change often encourage us to use public transportation, live in smaller houses, buy more efficient cars, travel less, etc. They are seriously concerned about our carbon footprint. Yet, somehow, they seem to be much less concerned about their own carbon footprint.

On Saturday, The Washington Examiner reported:

Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) has spent around $415,000 on private jet flights since 2021.

The money was doled out by her campaign committee, with the most spent in 2022 during her reelection campaign against former Rep. Lee Zeldin.

A pilot experienced in private aviation told the New York Post that Hochul’s use of a private jet is “very wasteful.”

“It’s very wasteful, especially for an elected official,” he said. “There is no reason why any elected official in New York should be taking a private jet. Nearly everywhere in New York or upstate has a [commercial] airport that will take you anywhere in the country.”

Private jets are known to be especially wasteful, considering the small amount of passengers they carry. A 2021 report from the European Federation for Transport and Environment found that private jets are five to 14 times more polluting per passenger than commercial flights and 50 times more polluting than trains.

Hochul utilized two private-airline companies, Zephyr Jets and Apollo Jets, and spent no less than $5,000 on each flight while her most expensive journey was $38,594.00.

I have less patience with a politician using campaign money for private jets than I do with someone who is financially successful using one. At least a business person flying a private jet has earned the money for the trip. Hochul was using campaign funds that could have easily been more efficiently spent.

The article concludes:

Hochul is facing immense internal pressure from New York Democrats who want to oust her for the 2026 gubernatorial race. She faced previous criticism for down-ballot House losses in 2022 but recovered some ground during the 2024 elections, winning several seats back.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) is one of her main detractors. He has his eyes on the governor’s office in just a few short years.

“When it comes to combating climate change, the governor is conspicuously failing to practice what she preaches. New Yorkers viscerally resent hypocrisy, and the governor’s hypocrisy here is as staggering as her carbon footprint,” Torres told the New York Post.

Kathy Hochul is simply one more example of a politician who refuses to practice what she preaches.

Now That The Election Is Over…

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On Thursday, The New York Post reported that New York State Governor Kathy Hochul is restarting the congestion pricing plan. The cost of entering midtown Manhattan was originally set at $15, but the Governor has magnanimously reduced it to $9. She did wait until after the election so that voters wouldn’t be influenced by her adding the tax.

The article reports:

Hochul had abruptly paused the program just before it was set to go into effect in June with a base rate of $15 — and then relaunched with with the lower fee just before President-elect Donald Trump’s administration had an opportunity to block it.

Critics argue the first-in-the-nation toll — which was first approved by state lawmakers and then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2019 — is just a cash grab for the MTA that’ll saddle New York City drivers with yet another fee.

The article includes the details:

When does congestion pricing start?

Cars will be tolled beginning at midnight on Jan. 5, Hochul said.

How much will drivers be charged?

Standard passenger vehicles using an E-ZPass will be charged $9 per day for entering the tolling zone during daytime hours, defined as 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

That base amount is set to increase to $12 in 2028.

Other types of vehicles, like motorcycles and trucks, pay at different rates as follows:

    • Motorcycles: $4.50
    • Small trucks and non-commuter buses: $14.40
    • Large trucks and tourism buses: $21.60
    • Taxi and Black Car Drivers: $0.75 per ride
    • Uber, Lyft and other rideshare drivers: $1.50 per ride

The toll is reduced by 75% during overnight hours, between 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., to around $2.25.

Drivers without an E-ZPass will will receive a bill via mail and pay an inflated toll amount, though it wasn’t immediately clear how much.

Where is the toll zone?

The toll zone encompasses all areas below 60th Street – effectively all of Manhattan south of Central Park.

The article concludes:

Currently, the Biden administration is on board with the congestion pricing program. A spokesperson for the Federal Highway Administration confirmed that it is working to sign off on Hochul’s revised plan and get the toll up and running by Jan. 5.

The incoming Trump administration will almost definitely feel differently, with the president-elect telling The Post that he considered the toll the “most regressive tax known to womankind.”

Hochul has previously said she believes the toll can survive court challenges, even at its reduced $9 base rate.

This is one more reason tourists might want to stay out of New York City.

Chinese Agents In New York?

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On Tuesday, The New York Post posted an article about the arrest of Linda Sun, 41,a former high-ranking aide for Gov. Kathy Hochul and disgraced Gov. Andrew Cuomo and her husband, Christopher Hu, 40. They were arrested at their $4 million Manhasset mansion.

The article reports:

Sun shadily used her position under Hochul and Cuomo – who are unnamed but clearly referenced in the court documents – to turn the governor’s office into a virtual mouthpiece for the People’s Republic of China and Chinese Community Party, the bombshell indictment contends.

At several points, Sun bragged to Chinese consulate officials about effectively blocking Cuomo and Hochul from meeting with or publicly even mentioning Taiwan, including when the disputed island sent 200,000 much-needed masks to New York during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, documents state.

“The defendant Linda Sun received substantial economic and other benefits from representatives of the PRC government and the CCP, including the facilitation of millions of dollars in transactions for the PRC-based business activities of Sun’s husband, the defendant Chris Hu,” the indictment reads in part.

The article notes that the couple also has a a $2 million second home in a Honolulu high-rise and luxury cars like a 2024 Ferrari Roma. Admittedly Christopher Hu is a successful business man, but shouldn’t their lifestyle have raised questions before now?

The article concludes:

Prosecutor Alexander Solomon revealed during the arraignment that the scheme involved a “multitude of shell entities” and that the feds subpoenaed records of 80 different financial accounts.

“This is no ordinary financial fraud,” Solomon said.

Sun, while working under Hochul, ultimately ran afoul of her New York employers, according to documents.

She went beyond her authority by obtaining and publicly presenting an official New York State proclamation for Huang in January 2023, the indictment states.

She obtained the proclamation – a largely ceremonial honor that’s nonetheless valued by many officials – “outside ordinary channels” and sent state staffers who created the honor a personal gift basket and wine, according to the indictment.

Sun was interviewed by the Inspector General’s office a few weeks later in February and was fired on March 2.

A spokesperson for Hochul’s office noted Sun was hired by the Executive Chamber more than a decade ago.

“We terminated her employment in March 2023 after discovering evidence of misconduct, immediately reported her actions to law enforcement and have assisted law enforcement throughout this process,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Cuomo’s spokesman Rich Azzopardi, meanwhile, pointed fingers at Hochul.

“While Ms Sun was promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff in the subsequent administration, during our time she worked in a handful of agencies and was one of many community liaisons who had little to no interaction with the governor,” he said.

Shell entities, hmm.

Reading Between The Lines

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On Sunday, The Hill quoted a statement by New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

The article reports:

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) addressed New York business owners in a new interview and told them there was “nothing to worry about” after former President Trump was hit with a $355 million fine and a ban on conducting business in New York for three years.

Hochul joined John Catsimatidis on “The Cats Roundtable” on WABC 770 AM, where she was asked if other New York businesspeople should be worried that if “they can do that to the former president, they can do that to anybody.”

“I think that this is really an extraordinary, unusual circumstance that the law-abiding and rule-following New Yorkers who are business people have nothing to worry about, because they’re very different than Donald Trump and his behavior,” Hochul responded.

They are very different than Donald Trump because they are not Republicans who do not support globalism who are running for President and may win. If you honestly believe that President Trump’s real estate practices were significantly different than other New York City real estate businesses, I admire you naivete. If you honestly believe that President Trump would have been tried even if he were not the probable Republican nominee for President, you haven’t been paying attention. Before President Trump became a Republican and ran for President, he received awards from civil rights groups and New York City organizations thanking him for the role he played in rebuilding the city after the city almost went bankrupt. Obviously those currently in power have chosen to forget that. This is political. It has nothing to do with the law.

The radio host who commented that if “they can do that to the former president, they can do that to anybody” got it right.

 

What About Unemployed Americans?

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On Sunday, BizPac Review posted an article about a new job assistance program that New York Governor Kathy Hochul is putting into place.

The article reports:

New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a new job assistance program to benefit the illegal aliens who have descended on the state at a time when 380,000 of her own citizens are out of work.

The Democrat-controlled sanctuary state has been the nation’s top beneficiary of President Joe Biden’s open-border immigration policies, with the majority of the tens of thousands of new arrivals who have mostly settled in New York City, overwhelming the local government’s ability to house them.

Hochul, who is pleading with the Biden administration to speed up the process of providing migrant work permits, rolled out the Empire State’s own jobs program, authorizing the New York State Department of Labor (DOL) to assist illegals by connecting them with employers to facilitate their hiring.

“Today, @NYSLabor is launching a process for asylum seekers to sign up for employment opportunities, so they can quickly find a job after attaining legal work status, and will also unveil a new process for employers to express their interest in hiring work-authorized migrants,” the Democrat leader wrote on Twitter/X on Thursday, the day that she delivered a livestreamed address on the migrant crisis.

As is mentioned in the article, 380,000 New Yorkers are out of work. Why is the work situation of the illegal aliens getting more attention than the work situation of legal Americans who live in New York?

The actions of Governor Kathy Hochul are not the actions of a governor who is working for the people of her state. She is neither protecting the sovereignty of her state or the residents of her state. I wonder how long it will be before New Yorkers wake up and vote her out of office.

Killing The American Dream

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The American Dream used to be a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence and a little bit of land to take care of. The dream represented stability and security. People are more inclined to take good care of something they have worked hard to own. Unfortunately that dream is under attack.

On Thursday, The American Thinker posted an article about New York State Governor Kathy Hochul’s move to advance a so-called Housing Compact that would eliminate local control and single family zoning.

The article reports:

Hochul’s plan would require that high-rise “affordable” (read: low-income, taxpayer-subsidized) housing be constructed close to each sleepy village train station — mostly a few miles apart — on Metro North and the Long Island Railroad. If the affected communities fail to do so “voluntarily,” the state will have the power to override local zoning. Those who fail to applaud this combined coup by warriors for social justice and real estate interests are, you guessed it, racist.

Suburban homeowners, Democrats as well as Republicans, are beginning to awaken to the deadly threat these proposals pose to their way of life. What is largely overlooked is that this is a repeat of a similar effort in 1972 about which I wrote at the time (“Housing Controversy in Westchester,” Congress Biweekly, November 10, 1972 and December 22, 1972). Believe it or not, the effort to overthrow zoning was then spearheaded by Republicans — with New York’s Westchester County selected to pioneer the program.

On June 20, 1972, the New York State Urban Development Corporation announced that it was overriding local zoning to create a variety of low- and moderate-income housing developments in nine, for the most part rural, Westchester communities. Reminiscent of the emotional reaction to the death of George Floyd, the UDC had been given zoning override power by a hitherto balky state Legislature the day after the murder of Martin Luther King. Republican governor Nelson Rockefeller, in a burst of virtue-signaling, argued that this was the best tribute the Legislature could give the slain civil rights leader. When rationality returned, efforts by the state Legislature to take away the override power were vetoed by Rockefeller.

The article concludes:

Whether Republicans or Democrats, suburban householders are unwilling to see community zoning decisions and local master planning become meaningless exercises and to see the value of their greatest investment potentially plummet at far-off bureaucratic whims. That means their representatives in the state Legislature, however “progressive” their personal views, will fear defeat at the next election if they don’t oppose Governor Hochul’s “death to the suburbs” legislative agenda.

The American Dream provided incentive to work hard. By changing the rules on home ownership, Governor Hochel will eliminate that incentive. The idea that the federal government can control local zoning is a violation of the Tenth Amendment. Our Founding Fathers have long since stopped turning over in their graves–they are now spinning.

Waiting For The Court Cases On This New Law To Begin

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On June 23rd, The New York Post reported that the U.S. Supreme Court had struck down the restrictions New York State had put on concealed carry permits.

The Court ruled:

Writing for the 6-3 majority, Justice Clarence Thomas said Thursday that the law’s requirement of New Yorkers who want a permit to carry a handgun in public to show “proper cause” that the weapon is ​specifically needed for self-defense “violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their right to keep and bear arms in public.”

Well, the New York legislature decided that the Supreme Court decision was unacceptable.

On Saturday, The American Thinker reported:

In an act of breathtaking defiance and spitefulness not seen since Southern states engaged in “massive resistance” to the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board decision, the New York State Legislature gave a middle finger to the Supreme Court and voted Friday to effectively nullify the Court’s decision last week in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen.

After an extraordinary session for the explicit purpose of defying the Court, Senate Bill S51001 was rammed through on a party-line vote by the Democratic supermajority, passed the Assembly, and received the signature of Gov. Kathleen Hochul.

Writing for the majority in Bruen, Justice Clarence Thomas struck down New York’s century-old requirement that an applicant for a handgun carry permit demonstrate a “special need” if he wanted to carry for self-defense.  New York’s licensing process was entirely discretionary and arbitrary, and in many jurisdictions, licensing officers simply refused to issue permits for self-defense.  This was particularly true in New York City, where applicants were routinely and summarily rejected unless they were politically connected or celebrities — such as Howard Stern, Donald Trump, and Don Imus.  In other jurisdictions, licensing officers simply invented acceptable reasons on a whim, often issuing handgun licenses for “hunting and target shooting” only, if at all.  (In one rural upstate county, a former judge who had authority as a licensing officer invented a requirement that he would not allow any permit-holder to have more than five handguns without appearing before him personally and giving a “good reason.”)

In Bruen, Justice Thomas ruled that these arbitrary restrictions were unconstitutional and violated the Second Amendment’s guarantee to keep “and bear” arms for self-defense, ordering New York State and New York City to issue concealed carry permits to qualified applicants for that reason.

In response, Gov. Hochul (who was endorsed by the NRA in 2012 when she ran for Congress in rural Western New York) vindictively declared that New York would restrict guns to the point where the State would “go back to muskets.”  Hochul called the Legislature back from recess and presented a bill that criminalizes as a felony offense concealed carry in perhaps 98% of the state.

At some point you begin to wonder why some people in our government are so anxious to take guns away from law-abiding citizens.

The Courts Are Standing Up For The Rights Of Americans

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On Monday, The Daily Wire reported that Judge Thomas Rademaker, a New York state Supreme Court judge, Monday struck down Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul’s mask mandate for schools and public locations.

The article reports:

“There can be no question that every person in this State wishes, wants and prays that this era of COVID ends soon and they will surely do their part to see that is accomplished,” Judge Thomas Rademaker said in the ruling. “However, enacting any laws to this end is entrusted solely to the State Legislature. While the intentions of Commissioner Bassett and Governor Hochul appear to be well aimed squarely at doing what they believe is right to protect the citizens of New York State, they must take their case to the State Legislature.”

Hochul’s mask mandate was “violative of the State Administrative Procedure Act as promulgated and enacted and therefore null, void, and unenforceable as a matter of law,” the judge wrote, adding that it was also “violative of the Public Health Law as promulgated and enacted and therefore null, void, and unenforceable as a matter of law.”

Hochul responded by saying  in a statement that her “responsibility as Governor is to protect New Yorkers throughout this public health crisis” and claiming that her mask mandate would “help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and save lives.”

There is no scientific evidence that masks prevent the spread of the coronavirus or save lives. One scientist has compared wearing a cloth mask to protect from the coronavirus to putting up a chain-link fence to keep out mosquitoes. It’s time that we get back to the actual process of making laws that is enshrined in our Constitution–laws are made by legislative bodies elected by the citizens and held accountable by the voters.

What Are The Real Numbers?

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On Friday, Fox News posted an article about hospitalizations for Covid in New York State. It turns out that the numbers being reported include people admitted to the hospital for a problem unrelated to Covid who test positive for Covid.

The article reports:

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul released data Friday breaking down COVID-19 hospitalizations by those who were admitted due to the virus and those who were admitted for other reasons but were found to have the illness.

Included in the data was a chart showing “how many hospitalized individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 were admitted for COVID-19/COVID-19 complications and how many were admitted for non-COVID-19 conditions.”

This is a screenshot of the chart:

The article concludes:

Hochul’s administration recently faced backlash after revealing that it will prioritize non-White people in the distribution of COVID-19 treatments in short supply.

New York’s Department of Health released a document detailing its plan to distribute the treatments, such as monoclonal antibody treatment and antiviral pills.

The plan includes a section on eligibility for the scarce antiviral pills that people must meet to receive the treatment, including a line stating a person needs to have “a medical condition or other factors that increase their risk for severe illness.”

This is the breakdown of the vaccinated and unvaccinated in New York City (article here):

As of December 13, 2021, CDC reported that race/ethnicity was known for 70% of people who had received at least one dose of the vaccine. Among this group, nearly two thirds were White (58%), 10% were Black, 19% were Hispanic, 6% were Asian, 1% were American Indian or Alaska Native (AIAN), and <1% were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (NHOPI), while 6% reported multiple or other race. White people make up a smaller share of people who have received at least one dose (58%) and people who have recently received a vaccination (50%) compared to their share of the total population (61%). The same pattern is observed among Black people, who make up 10% of people who have received at least one dose and 11% of those recently vaccinated, compared to 12% of the population. In contrast, Hispanic people make up a larger share of vaccinated people (19%) and people who recently received a vaccination (23%) compared to their share of the total population (17%). The share of vaccinated people who are Asian is proportionate to their share of the total population (both 6%), while they make up a higher share (9%) of people initiating vaccination in the last 14 days.

It’s interesting to me that New York State is giving some minorities priority in Covid treatment when some minorities seem to be the most reluctant to get vaccinated. I guess some minorities are not included in the move to deny medical treatment to the unvaccinated.