By: Rusty Brooks
The New York Times published a recent piece surprisingly critical of New York, Governor Kathy Hochul.
Jay Root reports, “Ms. Hochul had vowed to change that culture, promising “a new era of transparency.” She said that the “days of three men in a room” — shorthand for the star-chamber-like decision-making in Albany — were over. There would be “accountability and no tolerance for individuals who cross the line,” she said. An ethics watchdog in Albany with “real teeth.” Even term limits for her and other statewide elected officials.”
Hochul promises to be make everything as clear and up front as possible even as she, and her associates, allow special deals to go through without proper legislative process.
The chip subsidy bill, which would designate $10 billion in state tax breaks over 20 years for microchip makers, was passed by the Senate on its last scheduled day after Ms. Hochul invoked emergency procedures, known as a “message of necessity.” The (state) Assembly quickly followed suit, writes Root.
“There’s really no one with a straight face who could look at anybody in the state and tell them that this new program was debated out in the open and there was a proper public and professional analysis done,” said State Senator James Skoufis to The New York Times, who, like Ms. Hochul, is a Democrat. “That sunlight did not exist in the room where this program was cooked up.”
In another act that lacked any oversight or outside approval, Hochul managed to get eleven billion dollars by saying it was for Covid which gave it emergency-approval.
The office of the comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, expressed concern over the governor’s “lack of transparency,” cautioning in its official review of the state budget that the control of the $11 billion was left “almost entirely to executive discretion.” In an email to top Hochul aides, Mr. DiNapoli’s first deputy, Pete Grannis, conveyed disappointment that “little was done to fulfill the promise to ‘promote transparency and take steps to restore New Yorkers’ trust in government”, according to The New York Times.
Hochul’s aides responded to The New York Times report saying, “the spending rules are consistent with practices under past governors and still allow the comptroller to audit payments and executed contracts. Ms. Hochul and her aides defended her efforts to make Albany more transparent and accountable, pointing to what a spokeswoman, Hazel Crampton-Hays, described as 200 years’ worth of “unethical behavior” in a state capital that has never had a woman at the helm”.
NY Times reported: The most glaring example of Ms. Hochul’s inclination to conduct business in secret came in April, when the governor privately negotiated a deal to give the Buffalo Bills the most generous outlay of public funds for a pro football facility ever: a new $1.4 billion stadium that relied on $600 million from the state and another $250 million from Erie County. Long-term maintenance costs will push the taxpayer commitment north of $1 billion over the next 30 years, state records show.
