Thoughts About Gov. Kathy Hochul

After serving six and a half years as Lt. Governor of the Empire State,

Kathy Hochul ascended to the top position in Albany. The new Governor is

the first woman to serve in that position in New York’s history and the first

Governor from western New York in more than a century. Most voters

know little about Governor Hochul. It might be a good time to look at her

background as well as looking at New York’s experience with other high

officials who first took office by means other than election. Mrs. Hochul was

the county clerk of Erie County, served previously on the Hamburg Town

Board for over a decade and served one term in the U.S. House of

Representatives. She lost re-election in 2012 but was selected by Andrew

Cuomo to be his running mate in 2014.

As a member of Congress, Mrs. Hochul could hardly be described as a

liberal Democrat. More in tune with her District, she was one of only two

New York Democrat representatives to be endorsed by the National Rifle

Association (NRA), a fact she proudly declared. She also supported

decreasing appropriations for Medicaid and opposed Governor Elliot

Spitzer’s plan to allow issuance of drivers licenses to undocumented aliens

in New York. Her rise to the Governorship and her already announced

intention to run for election to a full term in 2022 will give N.Y. voters an

opportunity to see what Gov. Hochul stands for: principles and character

or her career and the imperative to be elected.

Other appointed officials have presented us with information that election

to office is more important to our “political leaders” than personal integrity,

principles and character. Charles Goodell, a moderate to Conservative

Representative from Jamestown (Chautauqua County) was appointed to

fill the Senate seat left vacant by the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.

Now serving a different district, namely the entire state of New York,

Senator Goodell tacked left and became one of the Senate’s most liberal

members. He was challenged by Conservative Party candidate James

Buckley and Democrat Rep. Richard Ottinger. Ottinger and Goodell split

the liberal vote and the Conservative Party won its first statewide election.

Goodell came in third with only 24% of the vote.

More recently, Kirsten Gillibrand was appointed to the Senate upon the

resignation of Hillary Clinton who left to become Secretary of State in the

Obama administration. Sen. Gillibrand was appointed by another Lt.

Governor who rose to the top spot, David Paterson, in this case following

the resignation of Elliot Spitzer. Then Rep. Gillibrand had been elected in

an overwhelmingly Republican district in 2006 and was re-elected in 2008.

She ran on a platform suitable for her district, pledging to protect gun

rights. In the Congress, she was a “Blue Dog Democrat, a group which

identified itself as centrist or conservative. She received a 100% rating

from the NRA and took a hard right line on immigration, opposing amnesty

for illegal immigrants, opposing drivers licenses for them and supporting

withholding federal funds from sanctuary cities. Her constituency changed

upon her senate appointment as she too now no longer represented a

conservative upstate district but rather the whole of New York State. She

moved far to the left and as a senator can be described as a liberal

progressive.

What political candidates believe in their hearts is not the purpose of this

article. It is merely to point out that for political candidates and politicians

in general the imperative is to be elected. One cannot hope to win an

election when one’s views are not in concordance with the majority of

voters. In New York, where the majority of voters are in the downstate

area, they are Democrats and tend to be liberal. The liberal record of Sen.

Gillibrand led to her winning elections in 2010, 2012 and 2018 against

minimal Republican opposition. Sen Goodell failed as he could not

translate his appointment into sufficient downstate support to be elected

in his own right. It would seem fairly certain that Gov. Hochul is aware of

these facts and that New York voters can expect her to continue in the

liberal tradition of the New York Democratic Party.

Garry S. Sklar

Guttenberg, NJ

August 24, 2021