Senator Zellnor Myrie (photo: NY Senate)

After a novel round of public hearings throughout the state, the New York State Senate elections committee is gearing up to hold its traditional post-election oversight hearing, where the New York City and State boards of elections will have to answer questions about what went right and what went wrong in the primaries earlier this year.

On September 21, lawmakers will have their perennial conversation with representatives from the boards, as well as good government groups and other election experts, where the former will defend (or apologize for) their decisions and performance, and the latter will renew calls for reform. But this year's hearing will be different, according to Senator Zellnor Myrie, a Brooklyn Democrat and the committee chair, because it will be informed by the testimony of everyday New Yorkers, which the body gathered in four public hearings this summer.

"The previous hearings were really an attempt to listen first and ask questions second and that dynamic will be flipped in this hearing," Myrie told Gotham Gazette in a recent interview. "We will be asking more pointed questions and expecting answers because New Yorkers deserve a world class democracy and it is the boards' responsibility to deliver that."

The summer hearings were unusual because they centered on voters and their experiences, rather than the esoteric and often repetitive oversight hearings led by city and state election administrators and advocates that typically follow major elections. "We had regular, everyday voters just talking about their experiences and some of those were pretty alarming," Myrie said.

Among the issues voters (including some who were poll workers) raised were malfunctioning ballot scanners, absentee ballots that never arrived, and a lack of interpretation services at poll sites. There were also accounts of "poll workers who were incapable or refused to service voters with disabilities," Myrie said.

The hearings helped expose problems faced by upstate voters and election administrators, alike, which are frequently dwarfed in the media by blunders in the five boroughs of New York City, the largest election jurisdiction in the state.

The city Board of Elections’ latest failures -- including the release of an inaccurate preliminary vote count in New York's first major ranked-choice voting election -- have reignited a push to reform the state's election administration structure, which advocates say contributes to inefficiency and a lack of accountability. But in some upstate county boards, where the operations are smaller and resources thinner, administrators claim the bipartisan format, where the two major political parties hold equal power, is the only thing maintaining checks and balances.

"Our Bi-partisan board structure allows for a system where results are not questioned like we see throughout other states," wrote Dustin Czarny, the Democratic commissioner of the Onondaga County Board of Elections, in an email to Gotham Gazette. He said the boards need minimum staffing requirements, mandatory training, standards for data transparency, and the authority to discipline "non-compliant boards," all of which would come from the State Board of Elections, which has oversight and regulatory power over county boards and the New York City Board of Elections.

"The structure of who runs the boards is often an easy target for those not as versed in the election process," Czarny wrote. "If you don't provide adequate resources, training, and accountability then it won't matter who runs the BOEs, they will be set up for failure."

A common theme of the statewide hearings, Myrie said, was "the notion that any wholesale reform to the boards shouldn't be one-size-fits-all and that there are varying needs throughout the state and various sources of problems."

Creating a non-partisan election administration system would require changes to the state constitution, which can take years. Myrie plans to produce a report in the coming weeks or months with an analysis of the hearings and recommendations for reform "large and small," including measures that can be taken without a constitutional amendment.

One bill in the Legislature, sponsored by Senator Liz Krueger and Assemblymember Nily Rozic, would require New York City's election commissioners to have professional qualifications and create standards for certain key functions like appointing co-executive directors and expending the budget, among other measures. These types of changes, which could be made statutorily, without a constitutional amendment, would help "professionalize" the New York City Board of Elections and add levels of accountability to its operations by removing political patronage from board appointments. That patronage, in which party leaders rather than elected officials choose the board's staff, in some cases down to the rank and file and rife with nepotism, has been diagnosed as the cause of much of the inefficiency and ineptitude plaguing election administration in the country’s biggest city.

The pandemic has also exacerbated problems and in some places left commissioners struggling to balance the safety of voters with their right to access the ballot box. At one of the upstate hearings, "we heard stories of Black voters in Syracuse who had polling sites moved without their knowledge," Myrie said.

Czarny, whose county includes Syracuse, told Gotham Gazette that long-time polling locations at Toomey Abbott Apartments and Brighton Tower Apartments, two senior living facilities, had to be moved in the 2020 primary and general elections and the June 2021 primaries because of the risk of spreading the virus among the vulnerable populations living there. The Onondaga board notified residents by mail before each election, as well as campaigns, he said.

"It is unfortunate that we had to move those polling places but in the pre-vaccine portion of the epidemic we could not afford residents to be exposed," he wrote. "Our plan is to open polling sites back in those buildings this fall, however we are closely monitoring the situation with the rise in the Delta variant."

In total, 20 polling places at senior living facilities in Onondaga County were closed during the pandemic, he said.

Critically, the September 21 hearing will take aim at the structure of Board of Elections operations in New York City. "What I am hoping we gain out of this hearing on the 21st is really direct responses to why this structure has contributed to the failures that we see in every single election," Myrie said. "There is an accountability issue, particularly in the New York City structure, where the bipartisan nature actually in certain instances is farcical."

At the New York City hearing this summer, which took place at Medgar Evers College in July, for example, lawmakers heard testimony from "Democrats who were working as poll workers under a Republican nametag and only doing so to meet this requirement of bipartisan administration," Myrie said.

"The Board stands ready to participate at the upcoming hearing before the New York State Senate," wrote Valerie Diaz, a spokesperson for the New York City Board of Elections, in response to Myrie's comments.

The Senate has also sent invitations to testify to the board of elections involved in the calamitous general election in Congressional District 22 last year. In that race, the Oneida County Board of Elections failed to register 2,400 potential voters ahead of a highly competitive contest, leading to the resignation of both elections commissioners. That House seat, with the victory of Republican Claudia Tenney over incumbent Democrat Anthony Brindisi in a rematch from two years prior, was the last in the country to be certified.

"I'm very interested in hearing what their response is going to be to what went wrong and how we can do better," Myrie said.

The Senate elections hearing will take place on Tuesday, September 21 at 10 a.m. in the Legislative Office Building in Albany (the proceedings will be streamed live on the Senate's website and recorded). Oral testimony is by invitation only.

(l-r) Top: Ivelisse Cuevas-Molina, Ross Brady & Jack Martins; Middle: John Flateau & David Imamura; Bottom: John Conway

New York's legislative redistricting commission is moving into its next phase following a series of public hearings intended to get a sense of the contours of "communities of interest," a new criteria being incorporated into the line-drawing process for the first time this cycle, in addition to constitutional and statutory requirements.

The commission, itself a nascent entity, held nine public hearings in regions around the state this summer to solicit feedback from New Yorkers about what ties their communities together. Officials say the public input was key to finding the best-fit boundaries for the new units of representation for the U.S. House of Representatives, State Senate, and State Assembly, to be voted on by the State Legislature next year.

Now the commission and its map-drawers are working to release a set of draft congressional and state legislative district maps by a September 15 target date followed by another round of statewide hearings to get feedback on those boundaries next month.

"I would be the first to say that we will miss things and we want the public to weigh in and tell us that the lines should be changed to reflect this community of interest or this area or this thing we missed," said David Imamura, the chair of the 10-member Independent Redistricting Committee, in an interview with Gotham Gazette. 

"New Yorkers stepped up with the first round of public hearings. We need them to step up a second time," added Imamura, a Democratic District Leader in Irvington who was appointed to the commission by State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Democrat from Westchester.

The redistricting commission has been working at breakneck speed following delays in funding and the release of 2020 Census data essential to drawing maps. Data that was supposed to be released in March by the U.S. Census Bureau came out mid-August following extensions in the federal enumeration process due to the pandemic.

"Under the current deadlines we would normally have six months to look at the Census data. Instead we have one month to look at the Census data," Imamura said. "It has impacted everything we've done."

New York's once-a-decade map-drawing process, which in previous decades has been conducted entirely within the State Legislature, will begin with the redistricting commission thanks to a state constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2014. The commission is meant to be independent of sitting politicians, though its members were appointed by majority and minority legislative leaders and its maps are still subject to approval by state lawmakers.

If the Legislature rejects the commission's maps more than once it may redraw them. With supermajorities in both the Senate and Assembly, there is a chance Democrats will be able to unilaterally draw the final district lines.

"I have not talked to any state legislators directly about this," Imamura said.

Under the current rules, the commission must submit its final proposed maps to the Legislature by January 1, or shortly after, but no later than January 15. Early passage in the 2022 legislative session is essential for local boards of elections to be able to prepare for the spring petitioning candidates must complete in order to get on the ballot in the June primaries -- in a year where every House, State Senate, and State Assembly seat in New York is on the ballot.

An amendment before voters this November may eliminate the January 15 grace period, along with several other changes that could impact the way lines are drawn and approved. Imamura said he hopes to get maps to the Legislature by the January 1 deadline.

The commission was expected to introduce its map-drawers at a public meeting Thursday, along with what instructions they have been given, and whether or not they were partisan in nature, being hired by each of the Democratic and Republican halves of the body. That meeting was postponed after Hurricane Ida caused severe flooding and damage to much of the city and state. It will now occur on Thursday, September 9 at 4pm.

District lines must meet several criteria enshrined in state and federal law, including the federal Voting Rights Act. Districts must be contiguous and compact with relatively similar population sizes, and they cannot be drawn in a way that favors particular politicians or diminishes the vote of protected racial and linguistic groups. The proposed constitutional amendment adds additional criteria like the explicit requirement that incarcerated individuals be counted in their most recent place of residence prior to incarceration and that individuals be counted regardless of immigration status. The amendment would also freeze the number of State Senate seats at 63. There are 150 Assembly seats. New York currently has 27 seats in the U.S. House, but that number is shrinking to 26, adding further intrigue to the redistricting process.

Even with these criteria, drawing district lines is an art and has been used to diffuse and increase the political power of certain communities, racial groups, and political parties.

"Packing and cracking are classic techniques," said Jeffrey Wice, a senior fellow at New York Law School’s Census and Redistricting Institute, in an interview. "You want to make sure that you are not violating the Voting Rights Act by diluting the minority vote in circumstances where you have high levels of racially polarized voting."

"On the other hand, you don't want to pack too many minority voters into a single district where you end up wasting their vote and minimizing their influence in adjoining districts," Wice said.

In Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and surrounding neighborhoods, for example, growing Asian communities have historically been split among multiple Senate and Assembly districts. At one of the commission's public meetings in July, speakers called for Asian populations in Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, Homecrest, and Sheepshead Bay to be brought together in one district, according to a New York Law School newsletter.

With the public hearings this summer and the ones slated for the fall, commissioners are considering other characteristics that make communities cohesive.

"It does the community no good if they are split into five, six different ways and are unable to elect a representative who truly reflects their interest," Imamura said. "Communities of interest can be anything. They can be religious, they can be geographic, they can be racial."

How the commission prioritizes communities of interest will be another art and will amount to "a fine balance," according to the chair. "We have to be in compliance with federal and state law. Period. We're going to have to make a lot of decisions and sometimes that means one community of interest won't necessarily trump another," Imamura told Gotham Gazette -- another reason why the second round of input from New Yorkers will be so important, he said.

New York State is slated to lose the congressional seat after the most recent Census count showed that while the population in the New York City metropolitan area grew significantly, the Upstate population declined and several other states saw their populations grow enough for New York to lose in its relative standing again. One of the key questions before the commission is where the lost seat will come from.

"I think that my colleagues and I are going to have a spirited debate on this," Imamura said. "There are a lot of different factors that are weighed in determining the movements of districts or the elimination of districts so we'll see where the commission goes."

Governor Kathy Hochul has indicated she will use her power as governor to help Democrats grow their slim majority in Congress, aided by Democratic gains in New York. "Yes," she said in a New York Times interview, when asked if she would try to use the redistricting process to do so. "I am also the leader of the New York State Democratic Party. I embrace that."

Some state senators in New York City told The City that they may also use their power in the Legislature to protect the district lines that brought them to power.

New York State Senate districts, more so than Assembly districts, are notoriously gerrymandered and disconfigured, designed to help keep Republicans in power during the last redistricting, a decade ago, in a deal with Democrats who got to draw their own Assembly lines.

In an interview Thursday, Senator Zellnor Myrie, a Democrat who represents a gerrymandered district that cuts from central Brooklyn to Sunset Park, said any position was "premature" without seeing the commission's proposed maps. "The process is meant to include the public and those who would be impacted and I look forward to seeing what the commission comes up with," he told Gotham Gazette, adding, "the goal is to keep like communities together."

"The people should be picking the politicians, not the other way around," he said.

Housing justice protest (photo: @housing4allNY)

September 01, 2021 - Max Politics Podcast: New York's Eviction Moratorium and the Housing Justice Movement

Cea Weaver, campaign coordinator at Housing Justice for All, joined the show to discuss the extension of New York's eviction moratorium and the bigger housing policy picture.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter @TweetBenMax. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts at Max Politics.

Gov. Hochul is sworn in (photo: Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)

September 01, 2021 - Max Politics Podcast: A Government Reform Agenda for Governor Hochul

John Kaehny, executive director of government watchdog and reform group Reinvent Albany, joined the show to discuss what ethics, transparency, and other reforms Governor Kathy Hochul should prioritize as well as a number of other issues related to how state government works in New York.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter @TweetBenMax. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts at Max Politics.

Voting (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

In addition to municipal elections across the state, including the consequential New York City mayor's race, all New York voters will have an opportunity to approve or disapprove five state constitutional amendments on the ballot this fall. If any of them are ratified through general election voting -- and that is likely given the state's recent history of ballot referenda -- they will be enshrined in the state's central governing document.

The questions before voters have already been drafted and passed by state legislators and deal with elections, redistricting, the environment, and the courts. The proposals include changes to the way legislative districts are drawn and seats apportioned; adding a constitutional right to clean air and water; amendments allowing same-day voter registration and no-excuse absentee voting; and an expansion of the jurisdiction of the New York City Civil Court.

To amend the state constitution, proposals must be passed by lawmakers in two successive legislative sessions and then be approved by voters in ballot referenda. Voters will see simplified versions of the potential amendments in the form of yes-or-no questions. The full text of the amendments can be found on the New York State Board of Elections website. The website notes there may be other local ballot proposals, which would be listed on the websites of county boards of elections.

Below is a brief overview of each of the five proposals that New York voters will be asked about on their fall ballots:

Proposal 1: Amending the Apportionment and Redistricting Process
The first proposal on the ballot is an omnibus amendment containing numerous technical changes to the state's redistricting process, which takes place once a decade and is unfolding now after the 2020 Census count.

Some of its key components, if approved, include permanently freezing the number of New York State Senate districts at 63; counting incarcerated individuals in their last place of residence rather than where they are incarcerated for purposes of district populations; and requiring the state to count all residents in district populations regardless of their citizenship status.

The amendment also includes changes to the approval process of legislative district lines for the House of Representatives, State Senate and State Assembly.

A 2014 state constitutional amendment created a 10-member redistricting commission, appointed by legislative leaders, which is operating for the first time starting this year and to which the current proposal makes additional changes. The commission must draw and submit district maps to the Legislature for approval after a series of public hearings. As it is currently conceived, maps require approval from seven members of the commission, including appointees from each majority and minority legislative leader, and must be passed by a legislative supermajority of two-thirds of each chamber.

The proposed amendment would continue to require the commission advance maps with affirmative votes by at least seven members, but would eliminate the requirement that they be supported by appointees of each legislative leader. It would also reduce the vote threshold from two-thirds to 60% of the 63-seat Senate and 60% of the 150-seat Assembly.

The amendment would also get rid of a requirement that the commission's co-executive directors be one Democrat and one Republican. It would also adjust some of the deadlines for submitting and approving district maps.

Good government groups have been divided on the merits of both the 2014 amendment, which passed, and the current proposal to alter it. Supporters in 2014 believed creating the commission added an element of independence and, through the public hearing process, transparency to the drawing of draft maps. But the 2014 amendment still allows the Legislature to override the commission's maps, which opponents said would leave politicians with control over the final outcomes.

Now, the groups are again divided with some noting the new proposed amendment would simplify the voting procedure and remove certain partisan elements. But others say cutting the approval threshold from 66% to 60% reduces the need for bipartisan support in the Legislature. Democrats currently hold a supermajority in both the Senate and Assembly, meaning threshold changes would not be likely to have an impact on the current redistricting process, which will culminate in the legislative session next year just ahead of the 2022 elections. But it could have implications for the process in future decades.

Proposal 2: Right to Clean Air and Water
This proposal would add to the state's Bill of Rights an explicit "right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment." The amendment would give New Yorkers additional recourse to challenge and seek restitution in the court system for polluted air and water. It may also impact the way regulators like the state Department of Environmental Conservation and city Department of Environmental Protection view their responsibilities and the regulations they promulgate.

The amendment is a longtime goal of environmental advocates and environmental justice activists but there has been some discussion of concerns about the language of the amendment and what the legal ramifications could be. The text is simple and would add only a single line to the constitution: "Each person shall have a right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment." The brevity means the implications of the right will likely be subject to interpretation in the courts.

According to Blair Horner, the executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, a good government organization that supports the amendment, about six states have similar rights on the books. "It's not unheard of and New York was the first state to have any sort of environmental protections baked into its constitution, really starting with the Adirondack Park," he told Gotham Gazette in a recent interview. "It harkens back to that to some extent."

Proposal 3: Same-Day Voter Registration
This amendment would eliminate the requirement that voters register to vote no later than ten days before an election or the close of polls. By doing so, there will be no constitutional block to registering to vote on the same day as voting and would open the door to state laws that could allow that.

Voting rights advocates have been seeking this reform for years, arguing it would expand access to the ballot box and increase voter engagement in what they have called an antiquated system.

"Newly naturalized voters, in particular, can finally navigate what was once an outdated and opaque voter registration process," wrote Murad Awawdeh, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, after the amendment passed the Legislature for the second time in May.

Unlike other recently enacted election reforms -- like early voting and changes to the party enrollment deadline or primary election calendar, which were done by concurrent passage in the state Senate and Assembly and signed by the governor -- the ten-day registration requirement is in the constitution and requires the lengthier amendment process.

Proposal 4: No-Excuse Absentee Voting
Another voting reform on the ballot would drop the constitutional requirement that absentee voters provide an "excuse" or explanation for why they cannot vote in-person. The state constitution currently allows voters to mail in ballots if they expect to be away on election day or if they have an illness or disability that would prevent them from going to a poll site.

Since the start of the pandemic, an emergency executive order signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo and a subsequent state law essentially enacted no-excuse-needed absentee voting while there is a risk of spreading COVID-19 and other transmissible diseases. This amendment, if approved, would make that permanent as part of the constitution, opening the door to continued widespread voting by mail and ballot drop-off.

Both no-excuse absentee voting and same-day voter registration were among a suite of reforms long-sought by voting rights advocates that had been blocked by Republicans who controlled the state Senate for much of the last decade. Both amendments received first passage in January 2019, shortly after Democrats gained control of the Senate and thus both houses of the Legislature and the governorship.

"No-fault absentee voting and same-day voter registration amendments are now a crucial step closer to being codified in our state constitution and delivering a more accessible franchise for generations to come," wrote Erika Lorshbough, deputy policy director at the New York Civil Liberties Union, after the amendments received second passage in May.

“Democrats are racing each other to the left to get credit for being the most progressive without stopping to think about the negative ramifications,” said Scott Reif, then a Republican spokesperson in a statement reported by the New York Times after the reforms passed in 2019. “In the meantime, hardworking New Yorkers are overtaxed and overregulated, and upstate is facing an economic emergency. It’s time to find real solutions to the economic challenges facing real people.”

Proposal 5: Expanding the New York City Civil Court Jurisdiction
The fifth proposal on the statewide ballot would only impact the five boroughs of New York City but must go before all voters because it deals with a stipulation in the state constitution. The amendment would increase the scope of claims the New York City Civil Court can hear and make decisions on from the current maximum of $25,000 to $50,000. Claims greater than $25,000 now go before the state Supreme Court.

This is not the first time this proposal and similar ones have been on the ballot. In 1983, an amendment increased the Civil Court's jurisdiction from $10,000 to the current $25,000 in order to keep up with inflation and to reduce a backlog of cases in the state Supreme Court. In the mid-1990s, a nearly identical amendment to the one being considered now would have increased the jurisdiction to $50,000 claims, but it failed by a narrow margin.

According to the amendment's sponsors in the Legislature, the justification is the same as it was in the 1980s: to acknowledge inflation and reduce the burden on higher courts. "Adjusting this jurisdictional limit would be one powerful tool to address these problems," reads the bill memo written by Senate sponsor Luis Sepúlveda, a Bronx Democrat. Both passages received unanimous support in both chambers of the Legislature.

State Senator Alessandra Biaggi (center) (Photo: NY Senate)

Looking over the scandal-pocked landscape of Albany in the wake of former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s resignation, lawmakers in the State Senate set their sights this week on the dysfunctional Joint Commission on Public Ethics, the state’s ethics watchdog often criticized for its apparent lack of independence and bite.

At a Senate ethics committee hearing Wednesday, senators on both sides of the aisle tore into JCOPE’s executive director, Judge Sanford Berland, over the rules and practices dictating the body’s decision-making and confidentiality, particularly surrounding an alleged 2019 illegal leak of a closed-doors vote regarding whether the agency should investigate one of Cuomo’s former top aides. On Thursday, JCOPE commissioners voted to refer that matter to New York Attorney General Letitia James for an investigation. JCOPE also sent James a criminal inquiry into whether the state inspector general's investigation into the leak was adequate or if it amounted to a 'cover up.'

"JCOPE was created to restore public trust in government, yet since it's creation there has only been rising concern about JCOPE's neutrality and ability to act as an independent body," said Senator Alessandra Biaggi, a Bronx Democrat and the ethics committee chair, at the hearing Wednesday. "After a year that has been dominated by scandals within the executive [branch] it is very clear that this moment calls for immediate change and structural reform."

"JCOPE has actually reinforced corruption over the years," said Senator Anthony Palumbo, a Republican from Suffolk County. "They have been on the fringe of some real big situations and ignored them."

JCOPE was established in 2011 by legislation introduced by Cuomo and carried by former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, all of whom left office under a shroud of scandal. Cuomo exited this week after an attorney general's report found he sexually harassed or groped 11 women, including current and former staffers; he faces ongoing criminal investigations by multiple district attorneys and a forthcoming report from a shuttered Assembly impeachment probe. Silver and Skelos are both serving prison sentences for their misuse of government resources and abuse of the public trust. JCOPE did little, if anything, to address these cases while the men were in office. Since its creation, the body has been accused of insulating, rather than regulating, the state's most powerful officials -- especially Cuomo, who, as governor, selected six of the body's 14 members, including its chair.

Some of the most recent issues in front of the agency include JCOPE's staff granting permission to Cuomo for his $5.1 million book deal – a memoir of his governorship during the first months of the pandemic – and the lack of oversight of his reported use of state resources, including staff, to write the book.

Among the most glaring now-public examples of political interference is the alleged 2019 leak, which not only constitutes a potential misdemeanor for the leaker, but also illustrates the intertwined strings of power among Albany's leaders -- namely Cuomo and Skelos's successor, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie -- who are meant to place checks on one another.

In 2019, former JCOPE Commissioner Julie Garcia's confidential vote on a matter related to Joseph Percoco, a high-ranking staffer of Cuomo's, and his involvement in the Buffalo Billions pay-to-play scandal, was allegedly leaked to the governor in violation of state law. The leak was referred to the state inspector general's office, another watchdog, which concluded its investigation, finding no wrongdoing, without interviewing key figures allegedly involved, including Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. The speaker appointed Garcia to JCOPE and, through counsel, contacted her about Cuomo's displeasure with her vote, according to Garcia.

"The fact that [Cuomo] called the speaker just underscores the fundamental flaw with JCOPE and the one that we've always talked about," said Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, a good government organization, at the hearing Wednesday. "The commission needs to be independent."

At the heart of JCOPE's troubles is the body's appointment structure and rules allowing a minority of commissioners to block investigations, according to lawmakers on the Senate ethics committee and good government advocates. While the stated purpose is to prevent partisan investigations, the power to dismiss complaints allows commissioners to protect their appointers -- the governor and legislative leaders -- and allies, the very people frequently at the center of investigations.

Senator Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat, has proposed a state constitutional amendment that would abolish JCOPE and establish another, more independent body in its place. The amendment would replace JCOPE and a separate entity known as the Legislative Ethics Commission with a 13-member body comprised of appointees from all three branches of government. A majority of appointees would come from the chief judge and appellate division justices, who would not be subject to the body's oversight and enforcement. Enacting a constitutional amendment is a lengthy process, requiring passage in successive legislative sessions and ballot approval by voters. In the meantime, other bills have been introduced to change JCOPE's appointment structure, reduce explicitly partisan requirements, and expand transparency.

In some of her most detailed public testimony since resigning from JCOPE in the aftermath of the leak, Garcia told the Senate ethics committee the body's failures were "elementary" and "black or white."

"It, completely, is so counter intuitive or unreasonable to think that the person who actually committed the crime might be voting not to have a criminal investigation," she said of a possible JCOPE vote to refer the alleged leak to a criminal probe.

Of the subsequent inspector general's investigation, Garcia said, "When the inspector general completely fails to interview people who have direct evidence, who are witnesses...either the inspector general's office is incompetent or corrupt."

The inspector general's office submitted written testimony but declined invitations to participate in the hearing Wednesday where representatives would face lawmakers' questions. The office's written testimony did not discuss the alleged leak. Officials from the Governor's Office of Employee Relations, which could speak to the issues of workplace toxicity and sexual misconduct that led to Cuomo's resignation, also submitted written testimony but declined to participate in person Wednesday.

“We obviously disagree with Ms. Garcia’s statement," wrote Lee Park, a spokesperson for the inspector general's office, in a statement. "We stand by the investigation. Inspector General
[Letizia] Tagliafierro was and remains fully recused from this matter.” Tagliafierro, a former JCOPE executive director and Cuomo aide, recused herself from the investigation because of potential conflicts of interest.

In some cases, Garcia told lawmakers, matters before JCOPE would be terminated by attrition without a formal vote of commissioners. "It's not just a yes vote or a no vote. Sometimes nothing happens, it's complete gridlock...It's just in a black hole," she said. "When there's been gridlock, as far as I know nothing happens."

When asked by Biaggi if Cuomo or other state officials pressured her to resign, Garcia hesitated before declining to answer. "I'm really not able to answer that question because of conversations that went on inside executive session that I'm not able to talk about," she told the committee.

The Senate committee heard virtual testimony from ethics commissioners in Alaska and Rhode Island, which ranked first and fifth on the 2015 State Integrity Investigation, conducted by the Center for Public Integrity. Alaska's nine-member Select Committee on Legislative Ethics has four members selected by legislative leaders and five "public members" -- individuals who are not members of the legislature, elected or appointed officials subject to financial disclosure rules, party officers, candidates for office, or registered lobbyists. Those public members are selected by the chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court and approved by two-thirds of each legislative chamber.

"You have to look at something that's a significantly more accountable system that seeks a bipartisan compromise," Alaska State Senator Tom Begich told the committee. "We do not have gridlock on our ethics committee. It does not happen and our public members are a key component of that."

In his own testimony, JCOPE executive director Sanford Berland, a former state Supreme Court judge, drew the ire of lawmakers for what they said was protecting commissioners and casting the body's problems as issues of public relations and limited resources to enforce its determinations. When asked by Suffolk County Republican Sen. Phil Boyle what changes are needed to make JCOPE "truly an ethics commission that fights malfeasance," Berland cited the body's enforcement capabilities but not potential conflicts of interest or the influence of appointing authorities, including the governor.

"I would ask that our enforcement powers and our budget for enforcement both be augmented," said Berland, who came into the director role three months ago. "We have very little fiscal capability in employing enforcement counsel and investigators." He added that while JCOPE has in-house experts in cases of sexual misconduct, it lacks the ability to hire other experts, like forensic accountants. "I wish we did," he said.

"From your opening testimony to the responses that you have given the committee members to the responses to my questions, you basically point out that the biggest problem with JCOPE is a bad PR image and that maybe its hands are tied too much by certain laws and regulations," Sen. John Liu, a Queens Democrat, told Berland.

In testimony from the public, advocates also raised questions about the state's sexual harassment and whistleblower protections, and policies allowing officials to earn income outside of their government jobs, among other issues.

"Power abuse is not just a commissioner leaking confidential information, an elected official using state resources for personal benefit, or a senior advisor rigging RFP processes for major donors," said Erica Vladimer, co-founder of the Sexual Harassment Working Group, an advocacy organization of former government staffers, in written testimony. "Power abuse is also an elected official shoving their tongue in a staffer's mouth, a chamber leader failing to hold a member accountable for sexual assault, and an elected pitting young staffers against one another, asking deeply personal and inappropriate questions, sticking his hand up a staffer's blouse."

Vladimer said sexual harassment in government workplaces could involve ethics bodies beyond JCOPE, like the inspector general, the Governor's Office of Employee Relations, the Legislative Ethics Commission, the Senate and Assembly ethics committees, and personnel divisions. She also criticized the state's Public Officer's Law, which does not explicitly prohibit "discrimination, harassment, assault, and retaliation" making it difficult to bring these types of complaints to JCOPE and other entities, Vladimir told the Senate committee. The Sexual Harassment Working Group is calling for those protections to be added.

"I do not think the Public Officer's Law, as it is currently written, does anything to protect staffers from harassment and discrimination and retaliation," Vladimer said.

Senator Michael Gianaris (photo: NYS Senate)

Last week, with New York’s executive branch embroiled in scandal and former Governor Andrew Cuomo set to resign, State Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris appeared on Gotham Gazette’s Max Politics Podcast to reflect on Cuomo’s reign and resignation, the political dynamics of Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul taking over as the state’s first woman governor, and policy priorities ahead for the next legislative session.

“There’s a lot of really important substantive things that have been put on hold because the governor’s been distracted by his scandals,” Gianaris told podcast host Ben Max, executive editor of Gotham Gazette, on Friday, August 20, three days before Cuomo’s resignation went into effect.

Cuomo stepped down in the wake of an attorney general’s report which concluded that he sexually harassed or groped 11 women, most of whom were state employees. On Tuesday, Hochul was sworn in as his successor, becoming the 57th governor of New York State.

On the podcast, Gianaris spoke about his work in the state Senate and his relationship with the disgraced former governor. He offered a damning analysis of what he described as Cuomo’s autocratic, tyrannical leadership style, and said Cuomo used manipulative techniques to actively fight against the Democratic majorities in the state Legislature and sought political victories that he could claim solely for himself. And he expressed hope for newly sworn-in Governor Hochul, whose stated willingness to collaborate and consult with others might “correct a lot of the problems” of Cuomo’s administration, he said.

“When you’re dealing with a bully, the way he is,” Gianaris said of Cuomo, “what tends to happen is the bully is very successful until it all falls apart and topples over, and I think that’s exactly what happened here.”

“He finally had done something and these courageous women came forward in a way that really grabbed a hold of public attention and then the flood gates opened, and everyone started saying, ‘I knew this all along,’ Gianaris added. “Well, some of us have certainly been yelling about this for ten years with moderate success.”

After the Attorney General released her report, which also outlined a "toxic" workplace culture in Cuomo’s executive office, Gianaris said that “the behavior finally was so beyond the pale that it penetrated public consciousness,” adding, “it finally got through to people that this is not a good guy that we’re dealing with.”

After “being frozen” for months because of Cuomo’s scandals, Gianaris said, “a lot of business of the state has been held up,” and said he hopes to “get the state back on track” by moving forward with climate change, healthcare and transportation legislation in the next session.

For Gianaris, the sexual harassment allegations are indicative of the “manipulative” leadership style that made Cuomo a “hindrance to the state,” Gianaris said. “You look at the harassment allegation, and that comes from someone who feels so entitled and is so arrogant about their power and their position that he believed he could do anything he wanted to and get away with it,” he said. “Even to this day, even though he’s announced his resignation, he’s still defending his behavior and attacking the courageous women who came forward.”

Gianaris called Cuomo a “Machiavellian manipulator” who worked against his own party to secure political victories that would stand as distinctly his own, and were not born of any collaboration with the legislative branch. He said Cuomo went so far as to fight against his party’s majority in the state legislature to position himself as the mediator between parties. By encouraging fellow state Democrats not to run, withholding support from them, and even offering them jobs outside of the State Legislature – Gianaris said Cuomo offered him a job as head of the Department of Financial Services to get him out of the Senate – Gianaris described how Cuomo helped “facilitate Republican control of the Senate” so that he could “get the credit for overcoming the Republican Senate that he actually helped keep in place.”

Gianaris pointed out that for the last decade, Cuomo has talked frequently about the same three issues that he accomplished under the Republican Senate – passing marriage equality, gun control regulations under the SAFE Act, and a $15 minimum wage. “We have done so much more in the last three years, but those are largely seen as legislative accomplishments,” Gianaris said, referring to the period since the Democratic takeover of the State Senate, and thus both houses of the legislature. He cited the Legislature’s enactment of the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), conversation therapy ban, codification of Roe v. Wade, increase in taxes on the wealthy, passage of strong tenant protection laws, and criminal justice reform. “He never talks about [these policies] because these are not things that he can somehow raise his flag and claim that he miraculously convinced Republicans to adopt,” Gianaris said.

Beyond helping to divide the Legislature, Gianaris insisted that Cuomo held back the state’s progressive agenda. “Even in his resignation speech, [Cuomo] said, ‘We are the progressive capital of the nation.’ Well he doesn’t say that he tried to keep that from happening for most of the last decade,” Gianaris explained. “He was against raising taxes, and then we imposed on him in the budget to agree. Even on the day we passed the Green Light law for drivers licenses for immigrants, he was talking about how he believed it might be unconstitutional to try and slow us down and keep us from passing it.”

Despite Cuomo’s bullying, he was always able to maintain deniability, Gianaris said, and no one, aside from the women who stepped forward to tell their stories of Cuomo's sexual misconduct, was willing to stand up to Cuomo’s political tactics or the “huge war chest” of $18.5 million in campaign cash he raised for a potential fourth term run.

“When you’re talking about something as in the weeds as control of the Senate, and he does things in such a manipulative way that you can’t really put your finger on it and say he did this, that, and the other thing, he can deny it,” like he is doing now with the harassment claims, Gianaris said. “There’s things he’s gotten away with for a long time because it was hard to prove and so on, but now that you’ve got multiple women stepping forward with the courage to tell their stories, I think it finally got through to people that this is not a good guy that we’re dealing with.”

At the time Cuomo announced his resignation, he faced an impeachment investigation by the State Assembly, which was examining the sexual harassment complaints against him, as well as several other issues including his administration’s handling of Covid in nursing homes and his alleged use of state resources to promote his pandemic memoir. When Cuomo said he would step down, the Assembly suspended its investigation but still intends to release a report of its findings.

With Cuomo on his way out, Gianaris is somewhat optimistic for Hochul’s time as governor. Hochul, in her first public address on Tuesday, promised to take a “fresh and collaborative approach” and pledged to undo damage done by her predecessor, including by instituting reforms to ethics and sexual harassment regulations.

“Many of us have had the same relatively positive experience with Kathy Hochul, which is to say she very much seems to be in favor of outreach and collaboration and consultation,” he said. “Now that was all in the context of her as lieutenant governor and in an administration that shut her out of a lot of the important decisions they were involved in. So what she will do once she ascends to this important office remains to be seen.”

[Fighting Covid, Distributing Aid and Changing Albany's Culture: Governor Hochul Outlines Priorities in First Public Address]

But Gianaris was careful not to throw his unequivocal support behind Hochul. Although he thinks Hochul’s personality is promising for executive leadership, he’s not sure where she will land on the substance of issues. “The bigger question for Kathy Hochul in my mind is how she is going to position herself,” Gianaris said, adding, “we have a week and a half before the eviction moratorium runs out. Are we going to go back and do something about that or not? These are the questions that her answers on will help determine how people view her politically.”

On August 12th, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a crucial part of New York’s eviction moratorium, which expires on August 31. On top of that, the state has doled out barely any of the $2.7 billion in emergency rental assistance available to New Yorkers struggling to pay rent in pandemic conditions.

Gianaris is unsure if the eviction moratorium will be renewed this month but said, “the Senate stands ready to go and do our work if we have willing partners,” and spoke of the need to change the way tenants must prove loss of income to help them access funding.

Hochul has already announced an overhaul of the state’s rental assistance program that includes protection from eviction for tenants whose applications for relief are under review, bolstered outreach to increase awareness of the relief program in underserved communities, acceleration of the application review process, and a release of county-by-county relief roll out data.

In the meantime, Gianaris is concerned with getting state government running efficiently after weeks of stalling brought on by the distraction of Cuomo’s scandal. “Most notably,” Gianaris said, “we have about $2 billion dollars in rent relief money that hasn’t gone out the door. We are last in the nation for getting that money out.”

There is also the NY HERO Act, which hasn’t been fully implemented because the Department of Health hasn’t certified COVID as a dangerous pandemic. Sponsored by Gianaris with Assembly Member Karines Reyes, and already signed into law by Cuomo, the law requires the Department of Labor and Health to enforce minimum workplace COVID protocols such as social distancing, PPE, testing, and sanitation.

In the coming legislative session, Gianaris hopes to see the implementation of the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Action Act (CLCPA) that aims to reach net-zero emissions in the state by 2050. He also wants to increase access to health care though he noted concerns from public employee unions and finding the money to pay for the program up-front would make achieving universal care increasingly difficult. And he wants to see his antitrust legislation advance, which he said would hold big tech companies accountable and create more competition in the marketplace. That bill has passed the Senate and awaits approval in the Assembly.

Mass transit also needs a revamp because “the governor played games with the MTA for so long that there’s a lot of work to do to get that organization in shape and working for people,”
Gianaris said.

Gianaris said another item “at the top of my list” is getting Governor Hochul to implement the Housing Our Neighbors With Dignity Act (HONDA), recently signed into law by Cuomo, which gives the state funds to purchase distressed properties and turn them into permanent affordable housing.

Gianaris is very supportive of term limits, and said they might have even helped get people like Cuomo out of office sooner. “There comes a point in time when people get stale or out of touch with the people they represent. That was part of Andrew Cuomo’s problem in the last couple of years as his circle got tighter and tighter, and the exposure to whether it's the public or other leaders in government becomes more restricted,” Gianaris said.

When asked if he would consider a run for Attorney General if incumbent AG Letitia James runs for governor against Hochul, who was quick to announce she would pursue the governorship after finishing Cuomo’s term, Gianaris said he would support James’ “historic” candidacy and would wait to hear her official announcement before announcing his own intention. He said he wouldn’t run against her in a potential attorney general primary.

Governor Kathy Hochul (Mike Groll/Governor's office)

Newly sworn-in Governor Kathy Hochul said Tuesday she would take proactive measures to fight the spread of the Covid delta variant, quickly distribute federal relief funds and immediately strengthen state ethics and sexual harassment regulations as she seeks to change the culture in Albany that she inherited from disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Hochul, a Democrat, was sworn in earlier in the day, becoming the 57th governor of New York State and making history as the first woman to hold the position. Her predecessor, Cuomo, resigned in the wake of an attorney general’s report that found he had sexually harassed or groped 11 women, most of whom were state employees.

In her first public address on Tuesday afternoon, Hochul outlined her immediate priorities and promised a “fresh and collaborative approach” to achieve them, contrasting herself with her Cuomo, who was known for his bullish and authoritarian tendencies and who oversaw a cutthroat office culture that was described in the attorney general’s report as “toxic,” “hostile” and “abusive.”

Speaking from the State Capitol’s Red Room, Hochul thanked her family for supporting her, and the women’s suffrage movement that paved the way for her elevation to the state’s highest office. And she spoke directly to New Yorkers. “You may not know me, but I know you,” she said.

“I've embraced and internalized the hopes and dreams of 20 million people who share the name, 'New Yorkers.' And I want you to know, you are heard, and I'm ready to get to work as your governor to solve the big problems that this state faces,” she added.

Hochul’s first priority, she said, is tackling the delta variant. As the reopening of schools approaches, she said is working on a state mandate for required vaccinations or a weekly test-out option for all school personnel. She directed the state health department to institute a universal mask mandate for anyone entering a school, and promised to release a series of “concise and consistent” school-related policies later in the week. Later in the day, Hochul announced a new COVID-19 Testing in Schools Program with $335 million in federal funds through the state, and another $225 million that was received by New York City directly. 

Though New York’s vaccination rate has been slowly increasing and is at 59%, Hochul also teased additional new vaccination requirements. And she promised to prepare for the mass administration of booster shots, including by potentially reopening mass vaccination sites.

[The Major Challenges and Decisions Facing Kathy Hochul as She Becomes Governor of New York]

Among the issues before Hochul is the state’s shoddy rollout of the $2.7 billion Emergency Rental Assistance Program and the $2.1 billion Excluded Workers Fund. Both programs have been funded with federal relief aid but have been slow to reach beneficiaries. “I want the money out now. I want it out with no more excuses and delays,” Hochul said. Earlier in the day, she met with Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and said they shared her sense of urgency.

Hochul said the state will launch a new $1 million targeted outreach campaign on the rent relief program, that she will hire more staff to process applications and build a team to “identify and remove any barriers that remain.” “And we'll take the same focused approach to our Excluded Workers Fund,” she said.

In a direct response to the circumstances of her predecessor’s resignation, Hochul also announced immediate reforms to the state’s ethics enforcement and anti-sexual harassment policies, and pledged greater transparency in her administration.

She promised “a dramatic change in culture, with accountability and no tolerance for individuals who crossed the line.” She said she will require all sexual harassment trainings be conducted live. She will mandate that state entities review and report on their compliance with transparency laws. She will require her counsel to create an expedited process to complete requests made under the state Freedom of Information Law, and post those requests online publicly. And she promised an executive order requiring ethics training for all state employees, “which shockingly is not required across the board.”

“As I undertake the weighty responsibilities before me, know that I have the confidence, the courage and the ability to lead New Yorkers forward and make New York's women proud,” she concluded. “You'll find me to be direct, straight-talking and decisive. I will not be deterred and I'm willing to be bloodied and marred in the pursuit of doing what's right for the people of this great state.”

Governor Andrew Cuomo (Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor's office)

Governor Andrew Cuomo struck a defiant tone Monday in his farewell address as he sought to defend his record in office and paint the attorney general’s sexual harassment investigation that prompted his resignation as “unfair” and “unjust.”

Cuomo is officially stepping down at 11:59 p.m., two weeks after announcing that he would resign following an independent investigation which found he had sexually harassed or groped 11 women, nine of whom are current and former state employees. His successor, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, is set to be sworn in as governor at 12:01 a.m. She will become the state’s 57th governor and the first woman to hold the position.

In his pre-recorded final address, Cuomo continued to try to undermine the investigation, which was conducted by independent attorneys chosen by Attorney General Letitia James. “I understand that there are moments of intense political pressure and media frenzy that cause a rush to judgment. But that is not right,” he said. “It's not fair or sustainable. Facts still matter.”

Since the attorney general released the 165-page report, Cuomo and his attorneys have repeatedly tried to cast aspersions on both the investigative process as well as several of the accusers whose accounts were corroborated. On Monday, the governor reiterated his belief that he was the victim of a politicized investigation. “The truth is, ultimately, always revealed,” he said. “The Attorney General's report was designed to be a political firecracker on an explosive topic, and it worked. There was a political and media stampede. But the truth will out in time. Of that, I am confident.”

“I am a fighter, and my instinct is to fight this, because it is unfair and unjust in my mind,” he added. But he insisted that he chose to step down to save the state from months of political paralysis. Two weeks ago, he faced the prospect of impeachment by the state Assembly, but the chamber dropped its impeachment investigation when the governor said he would resign. The Assembly intends to issue a report on its findings and the governor still faces separate investigations by the attorney general, a U.S. attorney’s office and several district attorneys.

As he bookends his nearly three terms in office, Cuomo touted a long list of accomplishments including the passage of marriage equality, gun control legislation, increasing the minimum wage to $15, action on climate change and an expansive infrastructure program. “No governor in the nation has passed more progressive measures than I have,” he said.

He also had advice – and warnings – for the next administration. He pushed back against the movement to defund the police, which spread nationally after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last year. “I believe it is misguided, I believe it is dangerous,” he said of the movement. He argued against higher taxes that he said would drive businesses out of the state and undercut the state's tax base. “We can address income inequality without ending incomes,” he said.

As the delta variant continues to surge, Cuomo called for a statewide mask mandate and for a vaccination proof mandate for private businesses. “Political procrastination is COVID collaboration. We know the choice is between the politically contentious or the medically infectious. You decide which is worse,” he said.

He also urged his successor to be decisive and avoid the pitfalls of bureaucratic inefficiency. “We have developed, over the last decade, a new paradigm of government in this state. A government that actually works, and actually works for people,” he added. “It sounds simple, but it's all the difference in the world. We cannot go backwards.”

It’s unclear what lies in Cuomo’s future out of office. His former top aide, Melissa DeRosa, who also resigned in the wake of the attorney general’s report, said in a Monday statement, “Between HUD, AG & his time as Governor, Andrew Cuomo has spent nearly 25 years in public service. And the way he does it, it’s 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He looks forward to spending time with his family and has a lot of fishing to catch up on. He is exploring a number of options, but has no interest in running for office again.”

As Hochul takes over tomorrow from Cuomo, she faces several immediate challenges and decisions, and Cuomo concluded his Monday address by wishing her good luck. “I believe she will step up to the challenge. We all wish her success,” he said.

[The Major Challenges and Decisions Facing Kathy Hochul as She Becomes Governor of New York]

Cuomo also took a parting shot at Mayor Bill de Blasio, with whom he has feuded constantly for the last seven years. “Eric Adams will be the next mayor of New York City. I think he’ll bring a new philosophy and competence to the position which can give New York City residents hope for the future,” he said.

Incoming Governor Kathy Hochul (photo: governor's office)

Kathy Hochul will become New York’s 57th governor on Tuesday, and the first woman ever to hold the position, as disgraced Governor Andrew Cuomo’s resignation goes into effect and he hands over the reins of state government. Hochul, who has been Cuomo’s lieutenant governor since 2015, will take over the complicated machinery and immense power of state government. She will face no shortage of challenges as she assumes authority over an executive chamber mired in scandal and a state struggling with myriad crises created or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and others that pre-dated it.

The list of challenges and decisions quickly facing Hochul is extensive, including naming her own lieutenant governor, whom she said will be from New York City and will be revealed soon after she is sworn in. Covid cases are rising due to the Delta variant and while the state’s overall vaccination rate is solid, there are many communities where rates are far too low; New York’s precarious economy and educational reopenings are at hand; several major state programs must be better implemented to help New Yorkers in need; the eviction moratorium is expiring; state government is facing a crisis of confidence; and more.

Hochul is set to address New Yorkers for the first time after being sworn in as governor on Tuesday afternoon. In between, she will meet privately with the legislative leaders, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, two fellow Democrats.

Hochul's elevation to governor comes two weeks after Cuomo announced he would step down, in the wake of a state attorney general report that found he had sexually harassed or groped 11 women, nine of whom were state employees. That was among several scandals that had prompted an impeachment investigation by the state Assembly into the governor along with his administration’s mishandling (and subsequent alleged cover up) of covid in nursing homes, his apparent use of state resources to promote his pandemic memoir, his use of the state health department to give preferential covid testing access to friends and family, and more.

While the Assembly announced it would halt its impeachment process upon the governor’s resignation, but for the production of a report and sharing its findings with the relevant authorities, Cuomo faces ongoing investigations by several district attorney offices, a U.S. attorney’s office, and the attorney general.

In Hochul, many of Cuomo’s detractors now see hope for a change in the state capital. There is a clarion call across the state for Hochul to sweep aside the rot that plagued Albany and the Capitol’s second floor, home to the governor’s office. Cuomo’s victims are among those who want to see the toxic work environment done away with and are calling on her to purge any top Cuomo loyalists that may remain, particularly those implicated in the various scandals that were his undoing. Hochul has said anyone complicit as detailed in the attorney general’s sexual harassment report will be let go if they haven’t resigned and that she is meeting with cabinet members to determine who will be offered the chance to stay, while her team is also meeting with executive chamber staff and bringing in new blood.

“At the end of my term, whenever it ends, no one will ever describe my administration as a toxic work environment,” Hochul pledged at her first news briefing after Cuomo announced he was stepping down.

Hochul will quickly find herself pulled in different directions as elected officials, activists, bureaucrats, and the people of the state express the demands they have for her leadership. And she will of course lay out her own priorities. She has only 16 months in office till she closes out Cuomo’s third term, and just ten months till the next statewide primary election, in which she has quickly said she will be a candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor. Her first — and potentially only — Executive Budget is due in January.

There is hope across the political spectrum, and promises from Hochul herself, that she will bring a new leadership style to running the state, removed from what many Democrats and Republicans alike have described as Cuomo’s autocratic, pugilistic, and abusive style. There is hope, and promise, she will make decisions based on a sense of collaboration, not competition, and facts, not political expediency.

Though Hochul is a moderate Democrat, progressives whose influence has grown have voiced hope that she will be more amenable to them and their agenda than Cuomo, who was often dismissive or combative and found ways to claim full credit for anything he eventually agreed to. Moderates and conservatives believe Hochul may take a pragmatic approach and that even if she does follow a more progressive policy playbook, she will do so with some restraint, mindful of the state’s fiscal health and high tax rates, and true to her roots.

Though she is a Buffalo area native, Hochul has already indicated that she does not intend to give short shrift to the downstate region, home to so much of the state’s population, economic activity, and tax base. Along with appointing a lieutenant governor from New York City she has promised to work collaboratively with the current and next mayors, in what would be a sea change from the relationship between Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, where the outgoing governor has been more focused on settling scores and claiming his place in the hierarchy than working collaboratively in the best interests of city residents.

“I'm prepared. That's the job of every lieutenant governor in this country to be prepared on day one,” Hochul said last week on CBS’ Face the Nation. She pledged to run a “completely ethical” administration and change the culture that enabled the governor’s harassment, and promised transparency with regards to data on nursing home resident deaths.

“But...on day one, I'm focused on covid. We have to deal with the fact that the rates are rising,” she said, before mentioning two major new state programs with billions of dollars available for vulnerable New Yorkers. “I want to get money out to people. We have way too much money sitting there that should be going to renters and to landlords who are suffering. And I also want to get the money out for the excluded worker program where people who are immigrants aren't getting any money because they're not documented and that money is sitting there unspent. And I want to get it out to them immediately. So I've got a lot of priorities, but I will absolutely make sure that my administration fully cooperates with requests for data.”

But Hochul will not be able to transform overnight a governing culture where Cuomo has ruthlessly pulled the levers of power and, despite some changes in recent years, the Legislature often operates with a preference for secrecy. Expecting her to do so is setting her up for failure, said Assemblymember Yuh-line Niou, a Manhattan Democrat and one of the state’s progressive leaders who has been an outspoken Cuomo critic. “No matter how powerful a single person is...she can’t change a whole culture,” Niou said. “Setting that expectation guarantees that no matter what progress our government makes in the next coming years, it will fall short.”

Hochul has, of course, vowed to eliminate the culture of harassment and intimidation that pervaded Cuomo’s administration. According to Niou, Hochul has met with the Sexual Harassment Working Group, an advocacy organization of former government aides who are survivors of abuse that is among more than 100 groups and individuals pushing for the new #NYBOLD Agenda, a legislative package aimed at ending sexual and gender-based violence and harassment. The package is one piece of the larger picture of legislative, budgetary, and other demands being made of Hochul.

Niou hopes that Hochul will support the legislation, but she also wants to see reforms that go beyond curtailing harassment. “Cuomo’s abusive behavior wasn't just limited to sexual harassment. The governor's legacy is a testament to really exceeding authority,” she said. She wants to see greater transparency and accessibility from Hochul’s office. And she wishes for “a much more fair and equitable budget process” with the Legislature, which Cuomo did not treat as a co-equal branch of government.

There is, as Hochul mentioned, the more immediate business on her plate: battling the ongoing pandemic as the Delta variant spreads, avoiding a mass eviction crisis, distributing relief funds to tenants and “excluded workers,” largely undocumented immigrants ineligible for prior federal and state unemployment aid, preparing for the reopening of schools and universities, and more.

"Andrew Cuomo's scandals caused distractions that resulted in serious policy failures, including failing to certify covid-19 as a public health emergency as part of our NY HERO Act, failing to get rent relief money out the door, and botching administration of the Excluded Workers Fund,” said Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris, a Queens Democrat, in a statement to Gotham Gazette. “I hope Governor Hochul addresses these issues swiftly, and begins to focus on serious efforts to deal with New York's mass transit and affordable housing crises, while restoring faith in government by respecting and working better with all branches of government.”

Despite vaccination rates ticking upwards in New York, the Delta variant of COVID-19 has led to a surge in cases. On Thursday, August 19, the seven-day average was 4,380 new positive cases across the state, causing concern as businesses reopen, localities prepare for the new school year, and the economy continues to recover. Hochul has indicated she will seek a statewide mask mandate for schools through the health department, but she will have major decisions to make as to what degree she wants to pursue or order covid vaccine mandates.

“Governor Hochul, and all of state government, obviously face a continuing, even growing challenge from COVID,” said Assemblymember Dick Gottfried, a Manhattan Democrat who chairs his chamber’s health committee. “At the same time, she's dealing with transitioning to a new administration and learning the ropes of the governor.”

As Gottfried noted, the state health department has seen an exodus of top officials over the course of the pandemic as they chafed under Cuomo’s leadership. Hochul will have to rebuild that brain trust, Gottfried said. “People ask me, what do I think she'll be like as governor? And I’ve said, we don't know and frankly, I don't think she knows because she's never been there before,” Gottfried said. “In recent decades, presidents have included vice presidents in the actual running of their administration. I don't know that any New York governor has ever done that [with their lieutenant governor].”

“I have served with eight governors and they all seem to use the same training manual. I think Governor Hochul may well bring some real change, which would be very welcome,” Gottfried added.

Gottfried is also hopeful that Hochul will embrace legislation he has pursued for years including that to create a single-payer health care system under the New York Health Act and eliminating the Medicaid cap enacted under Cuomo’s first term. It is unlikely, though, that Hochul would support the New York Health Act, which has seen no movement even under Democrats controlling both chambers of the Legislature and majority sponsorship in both, especially just before an election, but moves to strengthen health care coverage could be in the offing.

As part of restoring overall strength at the health department, Hochul will importantly decide the fate of Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker, who has been next to Cuomo at the center of the firestorm around the state’s handling of covid, especially nursing home safety and transparency.

It is among the many key staffing decisions Hochul must make with little time at hand and much to do. Other essential choices will be for budget director and secretary to the governor, two positions where Cuomo’s top aides had immense power and been among his small inner circle. Budget Director Robert Mujica’s fate is unclear while Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa has announced her resignation alongside Cuomo.

But there are many cabinet-level positions to decide, as well as larger staffing of the governor’s offices and executive chamber, state authorities, boards, and more.

As Politico New York reported on Friday, Hochul’s team has begun interviewing Cuomo staffers to determine who will remain in her administration. The New York Post reported that Hochul’s chief of staff, Jeff Lewis, has reached out to executive chamber employees, asking if they wish to remain with the administration, saying that individual meetings would be happening soon, and indicating that most would be asked to stay on.

Patrick Orecki, director of state studies at Citizens Budget Commission, a nonprofit fiscal watchdog, said Hochul will have to face the challenge of “degraded public trust and accountability in State government.”

“There are many gaps already, but completing required financial reporting and providing transparent data on the uses of extraordinary federal funds are priorities,” he said in an email.

Orecki also noted that Hochul will soon have to take stock of state finances. If revenues continue to be strong, “The most prudent responses would be to save excess revenues for a rainy day or to walk back recent tax increases. At the moment, the State is nearly three weeks late in releasing its quarterly update to the financial plan, and that should be released expeditiously to clarify the State's current fiscal condition and uses of extraordinary federal funds.”

“New Yorkers should see that government can be an instrument for good, not just an instrument for power,” said Sochie Nnaemeka, state director of the New York Working Families Party, a left-wing organization that has had a complicated, largely antagonistic relationship with Cuomo.

Nnaemeka said Hochul not only needs to show “collaborative governance” but also structural change. Nnaemeka called for strengthening state ethics regulations and enforcement, a slew of progressive priorities that languished under Cuomo including the New York Health Act and greater investments in climate justice, and reforming the budget process, which is currently heavily weighted in the governor's favor. “That I think is something that would demonstrate a real shift in leadership after the rule of Cuomo,” she said.

Hochul faces crucial decisions at the MTA, which runs New York City’s subways and buses and the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North commuter railroads. Cuomo recently named, with legislative approval, Janno Lieber as the chair and CEO of the MTA, and his fate in the role will be up to Hochul.

Along with the chair and CEO, the governor appoints five of the 21 members of the MTA Board. Among the members appointed by Cuomo are Mujica, Larry Schwartz, and Linda Lacewell. The latter two were named in the attorney general’s report as being involved in an effort to retaliate against one of Cuomo’s accusers. Lacewell, a longtime Cuomo aide and loyalist, is also superintendent of the state’s Department of Financial Services and is stepping down August 24 along with the governor, creating another major opening. She is stepping down from the MTA as well, while Schwartz’s future is unclear, as is Mujica’s.

The MTA continues to struggle financially as ridership has yet to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels and though the authority received a lifeline in federal stimulus funds, it is in dire need of new revenue for both operating and capital expenses. One potential stream, congestion pricing, which is supposed to bring in $1 billion annually and then be bonded for another $15 billion, stalled under Cuomo, who was ever reluctant to embrace it. There is a new agreement between the MTA and federal officials, but it makes implementation unlikely before 2023.

But overall, Hochul’s central task at the MTA is similar to that with state government writ large: instilling a different culture and ensuring more functional, effective government focused on the needs of New Yorkers, not one person’s power. 

One of the most pressing issues facing Hochul is the looming eviction crisis resulting from the scheduled end of the state’s eviction moratorium and recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a crucial part of the state’s efforts to prevent evictions and get billions of dollars in relief money to tenants and landlords. She has said it is a top priority.

Activists note that people may begin getting evicted just two days after Hochul takes office and are calling on her to immediately institute additional protections for tenants. “She should call the Legislature back to session, she can force them back into session and work with them to pass an eviction moratorium that wouldn't be vulnerable to the U.S. Supreme Court,” said Cea Weaver, campaign coordinator of Housing Justice for All.

Weaver said emergency housing issues should be the top priority for Hochul, calling on her to also streamline the $2.7 billion Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). The program, which is being funded with federal stimulus aid, had only distributed about $99 million to 7,072 households by the end of July, despite having received more than 168,000 applications by then, according to data from the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. The state must distribute all those funds by September 30 or return them to the federal government. By August 13, the department had received 165,460 applications for back rent, 133,032 applications for prospective rent and 33,808 applications for utility arrears.

The state must distribute all those funds by September 30 or return them to the federal government. Those whose applications are being processed by the state also cannot be evicted for one year.

Hochul, in response to the decision, said she would work with the Legislature “to quickly address the Supreme Court's decision and strengthen the eviction moratorium legislation.”

As a housing activist, Weaver also wants Hochul to improve on Cuomo’s poor record on homelessness. “Homelessness like frickin’ exploded under Andrew Cuomo and if she wants to turn the page on his housing crisis, she can really invest in permanent rental assistance, expand eviction protections to cover the state, and work with the Legislature to pass good cause [evictions],” she said.

As Hochul has pointed out, she will also have to oversee the distribution of the $2.1 billion Excluded Workers Fund, created in the state budget to assist undocumented immigrants and those workers who could not receive other federal or state government assistance through the pandemic. Though the fund was created in the budget deal in April, applications did not open till earlier this month and there are concerns among activists about its requirements and implementation.

There are many other demands, decisions, and tasks in front of Hochul, including related to CUNY and SUNY; implementation of the legalization of adult-use marijuana; expansion of child care, an issue she has worked on; rethinking the state’s economic development programming, which she has also been directly involved with; next steps around meeting the state's ambitious green energy goals and implementing relevant programs; what to do about major Cuomo infrastructure priorities that are not very far along; how involved to get in the state’s legislative redistricting process; and much more.

Ben Max contributed to this story.