Editorial: Lessons for Gov. Hochul after two years on the job

It was Aug. 24, 2021, that, in the wake of Andrew Cuomo’s meltdown, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul became Gov. Hochul, to shape her own record and legacy in New York’s top job. She squeakily passed her biggest political test last year, winning reelection more narrowly than expected in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans more than two-to-one. On other consequential tests, her record has been decidedly mixed — but she seems to be learning as she leads.

The clear lowlight of her term thus far was the unwise selection out of the gate of Brian Benjamin as lieutenant governor. Hochul did so despite flapping red flags in this newspaper and elsewhere, and the decision backfired spectacularly when the feds arrested Benjamin on corruption charges last April. Though a judge tossed the most serious charges against Benjamin, that hardly counts as vindication.

In the rest of her first year-plus in office, Hochul spent much of her time and energy reaching for an elusive brass ring called Democratic Party Unity, which is to say she avoided tough fights against the further-left progressives who set the agenda in the Legislature.

She signed into law extremely partisan, gerrymandered districts, which were ruled unconstitutional by the courts. She gamely tried to attack New York’s single biggest economic crisis by goosing housing production — but when suburban Democrats squawked, she quickly buckled. So too, when she tried further refining a pretrial detention law passed by the Legislature and signed by Cuomo back in 2019, she settled for minor adjustments. Taking baby steps, she seemed to think, was the price of keeping the party together and winning a term in her own right. The only priority for which she seemed prepared to go to the mattresses was construction of a new stadium for her beloved Buffalo Bills.

Once elected to a full term, Hochul has mostly wielded power more freely and more wisely. We said mostly: Her nomination of Hector LaSalle as chief judge was substantively solid, but politically ham-handed, forcing a do-over with Rowan Wilson, who is far more politically palatable to left-leaning lawmakers.

In her second budget cycle, she managed to push through another round of pretrial detention reforms, and she fought harder for a comprehensive set of policies to spark new housing supply in New York City and especially its suburbs, including production targets for every locality and a requirement allowing denser housing near transit. It was precisely the right medicine for the state’s chronic illness — yet again, the Legislature rejected it. But this time, we couldn’t fault the governor.

She also gets high marks for the politically easy but necessary task of reinforcing New York’s abortion and gun laws in the wake of two disastrous Supreme Court decisions last summer. The wind was at her back in both cases, but she did the right thing.

Last and the opposite of least, the verdict is out on an ongoing crisis that could be administration-defining: Handling the migrants. Hochul has been too hesitant to take charge, leaving Mayor Adams to try to answer the challenge with the limited resources and tools at his disposal — and constrained by the right to shelter. She needs to do better, and she needs to do better soon.

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