Source: Politics<\/p>\n
ALBANY, N.Y. \u2014 Kathy Hochul had just been sworn in as the governor of New York and was about to get her first chance to work with state lawmakers after calling a special session at the Capitol.<\/p>\n
There was little to fight over; Democrats agreed on what they needed to do. Yet when a Hochul aide emailed a top legislative staffer asking about scheduling details, the response came back harsh and fast: \u201cNone of your business,\u201c he effectively replied.<\/p>\n
He was instinctively responding to the Cuomo administration\u2019s penchant for one-upping the Legislature on big announcements, he explained in an interview, speaking anonymously to discuss the private exchange. But Cuomo, of course, was gone, and so were most of his top advisers. The staffer quickly apologized.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was thinking, \u2018oh, they\u2019re trying to f— us and they\u2019ll come back and change the timing tomorrow,'” he said, \u201cAnd then I realized, they legitimately wanted our advice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The encounter is indicative of life after Andrew Cuomo, who resigned in August. Following more than a decade of rule by threat and fiat, the former governor has left behind a replacement who wants to \u201cchange the culture of Albany.\u201d Hochul, who ran for lieutenant governor on a ticket with Cuomo in 2014 and 2018, has promised to build an administration that runs on collaboration and respect. She already has purged many of her former running mate’s top advisers, from the Cabinet level on down.<\/p>\n
But the Democrat, a former lawmaker, is hardly the first leader in New York to make such a pledge. And whether any one person, even a governor, can invent a new way to grind the sausage in a capital seemingly impervious to change is an open question.<\/p>\n
Few doubt Hochul\u2019s intentions, at least not yet. But many wonder if muscle memories developed during the Cuomo years \u2014 and earlier \u2014 can be retrained any time soon. If a new way is indeed possible, it would require nearly everyone in the state\u2019s political sphere to collectively give it a try.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this is the big stress test of this wider ecosystem of New York and beyond,\u201d said Democratic strategist Jon Reinish, a managing director at Mercury Public Affairs. \u201cIt\u2018s a conscious decision: Are we going to play by the rules that we\u2019ve all kind of played around or are we going to make new rules?\u201d<\/p>\n
The new governor, for all the house cleaning she\u2019s done, was quickly criticized after naming a former Cuomo appointee to the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, a panel charged with rooting out wrongdoing at the top levels of state government. A day later, Hochul said the choice was a necessary short-term fix and vowed to \u201cturn upside down\u201d<\/a> the entire structure of government.<\/p>\n That\u2019s something that should be done in tandem with lawmakers, said state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (D-Westchester), the chamber\u2019s ethics chair. She had immediately called out Hochul\u2019s appointment as \u201cconcerning\u201c once it was announced.<\/p>\n \u201cOne person alone won\u2019t be able to effectively change the culture of Albany, but it does begin at the top,\u201d Biaggi said in an email the following week. \u201cWe can\u2019t shift culture without legislation that actually addresses the structural impediments to a functioning ethics system. I am glad the governor is dedicated to addressing these issues \u2014 we need a real partnership between the Executive and the Legislature in order to get this done.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just Hochul\u2019s direct actions that matter. The previous administration had cultivated a habitat of harassment, bullying and micromanagement<\/a> detailed in several news reports and finally an investigation from Attorney General Tish James in August<\/a>. That report led to Cuomo\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n So far, Hochul\u2019s Albany is focused on rectifying some of the flaws associated with her predecessor. She said transparency would be a \u201challmark\u201d of her administration and that she\u2019d seek out ways to fulfill public records requests \u2014 which were often held captive for months and years under Cuomo \u2014 as quickly as possible. Her counsel and top aide this month sent a letter<\/a> to all agency heads requiring them to review and revise the ways in which they are meeting the state\u2019s transparency laws.<\/p>\n And she has vowed to make the Capitol\u2019s second floor, where her office is located, a safe workplace.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one will ever describe my administration as a toxic work environment,\u201d Hochul told reporters shortly after learning of her promotion<\/a>. \u201cNo one who was named doing anything unethical in the [attorney general’s] report will remain.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of the people most associated with Cuomo\u2019s brand of aggressive politics<\/a> have already resigned. Aides Rich Azzopardi and Melissa DeRosa are gone. So are top officials and longtime Cuomo allies like Department of Financial Services head Linda Lacewell and state Inspector General Letizia Tagliafierro. Health commissioner Howard Zucker, who was associated with Cuomo\u2019s now-contentious Covid-19 policies, announced his resignation last week, and the following day several other agency heads and Cuomo appointees were reportedly asked to resign<\/a>.<\/p>\n A personnel purge makes a point, but insiders say they realize the new governor would be making a mistake if she simply got rid of all top-level people who worked for her predecessor, many of whom have the experience she needs to keep New York running. Even new hires are more likely than not to have some ties to Cuomo, who had been in Democratic politics for the better part of four decades.<\/p>\n Hochul set up a 45-day period on her first day in office to evaluate the roles of top Cuomo administration personnel she inherited. Many Executive Chamber staff, especially those in not especially prominent positions, were likely to stay on in some capacity, Hochul\u2019s Chief of Staff Jeff Lewis said in an August memo.<\/p>\n All of this creates anxiety for those doing work in the Capital who are left to wonder where old and new loyalties will ultimately lie, especially as the contentious state budget season approaches early next year.<\/p>\n Some familiar faces who advanced Cuomo’s cause and showed up at the table as trusted advisers during his popular pandemic briefings in 2020 \u2014 such as Budget Director Robert Mujica and State University of <\/a>New York Chancellor Jim Malatras \u2014 still hold vital governmental roles<\/a> but have not been specifically named as complicit in any unethical behavior.<\/p>\n Mujica, a former staffer for Senate Republicans who has steered Cuomo\u2019s powerful budget process since 2015, was in attendance for the three-way legislative leaders meeting Hochul held with Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie after her swearing in on Aug. 24, two individuals in attendance said.<\/p>\n Last Friday, Hochul hinted that the budget czar was unlikely to be axed in the near future.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has been working with our administration,\u201d Hochul said following an unrelated event in Lake Placid on Sept. 24. \u201cTo date I am still evaluating positions, but he is working very hard with us to chart the future going forward, so I believe he\u2019ll be with us for some time.\u201d<\/p>\n Privately, lobbyists in Albany don\u2019t know what to make of all the changes \u2014 or how to operate now, said one Democratic strategist, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are unconvinced that Hochul\u2019s staff is any less retaliatory than Cuomo\u2019s. With so many of the same people in place, the strategist said, it still feels like the same town, still accustomed to running \u201con fear.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what she wants,\u201c the strategist said of Hochul. \u201cAnd if you fire everyone, we have no government.\u201d<\/p>\n Further holding some back from fully converting to a new culture is that Cuomo hasn\u2019t gone entirely silent. Azzopardi has remained in the former governor\u2019s employ as spokesperson, repeatedly bashing James\u2019s investigation and reportedly working to undermine<\/a> Hochul\u2019s new administration. Last week, Cuomo\u2019s campaign account blasted subscribers with a Newsday op-ed from a lawyer who worked for the administration of former Gov. Mario Cuomo, Andrew Cuomo\u2018s late father, in which the attorney compared the younger Cuomo\u2019s resignation to a \u201ccoup.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not lost on political veterans that a vow to upend the state Capitol is hardly a new one.<\/p>\n Cuomo himself promised to \u201crestore honor and integrity to government, with tough new ethics standards\u201d in the first page of a 2010 campaign document <\/a>called \u201cClean Up Albany: Make it Work.\u201d<\/p>\n Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the so-called \u201csheriff of Wall Street\u201c when he was state attorney general, ran for governor in 2006 on a not-so-modest campaign motto: \u201cOn Day 1, everything changes.\u201d He handed out \u201cDay One\u201d knit hats and long-sleeved T-shirts at an early morning run on inauguration day, and said of rainy weather, \u201cWe\u2019re washing away the dirt and the grime.\u201d Spitzer resigned barely a year into office amid a prostitution scandal.<\/p>\n And, on the other side of the Hudson River, Jim McGreevey promised to \u201cchange the way business is done in Trenton\u201d as he declared victory in New Jersey\u2019s 2001 gubernatorial election. McGreevey resigned in late 2003, similarly scarred by scandal.<\/p>\n