Gov. Andrew Cuomo answers questions during a March 2020 COVID-19 news briefing. The former governor is scheduled to testify in public before a congressional subcommittee this week. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
At first glance, Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul exhibit very different traits as governors.
That is mostly so, but not entirely. They do share some. Cuomo routinely played his intricate games close to the vest, disdainfully sharing not much with press or public until he was ready to hand out a few orchestrated crumbs. You can’t get any closer to the vest than how Hochul has played her totally unexpected and fiscally disorienting decision to cancel New York City’s long-anticipated downtown congestion pricing plan.
While delaying the congestion plan, unpopular among suburbanites, may have merit and may make things easier for Democrats to chase a few Republicans out of precious congressional seats, the lack of any explanation or reasoning or backup plan inevitably has its political costs. Lack of transparency becomes an accountability dodge, which in turn strains credibility. For Hochul, this is already a problem. She is, a long series of Siena College polls show, surprisingly unpopular for a Democratic governor of a Democratic state.
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While touring the State Fair in Syracuse recently, Hochul told the media she refused to take responsibility for the jolting midterm Democratic losses of........