In the struggle against Donald Trump’s barbarism, how do we assess New York governor Kathy Hochul?
The governor has engaged in some acts of opposition that make many New Yorkers proud. Hochul stood up for New York City’s congestion pricing plan when Trump tried to cancel it. She signed legislation to protect abortion providers who may face prosecution in other states. The governor objected to Republicans’ xenophobic and antidemocratic threats to deport Zohran Mamdani, the socialist who won New York City’s Democratic primary in June.
And with loopy Robert F. Kennedy Jr laying waste to our nation’s infrastructure of infectious disease prevention, last Friday she issued an executive order ensuring that New York’s pharmacies can still administer the updated COVID-19 vaccine. Also on Friday, she spoke out strongly against Trump’s attempts to interfere with the New York City mayoral race, saying, “Contrary to what the president thinks, he is not a king. He is not a kingmaker. He should not be anointing the next mayor. . . . We are not fucking selling out our city.”
All good. But when it comes to climate, an issue of vital importance to the Democratic base and the future of humanity, she and Trump appear to be BFFs.
Several other blue-state governors have made headlines for high-profile Trump defiance, and while they aren’t as good on climate as they should be, they’re much better than Hochul. California governor Gavin Newsom, hardly a climate hero, has not approved any fossil fuel projects in recent years and has been trying to enact a version of cap and trade (rebranding it as “cap and invest”). Governor J. B. Pritzker of Illinois has also not approved any new fossil fuel projects recently and has worked closely with labor unions on green jobs.
Hochul, by contrast, approved an expanded compressor capacity and an increase in fracked gas transported to New York City by the Iroquois company earlier this year and seems to…
Auteur: Liza Featherstone
