Hochul's trail of three cities: Albany, Buffalo, NYC
Gov. Kathy Hochul in Times Square. She and her husband reportedly rent an apartment in Murray Hill. Credit: NDZ / STAR MAX / IPx
An analysis of Gov. Kathy Hochul's newly released tax and public calendar information published by Gothamist indicates she spent all or part of at least 162 days last year in New York City.
She and her husband, William Hochul, a top-dollar lawyer with the firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, reportedly rent an apartment in the Murray Hill enclave, not far from the governor's office on Third Avenue.
There were 45 days in which the governor, 67, who is seeking a second elected term, reportedly was in Erie County, where the Hochuls have a waterfront condo, Gotham reported. The analysis indicates she spent at least part of 215 days in Albany, where she stays in the Executive Mansion.
The new disclosures happen to come amid negotiations to increase taxes on top earners and city properties as part of the state's delayed annual budget. Both left wing Democrats who back Mayor Zohran Mamdani's soak-the-rich proposals and tax-averse Republicans have naturally looked to make Hochul's disclosures a target of critique.
For one, State Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island) said, "She might be the only tax-paying millionaire not driven out of NYC by the leftist, job-killing policies she now seems to support."
In Albany, the question of whether and when a governor is conducting business and meetings in the Capitol goes back decades. In Hochul's case, many staff members live in the city's five boroughs and work there. Legislative session days last from January into the spring. Some seasoned politicos express doubt that the Capitol is a prime location for anything beyond formal convening of the State Senate and Assembly.
Both legislative houses are driven by Democratic majorities with dominant New York City delegations.
When as lieutenant governor she was thrust into the job with the resignation of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in 2021, her roots in Buffalo were a potential obstacle. She even drew criticism for backing a new Buffalo Bills football stadium with a colossal $600 million in state funds.
But Hochul's increased New York City presence, especially this year, may be just a logical strategy in her blue-state career arc.
Some 42% of New York State's registered voters reside in New York City, according to state figures. In last year's mayoral race, the Republican candidate received only 7%. Even as he won three terms as governor, Republican George Pataki never carried the city.
Now Hochul's Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman blasts her partisan alliance with self-described democratic socialist Mamdani to show that she's in tune with radical policies. In his second term as Nassau County executive, Blakeman, 70, remains one in a line of Long Island politicians who keeps looking to widen his horizons. Once, he volunteered for the top post in New York City. In 2009, as an official resident of the Upper East Side, Blakeman announced for mayor to succeed term-limited GOP incumbent Mike Bloomberg. Never a party rebel, Blakeman dropped out as Bloomberg got the municipal term-limit law changed so he could run again.
With staffers, party players, top lobbyists and voting blocs all conveniently at hand, Hochul gravitates to the city as a matter of position and ambition.
Columnist Dan Janison's opinions are his own.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
