Gov. Hochul pressed to go ‘Dark Kathy’ on lawmakers to break budget impasse
ALBANY — After more than a week of deadlocked budget talks and with a Monday deadline looming to keep New York’s government running, political insiders say the time has come for Gov. Hochul to get medieval on holdout lawmakers.
“The Legislature has no respect for this governor because she hasn’t earned it,” one Albany veteran told The Post on Friday.
“She should go Dark Kathy. It would behoove her.”
Talks between Hochul, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins have foundered on the issue of changes to the Empire State’s controversial bail reform laws, which the governor supports and the latter t🧔wo have resisted.
While Hochul could play nice and support a standard stopgap deౠal while pursuing a longer-term agreement, she could also up the ante by inserting aggressive spending proposals into another budget extender that lawmakers must either approve — or risk a state government shutdown by rejecting.
That would leave legislators without pay while enduring whatever criticism might come their way if mon🦋ey stops flowing to public employees, schools, and other stakeholders until a final deal is reached.
“It’s not just a Democrat or Republican issue at this point — New Yorkers overwhelmingly support restoring a level of judicial discretion,” Assemblyman Jarett Gandolfo (R-Bayport) said Friday.
“I think if she sent an extender with the bail changes attached, it would pass with bipartisan support.”
Hochul has pitched loosening state laws that re🐓quire judges to impose bail to ensure defendants return to court after being charged with a crime.
The governor is also aiming to eliminate the so-called “least restrictive” standard that judges say has blocked them from remanding criminal defendants they fear might commit additional offenses if turned loose.
But critics argue Hochul’s approach will needlessly turn the clock back on necessary criminal justice reforms passed in 2019 and tweaked in 2020 and 2022 despite progressive resistance.
“The governor is trying to do a wholesale undoing of everything we have fought for as New Yorkers,” Assemblywoman Latrice Walker (D-Brooklyn), an avowed supporter of bail reform, said Thursday🔯 ahead of a planned hunger strike to begin Sunday.
“We’re asking our colleag💞ues to hold strong,” added Walker.
“We don’t have to do this.”
Heastie and Stewart-Cousins have denied that bail reform has caused rising crime in New York, pointing to 🐻spikes in other states with less forgiving s☂tandards for imposing bail or remanding suspects.
The bail reform impasse has all but blocked negotiations on other key budget issues, in💝cluding MTA funding, af🐽fordable housing, and charter schools.
The Passover and Easter holidays will also limit opportunities for substantive talks over the weekend, making it all but impossible for a deal to be reached by noon Monday on a state spending plan expected to exceed the $227 billion proposal Hochul unveiled on Feb. 1.
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli warned the governor in a Thursday letter that state employees will h♋ave their next paychecks dꦰelayed if the government shuts down Monday.
Legislators – who last December made themselves the highest-paid state lawmakers in the nation — will not get another check until a new state budget gets approved, DiNapoli’s office confirmed Friday.
Hochul, however, needs to aim beyond lawmakers’ pocketbooks if she has any hope of breaking the budget stalemate, another Albany insider whispered.
“Lawmakers who are acting out of principle certainly don’t want to make it look like they’re abandoning their principles because they’re not getting paid,” the source said.
“It’s a populist thing holding up legislative pay, but it’s actually counterproductive.”
🎃Some lawmakers expressed qualms about the idea of Hochul⛦ turning up the temperature on her fellow Democrats so soon.
“Maybe one more straight extender,” said Assemblyman Ed Ra (R-Garden City), the ranking GOP member of the Ways and Means Committee, which oversees fiscal issues.
“But she needs to show she’s willing to go there if they’re not negotiating on the issues.”
Others have little faith Heastie and Stewart-Cousins will back down without an extraordinary d♛isplay of executive power.
Rep♋s for the two chamber leaders did not provide comment Fridayꦅ.
“She either utilizes her powers now,” warned Conservative Party State Chair Gerard Kassar, “or once again gives up the playing field to the left-wing Legislature.”
Former Gov. David Paꦦterson pioneered the use of budget extenders packed with controversial proposals during his own fiscal fights more than a decade ago following a 2006 state court decision affirming the annual budget process 🍸is in favor of the executive.
But Paterson faced a more divided legislature than ✤the Democratꦐic supermajorities now in power.
The Assembly a𝕴nd Senate could override any budget vetoes by Hochul if moꦇderate and left-wing members stick together against the governor, making her decision about what to do next all the more urgent.
Spectrum News reported Friday afternoon that Albany Democrats were considering a one-week extension to keep talks going. The Assembly has reportedly floated a compromise proposal that would give Hochul some ♓changes to current bail laws though tꦚhe exact details are not publicly known.
“Gov. Hochul is focused on delivering a budget that makes New York safer, more affordable, and more livable and is responsive to the needs of New Yorkers,” gubernatorial spokeswoman Hazel Crampton-Hays said Friday.
“We have been working around the clock to make progress toward a final agreement, and will work with the legislature to extend the budget deadline on Monday.”
