Gov. Kathy Hochul is bizarrely slamming Rep. Mike Lawler for being unable to stand up to his own party, when that shoe fits a heck of a lot better on her foot.
She’s nominally mocking the Hudson Valley Republican’s push to ban mid-decade House redistricting and rein in gerrymandering, but weirdly also claimed he had “caved to “Trump on SALT,” and followed up by scoffing that Lawler “has no power.”
What hogwash: Lawler in fact got the GOP to cave to him (and the rest of the state’s Republican delegation) on SALT, managing to boost the “ceiling” on the State And Local Tax deduction from $10,000 to $40,000 (for incomes under $500,000) — a huge gain for his constituents in defiance of GOP orthodoxy.
And this, despite President Donald Trump’s warning that Lawler needed to “back off.”
Note, too, that New York Democrats couldn’t get SALT addressed when their party controlled the White House and Congress in 2021-2.
Which suggests that Lawler wields plenty of power within the GOP — more than, say, Long Island Rep. Tom Suozzi (who talked SALT nonstop in those years) does among Dems.
Heck, more than Sen. Chuck Schumer, too . . . unless Schumer just didn’t prioritize making good on his vows to fix SALT.
For that matter, we have trouble thinking of anything Hochul won for New York when Democrats dominated Washington.
As for Lawler’s bid to rein in gerrymandering, a response to Texas’ drive to redraw its House map this year and to the noise from Hochul and other Dems about seeking to do the same: No, he probably won’t get immediate action, but don’t bet against him in the longer term.
Whereas Hochul can’t possibly deliver anytime soon on her own threats to “fight fire with fire” by gerrymandering here in New York — since it’d require amending the state Constitution, which is a two-year process.
Nor does she bring a shred of principle to the fight: She was all aboard state Democrats’ bid to gerrymander Republicans into oblivion in 2022, and happily played along with the district-redrawing NY Dems did pull off last year, helping them claw several seats from the GOP last November.
By the way, the one bill Hochul managed to pass during her time in the House . . . ensured that clothes abandoned at airport-security checkpoints would be donated to charity.
Nor has she shown much ability as gov to have her way with the state Legislature.
Indeed, its progressives routinely outright bully her, including with the unprecedented 2023 rejection of Justice Hector LaSalle, her eminently qualified nominee to become the state’s chief judge.
She’s also been unable to win serious changes to the Legislature’s disastrous criminal-justice reforms, and has even gone along with some new ones.
Standing up to your party? Lawler mocked MAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as the “Jewish space laser lady” and successfully pushed the expulsion of disgraced Republican liar Rep. George Santos.
Hochul doesn’t even dare denounce Zohran Mamdani as the extremist he clearly is, and even makes excuses for him.
Which makes it all the more pathetic that she’s taking shots at Lawler, even though he has passed on his own run for governor next year.
Maybe the governor is simply jealous that Mike Lawler is the principled, effective moderate she only pretends to be?