13 minute read
SIX DEGREES
6 DEGREES OF KATHY HOCHUL
An extensive network of political contacts might just make her the Kevin Bacon of state politics.
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By Zach Williams
It is possible that everybody in New York politics is linked to each other through Gov. Kathy Hochul. Some folks might know her from decades ago when she was a legislative and congressional staffer to the likes of former U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Others crossed paths with her during her days as a member of the Hamburg Town Board or as Erie County clerk. Her Empire State network continued to grow during a stint in Congress before expanding exponentially during her two terms as lieutenant governor.
We repurposed “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” for gubernatorial purposes. Keep reading to find out how many degrees away from the governor many political notables are.
Stewart-Cousins served in the state Senate with New York City Mayorelect Eric Adams.
Stringer beat Eliot Spitzer in a 2013 primary for city comptroller. State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins was her nominal stand-in as the temporary president of the chamber.
Adams ran for mayor against Andrew Yang and NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer
Borelli serves in the City Council with Tiffany Cabán Williams served on the New York City Council with Joe Borelli. Hochul beat Jumaane Williams in the 2018 primary for LG.
Cabán lost the 2019 Democratic primary for Queens DA to Melinda Katz. Andrew Yang ran against NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer
Gottfried served with Assembly Speaker Perry B. Duryea Jr. – the last Republican speaker – in the early 1970s.
Duryea served with former NYC Mayor David Dinkins Borelli served in the Assembly with U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Assembly Member Richard Gottfried. Gottfried served with former Rep. Shirley Chisholm. Chisholm served in Congress with former Rep. Jack Kemp.
Paperboy Prince ran against Rep. Nydia Velázquez last year.
Velázquez served in the U.S. House with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Rep. Alexandria OcasioCortez serves in Congress with Velázquez.
Former Rep. Charles Rangel served in Congress with Velázquez.
Rep. Lee Zeldin serves in Congress with Velázquez. Trump hired Lynne Patton as regional director of HUD.
Giuliani worked for ex-President Donald Trump while he was in the White House.
Hochul was once a staffer for longtime U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Zeldin is running in the 2022 GOP gubernatorial primary against Andrew Giuliani. Giuliani is the son of ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Zeldin is an attorney in the Army Reserve and Kevin Bacon played a Marine Corps attorney in "A Few Good Men."
Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul served as president of the state Senate while state Sen. John Liu served. Liu served in the City Council with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Liu served in the City Council with Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. Liu served in the City Council with state Attorney General Letitia James.
De Blasio seen here giving his best action movie hero look back in 2014.
The Bla de sio acy Leg
He has already touted universal pre-K, community policing and ThriveNYC. Here’s how experts really
think the term-limited New York City mayor will be remembered. By Jeff Coltin
Experts agreed that de Blasio’s legacy will start with his introduction of universal pre-K.
WE CAN ALL AGREE on one thing about New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio: He was really tall. Everything else is up for debate. But now, as de Blasio’s eight years as mayor of the greatest city in the world come to a term-limited end, it seems like the right time to assess his legacy.
We know how he feels about his own tenure – at least, what he’ll say publicly. His greatest achievements, he said at a December event at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute in Manhattan, were neighborhood policing, the mental health initiatives branded under ThriveNYC and introducing universal pre-K. The fact that de Blasio has been relentlessly criticized for his handling of the New York City Police Department and that his mental health initiatives are regarded as at least hard to measure and at most a boondoggle, did not go unnoticed.
Old New York City mayors never fade away. They simply run for higher office. At least that was the fate of failed presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg and de Blasio. If everything goes as expected, de Blasio will also run for governor of the state of New York after he’s term-limited out of office as mayor on Jan. 1, 2022. Like Ed Koch before him, he probably won’t win.
There are many reasons for that, but part of the equation has to be that being mayor of New York City is a tough job. Responsible for everything, and never good enough. De Blasio introduced NYC Ferry? Cool, but too expensive. He built affordable housing, but affordable for who? Inequality was reduced, according to some measures, but does it feel like the tale of two cities is over?
And of course, de Blasio’s reputation was formed, in part, by being an easy target for ridicule. His adherence to Prospect Park YMCA trips was the perfect symbol of the stubbornness behind so many of his political decisions – and nondecisions. He walked a narrow ethical line with political fundraising, and the subsequent investigations left him deeply in debt. And many New Yorkers will never forgive him for running for president when he already had the greatest job in the world – which, for years, he never really seemed to enjoy.
Of course, nobody targeted de Blasio more than former Gov. Andrew Cuomo – and de Blasio outlasting his bitter rival has to be considered one of the triumphs of his tenure. Some may find de Blasio annoying, but he was never accused of engaging in a pattern of sexual misconduct, lording over a toxic workplace, covering up deaths from COVID-19 in nursing homes or profiting off of his government staff’s work on a book about leadership during the pandemic.
About that pandemic – it’s almost inevitable that de Blasio will be remembered as the COVID-19 mayor. It’s been an incredibly challenging time for the city, and while the specifics of de Blasio’s actions and decisions during this time are the subject of active debate, the city’s vaccination and testing infrastructure is a testament to his City Hall.
With all that in mind, City & State reached out to a variety of people who think deeply about city politics. And asked a simple question. “How will de Blasio be remembered?” Responses varied from long and thoughtful to short and snappy. There were points of agreement, like universal pre-K, but only one thing’s for certain: de Blasio was really tall.
These responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Harold Holzer, director of The Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College
Ultimately, I think Bill de Blasio will be remembered as the mayor who managed to enact universal pre-K. That’s a major achievement that no amount of negativity or controversy can take away from him. On the other hand, he will probably be remembered, too, as the mayor who engaged for too long in a futile, distracting feud with Gov. Cuomo that came to a head at the worst possible time: the COVID-19 crisis. That, in a nutshell, is Bill de Blasio’s tale of two cities.
– Frank Morano, conservative radio talk show host for 77 WABC Chapin Fay, Republican political consultant
Christina Greer, associate professor of political science at Fordham University and cohost of “FAQ NYC” podcast
BdB will be remembered for many things. Here’s my list off the dome.
Progressive politician who brought stop and frisk to the fold. Universal pre-K. Suspect relationships with real estate developers. Antagonistic relationship with the New York City press corps. Contentious relationship with the NYPD. Legal woes. Presidential bid. Beef with Gov. Cuomo. Naps. Chronic lateness. Steady hand during COVID-19 (at times). Unforced errors time and time again. Brooklyn YMCA. Horse carriages still going strong. MSNBC. Universal 3-K. Relatively safe city. Diverse Cabinet. Could he end up like (former New Orleans Mayor) Ray Nagin?
Sean McElwee, progressive consultant De Blasio was elected during the last wave of progressive activism surrounding Occupy Wall Street and the financial crisis. He campaigned on a tale of two cities and he successfully implemented a pre-K program, invested in our public hospital system and pushed through an ambitious city Green New Deal. As a new generation of progressives grows into governing it’s worth learning lessons from him. Simply passing policies into law did not guarantee permanent popularity, events like police brutality ultimately defined the late mayoralty.
The climate ambition of the city has been overwhelmed by the ill-fated decision at the state level (out of his control) to shut down Indian Point. As we pass ambitious climate legislation, it’s an important reminder that NIMBY concerns will bedevil the movement for years. Government is ultimately made of people who have to execute on the progressive agenda, and the government is quickly losing talented young people. The new generation of progressives have seized power, but de Blasio’s mayoralty reminds us that wielding it is the difficult part. Ultimately I think de Blasio did a good job given the constraints of governing. And I wish the people who think they can do better the best, but it’s really fucking hard.
Mayor de Blasio will be remembered as the mayor that gave us universal pre-K, never vetoed a single bill and presided over a dramatic increase of traffic deaths, while championing “Vision Zero” in spite of the fact that people weren’t even commuting into Manhattan for a year and a half. He’ll be remembered as a nice guy who’s completely inept when it comes to governing and so out of touch politically that he actually thought he could run for president and governor. He’ll be remembered as a person who perpetually engaged in shady fundraising practices, along with political favoritism, whose greatest contribution might be avoiding indictment.
– George Arzt, public relations consultant
Olivia Lapeyrolerie, vice president at political consulting firm SKDK and former first deputy press secretary to de Blasio
Contested-ly.
Nora Moran, director of policy and advocacy at United Neighborhood Houses
Obviously the big obvious one is pre-K. And there’s no doubt it was really transformative in the life of kids and parents and the life of the city. I think there are education gains that will be seen down the line. They’re not old enough to see it yet, but we’ll get there. And we were involved in the fights around salary parity. That system was always designed to pay some people less than others. That was rectified, but it took so much fighting and so much pushback. Pre-K was great, and yet the way it was implemented was harmful to workers who were not paid what they should have been to do that work.
Joseph Viteritti, Thomas Hunter professor of public policy at Hunter College, and author of “The Pragmatist: Bill de Blasio’s Quest to Save the Soul of New York”
It depends on whom you ask. If you ask parents who took advantage of free preschool so they could work and give their kids a boost, I would suppose, warmly. If you ask labor leaders who saw him reduce income inequality, I would suppose, appreciably. If you ask advocates for affordable housing, they would say, “Good, but not enough,” even though he did more than anyone since (Fiorello) La Guardia. If you ask people in poor neighborhoods who are afraid of both crime and the police, they would say, “He tried, but we’re still
De Blasio’s tenure will, in part, be defined by his petty squabbles with then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, his capitulations to the NYPD and his response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But there are perks to the job, like when he met actor Jon Hamm in 2017, who seemed to make the mayor a little starstruck.
– Sean McElwee, progressive consultant
afraid.” If you ask Black and brown parents at charter schools he opposed, they would say, “Hey, what’s up?” If you ask me, I would say, with Trump in Washington, Cuomo in Albany and the plague, “Good run, lousy messaging.”
E. O’Brien Murray, conservative political consultant
He proved to the bitter end we need to be thankful for the part-time mayor. Imagine the damage he could have done if he was full time.
George Arzt, public relations consultant
Universal pre-K is obviously the thing he’ll be remembered for. And that was a big victory. As it gets expanded, he will get credit for that for many years. On the negative side, it will be his lack of management skills. And the fact that he wasn’t the strong leader. And in many ways, he will go down – in a group probably with Abe Beame, David Dinkins and him – as weak mayors.
You had a strong mayor (with Bloomberg), but you always get elected as a reaction to the previous mayor, and Bloomberg never talked about the other half of the city – the people who were struggling in Black and brown communities. (De Blasio) got elected for doing that. Homelessness is out of control. He gets credit for putting more affordable housing on the market. Still, like most mayors, has not come up with a solution for homelessness.
He’ll be known as the mayor of the pandemic. And I think he gets OK grades for that. But was not a superstar. Of course, he had a problem with Andrew Cuomo at every turn.
He leaves a city that is looking forward to the next mayor. And I don’t think he will be remembered fondly by the electorate.
What was he thinking, going for president? What is he thinking going for governor now? He got into a lot of trouble on fundraising. Personal fundraising and raising money for Senate Democrats. And I often saw him at different events. He would ask people for money at events – “When are you going to throw me a party?”
You can’t really judge him like you judge other mayors because of the pandemic. But I thought on health matters he did a good job. But the city and the city’s economy is still trying to get out of the mess from the pandemic.
It’s the fundamentals that (de Blasio) lacked in. All of us who study the mayoralty go back to the La Guardia statement of there’s no Democratic or Republican way to pick up the trash. … And you just don’t get that from this administration.
Gerson Borrero, journalist
and commentator An AH! ■
