Michael Goodwin: ‘Obedient’ NY Gov. Kathy Hochul lacking in confidence to lead and passes the buck on big decisions

Politicians have been described in many unsavory ways, but not since the days when Tammany Hall’s gangster bosses ruled the roost has a major New York official been called “obedient.” 

That is, until now, with a former top aide using that word to describe how easy it was to get Gov. Hochul to do her bidding.

The image is chilling, as if the governor can be put under the sway of a puppeteer and follows orders. 

The circumstances are even more disturbing, given that the former state aide who described Hochul as “obedient” was allegedly working as a secret agent for Communist China. 

The former aide, Linda Sun, is facing federal charges in Brooklyn.

The incident in question, according to trial evidence, occurred in 2021, when Andrew Cuomo was governor and Hochul was lieutenant governor. 

Secretly directed by her handlers in the Chinese Consulate in Manhattan to get Cuomo to make a Lunar New Year video, Sun responded in writing that Hochul would be easier to get because “she is much more obedient than the governor.”

“The deputy governor listens to me more than the governor does,” Sun said in a text to the consul general and included a smiley face emoji, documents show. 

Easy mark for spies

Hochul did as instructed, and the pandering video is cringe-inducing, but the incident has resonance far beyond the video.

When she became governor, Hochul promoted Sun to deputy chief of staff, with a salary of about $145,000. 

The Chinese Consulate’s propaganda campaign also included efforts to meddle in city and state elections.

A New York Times investigation found that several successful efforts involved supposedly charitable Chinese associations that were openly violating state tax laws by engaging in politics.

Some were handing out cash to Chinese journalists at mayoral campaign events this year.

The Times said a spokesman for the state’s tax agency claimed it did not have enough resources to look for violations by charitable associations.

And Hochul has said nothing about the tax issue or China’s meddling in New York elections. 

Her silence fits a persistent image of her as someone who lacks firm convictions and is eager to cede decisions, large and small, to others.

The pattern suggests she does not have the confidence and independent mindset crucial to effective leadership. 

As New Yorkers have seen repeatedly during her rocky tenure as governor, which began when Cuomo resigned in August  2021, Hochul is often passive in the face of major issues. 

Even a partial list of examples is chilling. 

Consider the events of 2022, during her first campaign for the top job.

Although crime was a major problem around the state and a prime focus of GOP challenger Lee Zeldin, Hochul rarely said a word about it as New Yorkers were being robbed, assaulted and murdered.

Despite the huge Democratic voter advantage in the state, her silence almost handed the race to Zeldin.

Still, the results were close enough that Republicans flipped four New York House seats from blue to red, which helped give the GOP the majority for the final two years of Joe Biden’s term.

Outgoing Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi was furious at Hochul, and blasted her campaign as out of touch with reality for trying to ignore the crime issue. 

Ah, but it turns out Hochul was just being “obedient” to her campaign manager — even though he lived 1,700 miles away in Colorado and knew little about New York. 

His name was Adam Sullivan, and he thought abortion was a better issue for her to run on than crime — and Hochul slavishly obeyed.

Sullivan was paid $500,000 by Hochul, and was eventually forced to resign over his alleged mistreatment of others on the campaign staff, especially young women. 

Hochul, echoing Sgt. Schultz, said she had known nothing about the numerous complaints.

Ever the flip-flopper

Despite her election victory, the far-left dominated Legislature was not impressed.

Her pick for New York chief judge, a moderate jurist named Hector LaSalle, was defeated, marking the first time legislators rejected a governor’s choice for the job.

A month earlier, Hochul acted like an amateur by granting the same legislators a pay raise without demanding support for ­LaSalle.

Another example of her habit of obedience came during the 2024 campaign.

She supported New York’s congestion-pricing push, saying it was vital for public transportation, but just three weeks before the scheduled June implementation, she shockingly declared an “indefinite pause.” 

Her inane statement cited no concrete reason, instead prattling on about how “I have come to the difficult decision that implementing the planned congestion pricing system risks too many unintended consequences.” 

Later, it became clear that the most important risk was purely partisan.

The Dems’ House leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn, had privately warned her that the tax on motorists entering Manhattan was so unpopular in the suburbs that several Dem members could lose their seats because of it.

Perhaps chastened by Pelosi, Hochul obeyed Jeffries and instantly halted the program without giving a new date. 

Suddenly, after the election, she implemented the congestion tax.

Now Mam calls shots

Instead of learning a lesson, Hochul’s habit of deference is increasing in frequency.

Her newest Svengali is the most dangerous of all — Zohran Mamdani. 

She has already caved in several times to the socialist who will be New York City’s next mayor.

Even before he takes office, the 34-year-old radical has reversed the usual relationship between mayors and governors of the same party. 

Usually, the governor dominates, but Hochul has ceded her own agenda to Mamdani’s.

Last June, gearing up for her own re-election campaign next year, she rejected his plan to raise taxes on high-income residents and large corporations, saying, “I’m not raising taxes at a time when affordability is the big issue, before adding, “I don’t want to lose any more people to Palm Beach. We’ve lost enough.”

Her point was the right one, but as soon as Mamdani won the general election, she reversed course.

No sooner had the votes been counted than reports surfaced that she was warming to his idea of raising corporate taxes. 

Politico called it a significant shift for a leader whose “career has been defined by adapting to fast-moving political realities.”

“Adapting” is a generous way of saying she is a follower rather than a leader. 

There is also another example of how Mamdani is the engine while she is the caboose. 

Although Hochul is ostensibly the state’s chief executive, including over law enforcement, she said Monday she won’t object to Mamdani’s inflammatory video showing how illegal migrants in the city can “stand up” to federal immigration authorities.

“I have no problem with the mayor-elect using this platform to let people know the rights they have in this great country,” she said.

There you have it.

Mamdani, an antisemite, cop hater and open-border advocate, is now calling the shots for both the city and state. 

Heckuva job, Governor.