NY Democrats call out Kathy Hochul’s sudden tough-on-crime claims

Even some Democratic elected officials are starting to grumble about Gov. Kathy Hochul telling voters she worked to change bail laws as Republican challenger Rep. Lee Zeldin breathes down her neck in the final two weeks of the campaign.

“When she had the power to really address these things to make New York safe, she didn’t,” one Democratic state senator told The Post this week.

Another state senator in her party noted Hochul “genuinely did push and came out with a big plan and everything” ahead of talks tied to the passage of the state budget earlier this year.

“That said, I think she too quickly caved at the negotiating table on a lot of the points,” the second senator said.

The Democratic governor also remained relatively quiet on the subject of bail reform in the months that followed to avoid angering the progressive wing of her party, according to that source.

“She was afraid of the far left,” the lawmaker said.

In an ad released Friday, Hochul — who faces Republican challenger Lee Zeldin in the Nov. 8 election — claimed that she “toughens bail laws.” That assertion is based on recent, minor tweaks to the 2019 law that include allowing judges to set bail for defendants accused of repeat offenses.

But Hochul refused to push Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-The Bronx) and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) to let judges consider the danger that defendants pose to the public — as repeatedly demanded by Mayor Eric Adams.

“The focus really was the stadium in Buffalo and booze-to-go. It was almost laughable,” one of the senators said.

Hochul has come under fire over the $600 million earmarked for the new stadium because her husband — former Buffalo US Attorney Bill Hochul — is a top exec at Delaware North, the company that runs the concessions there. Another $250 million for the stadium is coming from the county.

During her state of the state speech in January, Hochul also promised to reinstate the popular relaxation of liquor law that allowed bars to sell take-out drinks amid COVID-19 restrictions on indoor gatherings.

On Tuesday, Hochul was asked about criticism that she didn’t start campaigning on the issue of crime until after losing substantial ground to Zeldin in recent polls — one of which put them in a dead heat on Friday.

“We changed the bail laws in the budget in March. We did a lot when there was a massacre in Buffalo and the overturning of the Supreme Court decision of the concealed carry laws,” she said during an unrelated event in Manhattan.

“So, I think if you look at our history of all the advisories we’ve put out, the countless times we’ve been out there talking about crime, it is not a fair assessment to say that we’re out here now, because I’ve been doing this for the entire year.”

Any governor has serious leverage over state lawmakers in the annual budget process, especially once the April 1 deadline passes.

That is when a governor can keep the government running with spending resolutions while waiting out the state Senate and Assembly, who can either approve that proposal as is or risk political fall-out from a government shutdown.

“It’s a very powerful tool that the governor has,” the Democratic senator said while noting how former Gov. David Paterson used that move while battling legislators more than a decade ago.

Hochul held out in April on a final budget deal while negotiating bail changes – but not long enough to get the Democratic supermajorities in both chambers to back the full ten-point plan backed by Hochul.

Hochul eventually dropped the push to give judges full leeway to hold anyone accused of a crime while awaiting court dates for an earlier offense while watering down provisions on matters like confining mentally ill people involuntarily before she signed a finalized state budget deal on April 9.

Albany Democrats have faced fierce attacks since then from Republicans campaigning heavily on their opposition to criminal justice reforms approved in recent years, including new limits on cash bail they claim have contributed to rising crime.

The barrage of criticism has taken a toll on Hochul in recent weeks as Zeldin continued assailing her on the issue while calling for her to beckon lawmakers back to Albany for a special session to roll back reforms.

“Governor Hochul’s top priority is to keep New Yorkers safe, which is why she worked with the legislature earlier this year to crack down on repeat offenders, hate crimes, and gun offenses, and to further expand the types of cases where judges have the discretion to set bail,” spokeswoman Hazel Crampton-Hays said in a statement Monday in response to the pointed words from members of Hochul’s own party.

Hochul has argued in recent days that she spent a lot of political capital on getting changes made to bail reform over the opposition of the progressive supermajorities led by Stewart-Cousins and Heastie.

“They’ve only been in effect since May 9,” Hochul told reporters in Albany Monday of changes made in the budget while saying she was open to considering changes once lawmakers return to the state Capitol next January for their next regularly scheduled session.

“Then we will have six months of data which I think is reasonable. Six months of data is still a small sampling but we’ll be able to see what’s actually going on and look at the nationwide phenomenon at what’s happening,” she added.

She might not have that opportunity if Zeldin beats the odds to become the first Republican elected statewide in 20 years despite having less money than Hochul and registered Democrats outnumbering their GOP counterparts by two-to-one statewide.

Recent polls have shown Hochul and Zeldin within single digits of each other or in a dead heat ahead of the final day of voting on Nov. 8.

A strong showing in New York by the GOP in the Nov. 8 election flipping at least two seats in the state Senate would also mean the end of the Democrats’ supermajority in the 63-member chamber.

Kvetching Democratic senators might want to blame themselves along with Hochul as well considering how bail changes they are hating on passed the Senate without nearly unanimous support from Democrats in the chamber, records show.

“Both of these unnamed legislators clearly weren’t involved in the negotiations and I bet both ended up voting for these changes,” a source close to negotiations told The Post Monday.

Additional reporting by Georgett Roberts