ALBANY – Mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani is now kissing Gov. Kathy Hochul’s ring, claiming she’s been “successful” in addressing New York’s affordability crisis — just two years after he ripped her for failing to drive down costs.
The Democratic nominee flip-flopped in an apparent bid to play nice with the governor, who announced her controversial endorsement of the socialist last month and embraced him at a news conference this week.
“I think Governor Hochul has been successful in her pursuit of an affordability agenda,” Mamdani said during an unrelated event Wednesday, naming “steps that she has taken on childcare thus far,” when pressed by The Post on which specific state policies he believed were working.
But just two years ago, during negotiations over the state budget, the Queens state assemblyman ripped Hochul for not agreeing to raise taxes on millionaires.
“At a time when the cost of living has increased and New Yorkers are being crushed, she has failed our constituents across the state,” Mamdani said on the chamber floor during budget votes in 2023.
“Our governor said a key goal of her budget was to make New York more affordable. Yet she refused to do this even as the Assembly, the People’s House, proposed raising taxes on New Yorkers who make more than $5 million a year and corporations with profits above that same amount,” he said, before voting against that part of the state’s spending plan.
If elected mayor, the three-term assemblyman will need the cooperation of Hochul and the state Legislature to fund and approve much of his big policy promises, like free buses and universal childcare.
While he may find allies in Albany, Hochul has again vowed not to raise income taxes, putting a wrench in Mamdani’s plan to pay for his handouts — proposals that come as the state is facing a $34 billion deficit over the next three years.
On Wednesday, Mamdani also praised Hochul’s early move to free up cash in the pandemic-era Emergency Rental Assistance Program keeping some New Yorkers from being evicted after the rent moratorium ended.
“To me, the affordability agenda, the efficiency agenda, they’re intertwined. It’s one of the hallmarks of when she entered into office, and I’m excited, frankly, to partner with her on these points that we put forward,” he said.
Hochul and Mamdani appeared at an event in his Astoria district Tuesday as she announced a grant for the Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens — the first time the two pols stood on stage in public together since her bombshell endorsement.
“I want to thank Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani for putting a special exclamation point on how hard it is for families struggling in this city and why affordability measures are so critically important,” Hochul said during the presser.
She later called him “eminently reasonable” when it comes to finding funding avenues, other than raising taxes, to pay for his lofty campaign promises.
Mamdani’s campaign didn’t respond to the unearthed 2023 speech. Hochul’s office referred The Post to her previous comments.
Read the full article here
