Gov. Katie Hochul appears to have spent her political capital in Albany.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins has asked a senior lieutenant to retain sponsorship of legislation that would allow Hochul to withdraw her current accused election as a former lieutenant. Gov. Brian Benjamin, out of the June primary.
The powerful leader of the majority in the Senate opposed the idea of allowing Hochul to get rid of the albatross on the ballot, despite her continuing pleas to legislative leaders.
Democrat leader Stewart-Cousins’ stone wall included a request from Senate Finance Committee Chair Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) to refrain from introducing a Senate bill proposed by MP Amy Pauline (D-Scarsdale) nearly two weeks ago. said Krueger to The Post.
“I don’t know where my conference on the issue is,” Krueger told the law after a meeting of Democrats on Wednesday on the proposal. “There are many different points of view on this.”
Krueger added that he had no immediate plans to introduce the bill.
Prior to the indictment, Hochul declared Brian Benjamin its incumbent. Mary Altafer / AP
The ongoing composure on the part of the legislature comes amid dirty sociological figures about the governor, and sources say she spent her chips with party leaders when she insisted and received changes to bail reform laws and $ 600 million in taxpayer funding. for a new stadium for her hometown of Buffalo Bills.
“There was a huge mistake in the stadium. It looked like it was handed to them on a golden plate, and then we just rolled over and I think that will continue to haunt her for a while, “said one Democrat from the Assembly.
Interviews with more than a dozen lawmakers suggest Hochul faces fierce opposition from members of her own party – especially in the Senate – as she continues to urge lawmakers to take action before the U.S. Electoral Commission finalizes primary voting early. in May.
“Really, I’m really having a hard time changing things in the middle of the process, whatever that process is,” Stewart-Cousins said in an interview with WCNY on Wednesday.
Hachul asks lawmakers to help remove Benjamin from the ballot. Mary Altafer / AP
A spokesman for the chairman of the meeting, Carl Heasti, did not respond to a request for comment.
Benjamin resigned weeks ago and suspended his campaign for a full term after his arrest for alleged involvement in a bribery conspiracy while a state senator. The Harlem Democrat pleaded not guilty to five federal charges.
The removal of Benjamin – who became the preferred candidate for vice governor in February – is particularly difficult at the moment due to existing state legislation and his reported reluctance to move out of the state, another way Democrats could remove him from their list.
Benjamin’s removal will leave former councilwoman Diana Reina and progressive activist Anna Maria Archilla, who has been approved by progressive lawmakers in recent weeks as the only Democrats to run for vice governor in June.
Some members of the Assembly, such as Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan), said on Wednesday that they supported the governors’ insistence on changing the US election law before the June 28 primary, but others said it was rubbing them in the wrong way – especially as given the potential opposition from voters in November.
“This is a clusterf-k,” said another Democrat in the Assembly.
Benjamin resigned on April 12 after his arrest during a federal corruption investigation. Seth Wenig / AP
No Senate Democrat – nearly a dozen contacted by the Post – has voiced support for helping their own party’s governor remove his accused candidate from the election. A compromise proposal that has been proposed in both chambers in recent days will remove Benjamin from the ballot, but will ban a substitute candidate.
Senate Democrats may be more focused on political survival than helping Hochul, said political adviser Hank Scheinkopf.
“They are not interested in helping the governor. “They are interested in keeping their majority,” he said. “They don’t care about anything else – the governor is alone.”
Opposition to Hochul extends even to some of its biggest allies in the legislature.
“We are discussing as a conference,” Senator Tim Kennedy (D-Buffalo) said when asked about his position, a remark he repeated when asked about his personal views on the issue.
The leader of the majority in the assembly, Crystal Peoples-Stokes (D-Buffalo) – the most powerful lawmaker in Albany from Hochul’s hometown – said he should “think about it”.
Some potential supporters in the chamber say they are waiting for the official legislative language before deciding where to stand.
Benjamin is reportedly reluctant to leave New York, which would be one way for New York Democrats to change the ballot. Mike Segar / Reuters
“I think voters will be shocked to learn that the current New York state law requires a candidate to stay on the ballot even in situations like this,” Senator Elijah Reichlin-Melnik said in a statement.
Hochul told reporters at a news conference in Manhattan on Wednesday that she did not believe she had “unnecessarily opposed anyone” in the budget process or beyond, despite ongoing criticism of her approach to lawmakers.
She added that she was ultimately more concerned about the views of people outside the Democratic Party who held its legislative agenda in their hands.
“I want to make sure that in the end the winners are the people of New York,” Hochul said, she said. “The day will come when these legislators… [are] I will want my support. I will want their support. And so we’re bringing a whole new day to the New York government. “
Additional reports by David Meyer
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