The New York Governor’s ‘Galactically Stupid’ Flip-Flop Is Just Her Latest Climate ‘Betrayal’

Almost exactly one year ago, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul cast her state’s first-in-the-nation plan to make the drivers clogging Manhattan’s streets to help pay to fix the subways and buses that most New Yorkers depend on as a commonsense solution.

“As a mom, I’ve had to deal with sick kids a lot,” the Democrat said . When a child falls ill, prescribing a decongestant “opens up spaces in the body” she said, “helping people get well and live a healthier life.”

“That’s exactly what we’re doing here in the City of New York,” Hochul said. “We’re prescribing a decongestant.”

On Wednesday, with less than three weeks to go before the first dose, the governor abruptly halted New York City’s congestion pricing program, opening a $1 billion per year gap in the state budget for upgrading a transit system that has so far failed to keep pace with a growing population and increasingly extreme weather.

“Circumstances have changed,” she said in a pre-recorded address.

What remains constant, say critics of the move, is the governor’s sensitivity to pressure from local opponents of policies with statewide benefits.

“The whole thing is galactically stupid,” said Pete Sikora, a senior adviser to the climate and anti-poverty group New York Communities for Change. “It’s part of a pattern of this kind of flip-flop.”

Since assuming the Empire State’s highest office, Hochul has repeatedly embraced ambitious climate policies ― then bowed to political blowback.

In April 2022 , the governor successfully bucked upstate opponents to push through a major transmission project connecting New York City and the hydroelectric system in Quebec, and recently beat 49 other states to launch the country’s first federally-backed rebate program for