By Hank Russell
Governor Kathy Hochul’s campaign recently touted a list of accomplishments over a five-year period, while bashing her opponent, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, for prioritizing policies that run counter to what state residents want.
Hochul’s campaign listed her top five achievements, the first one being reducing gun violence. This includes state police prioritizing on-site inspections of all firearms dealers who are linked to guns used in a crime, expanding the Interstate Task Force on Illegal Guns and launching a public education campaign targeted at firearms dealers. In addition, Hochul introduced legislation requiring the in-person sale of firearms.
The campaign took aim at Blakeman’s pro-gun stance. They cited a News 12 clip from 2022 in which Blakeman called the state’s restrictions on concealed carry permits “arbitrary, capricious and unconstitutional,” but said the county will follow the law. According to Blakeman at the time, 200 gun permit applications were submitted since the restrictions became law.
According to the Hochul campaign, Blakeman came out against a ban on guns in houses of worship and schools. The campaign also claimed that Blakeman said a house of worship is “exactly where you want to take a gun.”
On the issue of immigration enforcement, Hochul’s campaign blasted Blakeman for running “the single most pro-ICE campaign in America.” Blakeman told Spectrum News NY1 that he has “the most comprehensive agreement with ICE in the United States.” The campaign also claimed that Trump cut counterterrorism and homeland security funding for the state by $187 million, which she retrieved.
The campaign also claimed that Blakeman said that the fatal shooting of Renee Good, the anti-ICE protester from Minneapolis, was justified. Blakeman told New York magazine back in January that the protesters at the anti-ICE rally in Minneapolis were “paid professional agitators” who were “anti-American” and who “want to cause trouble.”
Another accomplishment the Hochul campaign claimed was making healthcare affordable. They cited the governor signing into law four bills — one protecting consumers from price gouging when there is a drug shortage, another prohibiting healthcare providers and hospitals from reporting a patient’s medical debt to credit agencies, another requiring companies to notify customers of their automatic subscription renewals and make the cancellation process easier. She also approved legislation that clarifies that merchants must post the highest price a consumer might pay for the product, regardless of payment methods. She also banned copays on insulin and asthma inhalers.
In addition, the campaign pointed out that Blakeman supported Trump’s cuts to the Essential Plan, a federally subsidized health insurance plan at little or no cost to New Yorkers, which resulted in 450,000 state residents losing their coverage. They also accused Blakeman of supporting Trump’s $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts. Blakeman told Fox Business that Medicaid spending in New York “is equal to Texas and Florida combined, so we go in and we make sure that we cut Medicaid in half. It comes back to a reasonable number.”
Hochul’s campaign boasted of her investments in education, most notably a record $37.6 billion in school aid, $340 million for free school meals for children and banning cellphones in classrooms. On the issue of affordability, they noted the inflation refund checks and energy rebate checks back to the taxpayers. The campaign also blasted Blakeman for his take on the price of gas increasing due to the war in Iran. “Yes, there will be short-term pain but there will be long-term gain,” Blakeman told PIX 11 News in April. “They [the Iranians] hate us, they hate America.” Trump, meanwhile, said he will “never apologize” for the high gas prices.
“We’ve come a long way together — putting money back in families’ pockets, protecting their healthcare, and standing up to Donald Trump — all things Bruce Blakeman is completely unfamiliar with,” said Ryan Radulovacki, senior spokesperson/press secretary for the Hochul campaign. “There’s more work to do, but 5 years later, we’ve gotten real results for New Yorkers and their families. Governor Hochul is ready for this fight.”
Long Island Life & Politics reached out to the Blakeman campaign for comment, but did not hear back as of press time.