Gerard Kassar, chairman of the New York State Conservative Party, offered the following reaction to the 2023 state of the state of the message:
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s State of the State message is a document of conflicts — she cites many of the problems New Yorkers face, but her “solutions” too often would make things worse.
The Governor calls for Band-Aids where tourniquets are needed: She proposes building 800,000 new housing units in a state that’s chased away more than a million and a half residents over the past two decades with nation-leading taxes.
The Governor talks about rising crime, but refuses to end one of its root causes: cashless bail.
She highlights the environment, but bans clean-energy natural gas exploration in the state, natural gas use in new construction, and she wants to require expensive and inadequate electric heat pumps in homes, making it even harder for families to keep the lights on.
Mrs. Hochul talks about the high cost of living in New York, but refuses to right-size the gargantuan, inefficient government causing it.
What’s most alarming is the Governor’s apparent belief that more and more spending can fix the very problems that high-spending, high-taxing states themselves create. New York’s budgets are getting larger and larger under this Governor. That’s the problem, not the solution.
If we are not serious about our challenges, Governor Hochul’s “New York Dream” will continue as a nightmare for millions of hardworking state residents.
We can do better.