Today’s quotes – there are two of them – come to us from current New York State Governor Kathy Hochul.
The first – which, Hochul stated while an unelected Governor (she was the Lieutenant Governor who succeeded Andrew Cuomo after he resigned in disgrace) – attacked New Yorkers who were fleeing the state due (among other things) to high taxes, high crime, what they perceived as wasted money on profligate social programs and stifling regulations:
“And we are here to say that the era of Trump and Zeldin and Molinaro — just jump on a bus and head down to Florida where you belong, OK?” Get out of town. Because you do not represent our values. You are not New Yorkers.”
Well, a great many of the “not New Yorkers” did just that.
Now let’s move to 2026. Here is what she is now saying to those same people, and to people still in New York who might persuade escapees to come back:
“What I want to make sure we are smart about is having a system in place where it’s not just taxing for the sake of taxing and being conscious of the fact that I need people who are high net worth to support the generous social programs that we want to have in our state.
“Our tax base has been eroded…(you should) go down to Palm Beach and see who you can bring back home.
“We are in competition with other states who have less of a tax burden on their corporations and their individuals
“They’re not going there because they have a nicer governor — I know that for sure — but they’re going there because of the tax rate.”
Well, there you go. Come back and pay higher taxes so we can fund the social programs we taxed you out of the state with years ago. In other words come back to deal with exactly the same conditions that caused you to leave. Oh, and also because I’m nicer than Florida Governor DeSantis.
Do you consider that a compelling argument for former New Yorkers to re-relocate back? Me neither.
Hey, but all is not lost. Maybe she can seal the deal by reminding them that New York is a “sanctuary state” too. Yeah, that’ll get ’em streaming back north.
I award Governor Kathy Hochul Quotes Of The Day honors for her vivid imagination.
