Gov. Kathy Hochul ought to get rid of her gas stoves before pushing everyday Empire Staters to go electric, the Democrat’s flame-loving critics said Monday.
The Post exclusively revealed Sunday that Hochul has gas stoves both at her private Buffalo residence and the Executive Mansion in Albany, undercutting the environmentalist image she has cultivated in office.
“This is Hypocrisy Hochul at her finest,” House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said in response. “She has made it abundantly clear that in Kathy Hochul’s New York, it’s ‘rules for thee, but not for me.’ New Yorkers see through her ridiculously out of touch policies,”
Hochul’s critics say the disconnect between what she says and does is particularly vexing as she pushes a controversial state budget proposal that would require new single-family homes and smaller buildings to be all electric beginning in 2025, with larger buildings getting covered three years later.
“Just like George Santos,” City Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) said while accusing his fellow Democrat of acting like the pathologically lying GOP congressman. “You shouldn’t be a hypocrite. So don’t go around on your soapbox and preach that we should do this, that, and the other thing when you don’t follow that, and that’s what many politicians do.”
Former Republican gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin, who came within just a few points of beating Hochul last November, drew a connect between her gas stoves and her habit of questionable flights around New York in state aircraft.
“She wants gas vehicles banned while jetting across the state on a gas–guzzling taxpayer funded jet,” Zeldin said. “Hochul even spent $2,500 in tax dollars to take a helicopter for a campaign photo op at a gas station in Queens. Her hypocrisy knows no bounds. She even calls for your gas stoves to be banned while still using her own.
Other former gubernatorial rivals also torched Hochul over not leading by example.
“On crime, taxes, education and the environment, she constantly pushes policies that hurt working people but play to a narrow and out of touch political fringe just to shore up her base. She should be doing the opposite: setting out sensible policies that help working people and leading by example,” former Republican gubernatorial candidate Harry Wilson said.
Former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, another former 2022 hopeful, said the governor ought to focus on other fights if she wants to make good on addressing upstate population loss, which she vowed to tackle in her Jan. 10 State of the State address.
“Banning gas stoves is one more reason normal people will flee this progressive hellhole unless things change quickly, and I can’t see how it will with people like Hochul in charge thinking this is a top priority, instead of our suffocating taxes, bad economy and dangerous criminals owning our streets,” he said.
Assemblyman Kieran Michael Lalor (R-East Fishkill) said “the left never follows their own rules on the climate goals they claim are so critical,” which he argued are really about accumulating “power to control the lives of ordinary people.”
A state-level fight over the future of gas stoves comes amid controversy at the federal level following suggestions by the Biden Administration that it might act to restrict methane-powered rangers out of concern it might spread toxins and pollutants inside households.
The Hochul administration has claimed that there will be room for exceptions in any future restrictions on gas hook-ups in new buildings, including for restaurants that want to continue cooking by flame.
New Yorkers have “a moral imperative to protect our environment and our climate for future years,” Hochul told reporters in Rochester on Monday while noting that her proposal would not directly affect the appliance they currently use to cook.
“No one is taking away anyone’s gas stoves,” Hochul spokeswoman Hazel Crampton-Hays told The Post Monday.
“The Governor’s proposals would not impact existing gas stoves in homes and businesses,” she added. “We are focused on continuing to advance the boldest climate policies in the nation to protect the health and safety of our children and the planet, all while lowering energy bills and prioritizing energy affordability and reliability.”
While the newly elected governor is aiming to restrict future sales of gas-powered heating systems, no such action is currently being considered for stoves — though they would be effectively banned in new buildings that would lack methane hook-ups.
The proposal would only affect new buildings, but that does not mean Hochul should not lead by example when it comes to championing electric appliances, former Republican gubernatorial candidate Andrew Giuliani said.
“If you’re a leader and you truly believe in the cause that you’re proposing, I would think the least that you could do is show the world that you’re leading by example,” said Giuliani, who is starting a new gig as a radio host at WABC.
“She’s doing the exact opposite of what she preaches.”
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