Gov. Kathy Hochul may not be dumb. However in my experience of New York state governors, from Tom Dewey to the present she is the most incompetent in that time. She makes bad decisions followed by more bad decisions.

For an early example of her leadership style, we need to go to her days as Erie County clerk. She was appointed as a deputy county clerk in 2003 by County Clerk David Swarts and became County Clerk in 2006 following Swarts’ appointment as commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles. Hochul was elected clerk in 2007 and re-elected in 2010 but left office in 2011 when she was elected to the House of Representatives.

During her term as county clerk, she was described by some as “hands on” and customer service oriented. However, many in the Erie County government felt that she was not up to the job and more interested in moving up the political ladder.

While clerk, she instituted a new process that was supposed to make the filing of important documents more convenient for customers. In 2011 while in the midst of implementing the new system and training employees in its operation she won a special election to the House and left the position. Perhaps overjoyed at winning the special election it appears she headed to Washington neglecting to insure that someone was responsible for finalizing the installation of the filing system and ensuring that employee training would continue.

When Republican Chris Jacobs became county clerk in January 2012 he was faced with a years’ worth of mortgages, deeds and other real estate documents awaiting electronic verification and requiring return to their owners. Hochul claims the new system would have been able to return documents to the customer before they left the counter but that didn’t happen. Her lack of follow through left customers waiting for more than a year to have documents returned.

Hochul’s time in Congress was short. In 2012 she lost her re-election bid to Chris Collins but in 2014 Gov. Andrew Cuomo came to her rescue when he picked her as his running mate in that year’s election. In August 2021, after numerous allegations of sexual harassment by staffers Cuomo resigned and Kathy Hochul became governor. She won re-election in 2022.

A recent article in the Washington Examiner described Hochul as the most incompetent governor east of California. Last year as governor, when considering whether to remove Mayor Eric Adams from office for accepting gifts from Turkey but more importantly for openly defying President Joe Biden on immigration, she sought the counsel of persons like antisemite and promoter of hate crime hoaxes, as in Tawanna Brawley, the Rev. Al Sharpton. Sharpton had no official or unofficial position in New York City government although he has been described by some as a “power broker.” He is perhaps better known for threatening to lead boycotts against companies such as PepsiCo that do not agree with his views on diversity, equity, and inclusion better known as DEI.

However, it was the governor’s response in the wake of the wildcat strike by New York prison guards that began on Feb. 17 that leaves little doubt among observers that she is in over her head.

The strike began when corrections officers at the Collins and Elmira Correctional Facilities refused to report to work citing unsafe working conditions and opposition to a 2022 law limiting the use of solitary confinement. It quickly spread to all 42 state prisons. The state and the guards union negotiated, and the strike was settled with the law limiting solitary confinement suspended for 90 days along with other provisions.

Because the strike was a violation of the Taylor Law the 2,000 guards who refused to return to work were fired. The firing severely exacerbated the already existing staffing shortage brought on by the loss of 2,000 guards by attrition since January 2023 and the failure of efforts to recruit replacements that has largely been ignored by the governor.

Then on Monday, March 31, Corrections Commissioner Daniel issued a memo directing prison leaders that because of a shortage of staff to begin identifying inmates convicted of minor crimes and set for release in 15 to 110 days to be considered for early discharge.

Early releases have brought criticism from many including Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel and State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay. Borrello called the prisoner early release program as “yet another example of the staggering mismanagement and neglect that has come to define their approach to public safety.” Wendle stated that “the state should reinstate the fired corrections officers, repeal the HALT act that limits the use of solitary confinement in prisons and do more to hire more corrections officers.”

There is no doubt that the governor and her administration have made a bad situation worse. Worse for state citizens because of the early release, worse for the prison guards fired for protesting dangerous working conditions and worse for guards still employed who must continue to work in those dangerous conditions.

Thomas Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com