Since he took over the 1st District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives at the beginning of 2015, we have gotten to know Lee Zeldin very well indeed — and it makes an endorsement for Kathy Hochul for governor that much easier.
Hochul was thrust into the governor’s chair with the abrupt resignation of Andrew Cuomo in August 2021, and she’s held her own in a turbulent year. She has been a steadier hand than her predecessor; arguably, she’s done more for the East End in one year, if only by signing the legislation to allow voting in November on a Community Housing Fund, something Cuomo stubbornly rejected. She has earned a full term by displaying grace under pressure.
But sometimes one candidate is lifted up, as if on a seesaw, by the name on the other side of the ballot, and this is clearly true in the race for governor this year.
About a year into office, Lee Zeldin hitched his wagon — privately, he was grudging about it at the time — to the MAGA comet, and he’s proven to be a good foot soldier in the cause, if never really a leader. On January 6, he chose to side with insurrectionists, willfully oblivious to the grave damage to life and limb, and to democracy. It was a moment in history when a lot of people were judged. Lee Zeldin failed the test, badly.
If elected governor, which cannot be ruled out, he will not lead — he will do what he’s always done: take marching orders from GOP leaders, one in particular, joining such twits as Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott in a rat race to lead a disgraced party nationally by “owning the libs” locally. Albany will become a new battlefront in the culture war. It will not be George Pataki 2.0.
January 6 disqualified Lee Zeldin from any further service in government, and his form of extreme devotion to a chaotic political movement that includes incitement to insurrection makes him dangerous, period. Let him move on to his next stop, whether it be a Newsmax talk show or the 2024 presidential ticket — but keep his sullied hands off New York State government.
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Staff Writer on Oct 25, 2022