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By MARINA VILLENEUVE
ALBANY, NY (AP) – Kathy Hochul became New York’s first female governor on Tuesday, vowing to bring new energy and urgency to solving immense challenges as she took over an administration criticized for its inaction during Andrew Cuomo’s distracted final months in power.
Hochul, a Democrat and former congressman from western New York, was sworn in shortly after midnight in a brief private event overseen by the state’s chief justice, Janet DiFiore.
In another swearing-in ceremony Tuesday morning at the New York State Capitol, Hochul pledged a “new collaborative approach” within state government.
“I want people to believe in their government again. It’s important to me that people have faith, ”she said.
She noted that she had already started speaking with other Democratic leaders who, for years, complained about being excluded from key decisions and harassed by Cuomo, including New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“There will be no blindness, there will just be full cooperation,” Hochul said.
Hochul also thanked her “great Irish Catholic family” including her two children and Bill Hochul, her husband of over 30 years. Her immediate family were seated in the front row, wearing masks and spaced slightly apart. Hochul, his daughter and daughter-in-law wore white to honor suffragists who fought for the right to vote.
Over the next few months, Hochul, who was a little-known figure as lieutenant governor, will have the opportunity to reshape the way power works in Albany, where Cuomo dominated decision-making for years before being shot. in a sexual harassment scandal.
For generations, it has been said that all real decisions in state government are made by “three men in one room,” the governor and the leaders of the State Senate and Assembly.
Now, for the first time in the state’s history, two of those three – Hochul and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins - are women. Only the State Assembly is headed by a man, President Carl Heastie.
Hochul planned to meet with legislative leaders later Tuesday before giving a public speech at 3 p.m.
Cuomo left office at 12 a.m., two weeks after announcing he would step down rather than face an impeachment battle that seemed inevitable after a report from independent investigators – overseen by the attorney general of the State Letitia James – found he had sexually harassed 11 women.
On the last day of his tenure, Cuomo released a pre-recorded farewell speech in which he again declared he was innocent and presented himself as the victim of a “media frenzy.”
Hochul is taking over with the state which still faces the crises caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
In the coming weeks, she is expected to make decisions about requiring masks to be worn for children returning to school – something she has previously said she favors.
She will be under pressure to get the federal rent relief money into the hands of tenants. Few of the $ 2 billion set aside by the federal government to help New Yorkers pay off rent debt has been distributed in the state to date. Thousands of people face deportation if the state allows protections to expire.
Hochul on Tuesday pledged to make releasing that money a top priority, saying people shouldn’t have to “wait another second” for help. She also pledged to act quickly to secure money from a new state fund intended to benefit unauthorized immigrants who were not eligible for other types of federal pandemic assistance. .
“The money is there. These people are not eligible for other forms of assistance and they are suffering and are part of the New York family, ”Hochul said.
Former Governor David Paterson, who like Hochul unexpectedly became governor when his predecessor resigned, has said she will need to restore confidence in the office.
“There is going to be some pressure on Governor Hochul, as there has been on me, to kind of restore the values and restore the conduct and decorum that speak of a governor,” Paterson said.
She will also have to work quickly. Hochul has previously said she intends to run for a full term next year and will only have a few months to establish herself as the frontrunner before a Democratic primary in the spring.
In the meantime, she will be building an administration – a task that began in the first minutes of Tuesday with the oath of office, hours before the event resumes for the television cameras in mid-morning.
DiFiore was sworn in on the Capitol in front of a stone fireplace, on top of which were placed family photos.
Hochul, her husband, and DiFiore entered the room wearing masks, removing them at the start of the ceremony. Hochul placed her hand on a Bible held by her husband, a former federal prosecutor and current general counsel for the Buffalo Delaware North-based catering and hospitality company.
Hochul signed a stack of papers – including the oath – using a set of 10 pens dated “August 24, 2021,” as her family stood behind her to watch her. She then thanked her staff individually and told them that she would see them tomorrow before leaving the room.
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