Gov. Kathy Hochul is rightly purging state government of ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s influence, which is great — as long as she puts competence and honesty ahead of ideology.
Start with her order that the state stop picking up new attorneys’ fees incurred by Cuomo’s former aides. Good: Make Cuomo cover those bills from his vast war chest.
After all, taxpayers didn’t endorse the then-gov’s infamous March 2020 order forcing nursing homes to admit COVID-contagious patients that hospitals wanted to dump, nor did the public enable the gov’s alleged multiple counts of sexual harassment or his apparent effort to browbeat accusers into silence.
Also great news last week was the resignation announcement of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, who’s hopelessly tainted (bloodied) by his role in Cuomo’s deadly nursing-home order and in the ensuing coverup of the resulting death toll.
But The Post reports that Hochul is now purging many other Cuomo appointees. That’s certainly her right, and we hope it means better government, not just a redistribution of spoils to her own loyalists or, worse, the installation of lefty ideologues.
What the state needs most from its new gov is good, honest government. Even if she is worried about next year’s Democratic primary, Hochul should put that goal far ahead of protecting her left flank.