Above it all: Drivers gripe jet-setting Gov. Hochul ‘oblivious’ to pain at pump
Gotham drivers expressed outrage Monday over a Post analysis that revealed Gov. Hochul is crisscrossing the Empire State by state aircraft while they struggle to fill their gas tanks amid sky-high fuel prices.
“It’s easy for her, it’s coming out of our pockets! If she had to pay for it, she wouldn’t fly to these things,” Otto Nunez, 54, grumbled as he gassed up a Chevy Express work van at a BP gas station in Queens.
“Look at the price! $130 to fill. Last year it was $70. I have to make less trips, this van only moves now when absolutely necessary. I go to Home Depot once a week, not two or three times,” added Nunez, who works in interior renovations.
State rules say governors can take choppers and airplanes on the taxpayer dime when they are on official state business — a standard that some gubernatorial flights appear to challenge, including a roundtrip flight to see the Buffalo Bills home opener last September. Hochul’s flights thus far have cost taxpayers at least $170,000.
“I’m not sure she knows or cares what the rest of us are dealing with today. I think she’s oblivious,” Joanna Saltos, 51, said while pumping $20 worth of fuel into her Toyota in Queens on Monday.
“Once you have these luxuries, you lose touch with what regular people are dealing with. She doesn’t have to take off, I’ll drive her,” Saltos, a Lyft driver, quipped about the governor.
“We’re all struggling to pay our bills and she’s doing frivolous things with the state budget? You damn right I’m mad! C’mon! I roll with the punches but, c’mon! This ain’t right,” fumed Musa Easley, 40, as he topped off his pickup truck with $90 worth of unleaded on Monday.
The governor altogether flew at least 140 times, collectively running about 131 hours in the seven months after she took over last August for ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned in disgrace amid multiple scandals.
“Why are you taking all these flights and we’re paying for them?” griped Tommy Hondros, 35, of Bay Ridge, who says he spends $120 each week commuting from Brooklyn to Chelsea.
The chopper and dual-engine airplane respectively run about $2,500 and $1,300 per hour in operating costs, according to an aviation expert.
“Belmont isn’t far from Manhattan — you can drive to there … If [Hochul] were going to Washington, it could be a bit different but Belmont is right there,” construction worker Anthony Thomas, 37, told The Post about an 11-minute flight the governor took to a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a new arena for the Long Islanders months ago.
Hochul spokeswoman Hazel Crampton-Hays defended the flights, saying, “Gov. Hochul works around the clock, visits all 62 counties every year, and travels across the state by car, train, and plane to deliver for New Yorkers because it’s her job. We strictly follow applicable guidance, and all aircraft use is approved by counsel.”
Still, despite the overall price to taxpayers from gubernatorial flights, some New Yorkers said they have an apathetic attitude to her traveling habits.
“I really don’t care. I’m a broke college student and when you break down the $170,000, how much am I really paying? It probably doesn’t reach me so [Hochul] can do whatever she wants,” a Long Island University student named Tony, 22, told The Post.
Hochul has promised to remake state government to be more transparent and accountable, but she has yet to release public schedules detailing her use of state aircraft from the beginning of April onward.
A Sikorsky 76D helicopter and Beechcraft King Air 350 appear to be her preferred mode of travel across the state to attend meetings, ribbon-cuttings and campaign fundraisers alike, records show.
“The governor’s limited use of state aircraft does not impact gas prices, and she suspended gas taxes for all New Yorkers through the end of the year,” Crampton-Hays added.
Albany Democrats approved a suspension of the state gas tax that amounts to 16 cents per gallon as prices soared from $3.19 a year ago to a high of $5.04 on June 14. Prices are now hovering at about $4.70 in the five boroughs as of Sunday, according to AAA.
Hochul is running for a full term in office against Republican gubernatorial nominee Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Suffolk), who is vowing to take state aircraft much less than Hochul if he wins the Nov. 8 election.
Delivery driver Natty Medina, 37, said a lax attitude with public money will cost Hochul support from her this November.
“Me and my husband have been talking about it because we look into things like this [gas] and this is my job. She’s definitely not getting my vote,” Medina said while throwing $80 into her gas tank at a West Side station.
Hochul’s campaign refunded $11,000 to the public purse months ago after an investigation by the Times Union highlighted how she had scheduled campaign events in the same places as government business used to justify various flights.
The volume of flights she has taken as governor appear to be comparable to her predecessor, one of many governors in New York and beyond who have faced criticism over flying at public expense.
“The governor’s personal frequent-flyer program is immune to things like rising gas prices, cancellations, delays and lost luggage,” Assembly Minority Leader William Barclay (R-Oswego) previously told The Post.
