Gov. Hochul denies she knew ex-adviser Adam Sullivan was ‘egomaniac’ who belittled staff
ALBANY — Gov. Kathy Hochul denied Tuesday that she had any idea her ex-political guru Adam Sullivan was an “egomaniac” who belittled staff from past campaigns as former aides have alleged.
“No,” Hochul said at a Capitol press conference when asked by The Post if she ever witnessed any “bullying, demeaning, harassing” behavior by the Colorado-based consultant.
Sullivan on Sunday announced he wouldn’t be working for Hochul anymore after revelations of his alleged misbehavior, including that he insulted female subordinates and talked about their personal lives — all while touting his relationship with the gov while she ran to become New York’s first elected female governor last year.
Such behavior by Sullivan also occurred in past campaigns, such as her 2018 reelection bid as lieutenant governor, sources told The Post last week.
Sullivan served as Hochul’s unofficial 2022 campaign manager for governor despite having no formal role.
“He was very, very much so condescending,” a ex-campaign operative has said. “Sometimes, I think several of us got the impression that he would counter something that we were suggesting just for the sake of countering it.”
The governor claimed Tuesday she did not know about this negative rep because she took a relatively hands-off approach with Sullivan after he guided her to victory in a 2011 special election for a Western New York congressional seat.
“What has happened since then, I have not seen him interact with staff because it was just a different type of dynamic,” said Hochul, adding that her dealings with Sullivan were “one-on-one.
“But I was very surprised reading what I saw in the newspaper.
“And since that time, we have parted ways,” she said, referring to a story in The New York Times that publicly revealed her reliance on the shadowy political consultant from Leadville, Colo.
While speaking to NY1 on Monday night, Hochul pushed back against suggestions that her entire political operation was effectively run from so far away.
“[He] spent the entire campaign living in New York City, so he wasn’t running anything from afar,” Hochul told NY1, despite claims by former campaign staffers to the contrary.
She has insisted that her decision to cut ties with Sullivan hinged on his allegedly toxic behavior rather than his performance on the campaign trail.
But his political wisdom also came into question after two consecutive election cycles in which Hochul barely eked out victories despite having huge cash advantages over her opponents.
They included her single-digit victory over then-City Council Member Jumaane Williams in the 2018 Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, as well as her 2022 race against Republican Lee Zeldin that became the closest gubernatorial race in a generation in supposedly solid-blue New York.
Sullivan pushed for the fateful strategy last year over the objections of other advisers who wanted to emphasize public safety rather than abortion in her campaign messaging as crime rose, according to the New York Times.
Sullivan received $50,000 in official compensation from Hochul’s 2022 campaign while netting at least $500,000 more in a secretive deal giving him a cut of ad buys made by her record-sized war chest, according to the Times.
Sullivan also had a hand late last year in pushing Hochul to select centrist judge Hector LaSalle, a widely respected jurist opposed by labor unions and state Senate Democrats — who ultimately made her the first governor in state history to have a judicial pick rejected.
Some Hochul critics have said her reliance on Sullivan over the past year explains a series of baffling moves by the governor.
“It just explains why there are so many problems, why there’s so much dysfunction, why they’ve made so many boneheaded decisions,” a Democratic operative said Sunday.
“Because our governor is listening to somebody in a completely different state.”
