Hochul’s congestion pricing betrayal

On an apparent impulse she may regret for the rest of her life, Kathy Hochul disgraced the office of the governor of New York and possibly torpedoed her political career, starting with her reelection bid in 2026.

Just weeks before congestion pricing tolls were set to turn on and start delivering faster commutes and billions of dollars in transit improvements for eight and a half million New Yorkers, Gov. Hochul announced her dark-of-night decision to shelve the program “indefinitely.”

She evidently was so ashamed of her weak-kneed and secretive decision, she made the announcement by video, presumably so she could read from a tightly written script and avoid any press questions, knowing reporters would have pointed to her many full-throated, pro-congestion pricing statements and questioned her rank hypocrisy.

Hochul’s about-face — driven not by her concern for middle class drivers as she unconvincingly suggests, but to curry favor with suburban voters in anticipation of her 2026 reelection bid — is one of the most cowardly and craven collapses of political courage New Yorkers have had the misfortune to witness. It’s breathtaking and downright unseemly.