Kathy Hochuls attacks on Mike Lawler only highlight her own failures

Gov.Kathy Hochul is bizarrely slamming Rep.

Mike Lawler for being unable to stand up to his own party, when that shoe fits a heck of a lot better on her foot.She’s nominally mocking the Hudson Valley Republican’s push to ban mid-decade House redistricting and rein in gerrymandering, but weirdly also claimed he had “caved to “Trump on SALT,” and followed up by scoffing that Lawler “has no power.”What hogwash: Lawler in fact got the GOP to cave to him (and the rest of the state’s Republican delegation) on SALT, managing to boost the “ceiling” on the State And Local Tax deduction from $10,000 to $40,000 (for incomes under $500,000) — a huge gain for his constituents in defiance of GOP orthodoxy.And this, despite President Donald Trump’s warning that Lawler needed to “back off.”Note, too, that New York Democrats couldn’t get SALT addressed when their party controlled the White House and Congress in 2021-2.Which suggests that Lawler wields plenty of power within the GOP — more than, say, Long Island Rep.Tom Suozzi (who talked SALT nonstop in those years) does among Dems.Heck, more than Sen.

Chuck Schumer, too ..

.unless Schumer just didn’t prioritize making good on his vows to fix SALT.For that matter, we have trouble thinking of anything Hochul won for New York when Democrats dominated Washington.As for Lawler’s bid to rein in gerrymandering, a response to Texas’ drive to redraw its House map this year and to the noise from Hochul and other Dems about seeking to do the same: No, he probably won’t get immediate action, but don’t bet against him in the longer term.Whereas Hochul can’t possibly deliver anytime soon on her own threats to “fight fire with fire” by gerrymandering here in New York — since it’d require amending the state Constitution, which is a two-year process.Nor does she bring a shred of principle to the fight: She was all aboard state Democrats’ bid to gerrymander Republicans into oblivion in 2022,...