Hochul snubbed twice in hunt for running mate as she struggles to fill NYS lieutenant governor post
It’s the second fiddle no one wants to play.Gov.Kathy Hochul is struggling to find a running mate as two prominent Democrats declined her offer for the thankless and low-profile lieutenant governor role, insiders said.Queens Borough President Donovan Richards and state Sen.
Jamaal Bailey (D-Bronx) both recently turned down Hochul — who has had a bit of a cursed history with the role, sources said.The governor even tried to ask Richards a second time, only again to be rebuffed, the sources said.“So sad,” one source said about Hochul’s embarrassing back-to-back rejections from Richards.The troubles landing a running mate — first reported by NY1 — come a week before Hochul is expected to be nominated by state Democrats as their party’s nominee in this year’s gubernatorial election.Other pols in consideration to be Hochul’s No.2 include Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez; Robert Rodriguez, the president of the state’s Dormitory Authority; state Assemblyman Brian Cunningham (D-Brooklyn) and New York’s Secretary of State Walter Mosley, sources confirmed.Cunningham said he has not yet been asked.“If asked, I would absolutely take the job,” he said.Gonzalez remains in the running, but sources suggested Rodriguez could be a safer pick of the Latino candidates she’s considering because he won’t have a prosecutor’s record that could be harvested for potential campaign landmines such as botched prosecutions, questionable plea deals or lenient sentences.Those potential problems for Rodriguez recently reared their head as he effectively pushed to free convicted pedophile Nechemya Weberman after pressure from some in the perv’s Hasidic religious community.Weberman was poised to walk free, but only stayed behind bars after he pretended during his resentencing hearing Tuesday to forget the details of his sickening crimes.
He could be out by 2028.Sources said Gonzalez appeared dejected during “State of the State” events on Jan.13.
He h...