During Tuesday night’s debate, Republican New York State Representative Lee Zeldin pressed New York Governor Kathy Hochul on her stance on cash bail reform and her unwillingness to accept putting up criminals. And what does Hochul think? What’s the big deal?
Hochul replied to Zeldin, “Anyone who commits a crime under our regulations, especially with the alteration we made to bail, has implications,” as they neared the midway point of their discussion. Why would you even care about that?
RealClearPolitics currently classifies the election for governor in traditionally blue New York as a tossup since Zeldin has narrowed Hochul’s advantage significantly in the last days of the campaign, in part owing to rising crime rates in the state.
When criticizing Hochul’s stance on criminal law reform in New York, Zeldin pointed to the recent rise in violent crimes on the New York City subway as an example of the consequences of cash-bail reform, which often allows those imprisoned for crimes to return to the streets within hours of their arrest.
Hochul argues that the “No bail” legislation signed by former Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo should be kept in place because “the changes were good,” but he also points out that “…since the law was approved, we have suffered a worrisome surge in shootings and killings.”