Whatever her other efforts to undo New York state’s worst criminal-justice moves of recent years, Gov. Kathy Hochul doesn’t seem to be trying to clean up the pro-criminal Parole Board.
The just-finished legislative session saw the Senate quietly confirm four of her nominees to the board — two to fill longstanding vacancies, two to finally replace members installed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo whose terms had expired some time ago.
Going on four years after he resigned in a cloud of scandal, Cuomo picks until now still constituted a majority of the board, in part because Hochul hasn’t pushed to put her own stamp on it — perhaps out of a calculation that the progressive, pro-criminal faction that controls the state Senate wouldn’t confirm any tough-on-crime nominees, so what’s the point?
This bunch won’t make a difference on the let-’em-loose panel, which has sprung at least 43 cop-killers these last eight years.
It likely would’ve been 44, except the board last month kicked the can until after next week’s Democratic mayoral primary on releasing David McClary, the gangbanger convicted of assassinating Police Officer Edward Byrne in 1988.
With Cuomo running as tougher on crime than other Democrats, some suggest the delay was a bid to shield him from embarrassment before primary day.
Anyway, Hochul’s picks, who’ll rake in $190,000 for this part-time post, look unlikely to shift the board:
- Lefty ex-Assemblyman Danny O’Donnell is a former public defender.
- Darlene Grant Bruce serves on the board of a West Harlem community services nonprofit.
- Elizabeth Kase is a defense attorney who specializes in cannabis law, and a partner at the politically wired firm Abrams Fensterman.
- José Gomérez is at best a mystery: The NYPD veteran, born and raised in the Dominican Republic, abruptly resigned as Newburgh police commissioner in May 2024 after less than three years on the job.
Yet the simple fact is that the Senate wouldn’t have confirmed any Parole Board nominees it hard reason to think might get tough: It certainly balks at the gov’s efforts to keep the state’s courts from shifting further left.
Meanwhile, the Legislature keeps making it easier to qualify for parole, and the 2021 passage of the “Less is More” law, which Hochul signed in her first months as gov, also made it easier for parole violators to stay out of prison.
Bottom line: Hochul’s unwilling or unable (or both) to stand up to the left on this front, as on so many others.
So bet that Officer Byrne’s assassin will soon walk, with a steady parade of freed cop-killers and other bad guys to follow — until New York voters start demanding candidates who’ll actually support for law and order.
