She skated by with the smallest margin for a Democrat in a gubernatorial election in decades in this deep blue state.
So naturally, she read her narrow election victory as a mandate for continued left-wing craziness.
But Kathy Hochul faces a backlash after New Yorkers are left outraged by this despicable decision.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) has just granted clemency to the convicted killer of an 11-year-old Queens boy.
The decision has precipitated a wave of outrage from elected officials and members of law enforcement most familiar with the terrible case.
In October of 1993, eleven-year-old Travis Lilley brought a piece of birthday cake downstairs to a beauty salon where his mother was working.
At the time, the neighborhood was overrun with drug dealers engaged in turf wars and it so happened that the beauty parlor that Travis’ grandmother owned was in a hot spot frequented by the drug dealers.
Hochul swayed by fact that killer of 11-year-old boy earned “Associate’s Degree and Bachelor’s Degree” in prison
As Travis went downstairs the drug dealers opened fire, hitting the boy on the back of the head.
It was an unspeakable and senseless killing.
But Hochul, in typical radical fashion, isn’t moved by that.
Instead, she now cites college degrees that the boy’s killer, Bruce Bryant, earned during his nearly 30 years behind bars, in addition to charitable work and efforts to establish a mentoring program to prevent youth violence as a reason for her decision to commute Bryant’s 37 ½ years to life sentence, making him immediately eligible for parole.
But Assemblyman Jarrett Gandolfo (R-Bayport) wasn’t buying the governor’s reasoning, saying that none of Bryant’s actions while incarcerated outweighed the tragic slaying of Travis Lilley by the stray bullet.
Gandolfo said, “It’s commendable that Mr. Bryant has taken steps to better himself, but nothing can change the fact that he was convicted of murdering an 11-year-old child. As a father, I can’t view this commutation as any form of justice. Definitely not justice for Travis Lilley or his family.”
He wasn’t alone in that sentiment.
A fired-up law enforcement source told the New York Post, “The judge said there was nothing redeemable and gave him 37-1/2 years. Why is he going to the head of the line of convicted killers? This was an innocent, 11-year-old kid, who did not have a chance to go trick-or-treating the next day. Why wasn’t his life valued?”
Assemblyman Michael Reilly (R-Staten Island) is a former NYPD lieutenant and said, “November’s election made clear that Gov. Hochul must do more to empathize with the families of victims of violent crime — and this instance is certainly one of those moments.”
But Democrats have viewed the “red trickle” election – where Republicans captured control of the U.S. House narrowly, and little else – as evidence that they need to double down on the very same policies that have caused skyrocketing crime and economic malaise.
Just as President Joe Biden said, “I’m not going to change anything” after the 2022 elections, it appears that New York Governor Hochul is following his lead and doubling down on insanity and taking a soft approach to crime.
Sadly, regular everyday law-abiding citizens now have to deal with the consequences of the underwhelming 2022 elections for at least the next two years.
Stay tuned to Blue State Blues for any updates to this ongoing story.
