If Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor and implements the changes he is promising, expect the city’s financial condition and public safety to deteriorate rapidly. Think criminal bedlam, antisemitic rioters allowed full rein, and cutbacks to basic city services.
In such a crisis, desperate New Yorkers will look to Albany, where the governor has virtually unlimited power to curb the mayor’s authority or remove him, even if no crime has been committed.
There is a safety valve, if a governor is willing to use it.
Before removing a mayor, state law requires the governor to present grievances against the mayor at a formal hearing. Even so, the governor’s decision is final, not subject to review by any court. The New York Supreme Court calls it “the naked power of removal.”
In the event a mayor is removed, the public advocate acts as mayor until a special election is held within 80 days.
The question is: Would Gov. Kathy Hochul have the guts to use her authority to protect the city, or would she sacrifice the city by pandering to the socialist flank of her party? Expect this to be a major issue in the 2026 gubernatorial election, when a Republican contender is likely to insist on an answer.
Right now, Gov. Kathy is cozying up to Mamdani, praising him as “eminently reasonable” and hinting she’ll find $10 billion in the state budget to fund his long list of promised freebies, including child care and bus rides. That’s happy talk. The state faces a $10-billion-a-year deficit.
Mamdani has promised to close Rikers Island. Thousands of violent inmates will be on the streets. Meanwhile, cops will be quitting in droves, according to former New York City Police Department Commissioners Bill Bratton and Ray Kelly.
While crime spikes, fiscal mismanagement will force the city to curtail essential services like sanitation and what’s left of police protection. Mamdani is promising $6 billion a year in child care and $652 million a year in free bus service. The city is already facing a $17.1 billion deficit during what would be Mamdani’s first three years at City Hall without the added fairytale freebies, according to State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
For half a century, ever since New York City’s financial debacle in 1975, New Yorkers have taken comfort in knowing that a state-run Financial Control Board is in place to prevent the city from overspending and plunging into financial ruin. But the guardrails have turned into tissue paper under the state’s one-party rule.
Reactivating the Financial Control Board requires the consent of the state legislature. Good luck. The top legislative leaders, all Democrats, have endorsed Mamdani.
There is no guardrail to prevent the city from going bankrupt or spiraling into criminal chaos except a governor’s constitutional removal power. That power was invoked in 1932, when then-Gov. Franklin Delano Roosevelt called for a hearing to remove New York City’s corrupt Tammany Hall Mayor Jimmy Walker.
FDR’s effort was challenged in court, and the New York Supreme Court ruled that the governor’s authority is “unlimited.” It is the “naked power of removal.”
Walker, seeing he was about to be ousted, resigned and fled to Europe.
Michigan and Florida also empower their governors to remove mayors for negligence or improper governance, not just illegal acts.
Ousting a democratically elected mayor is serious business, but almost every state has some constitutional mechanism to remove an incompetent or unfit mayor. Some states prefer recall, and others empower the legislature to make the call. As long as removal is followed promptly by another election, voters have the ultimate say.
The Citizens Union, a New York City nonpartisan good government group, sees the “potential democratic harm of ousting a duly elected official who represents over 8 million people” but concludes that a removal power is essential. The organization proposes an amendment guaranteeing that the mayor has a due process right to be heard and that the hearing occur within seven days. Even so, the final decision would still belong to the governor.
The Democratic Party in New York has been hijacked by the Democratic Socialists of America, largely with out-of-state money and manpower. Mamdani’s extreme anti-capitalist, anti-cop, and antisemitic promises, if implemented, threaten the survival of the city’s economy and the safety of its residents, particularly Jewish New Yorkers.
The governor’s removal power was created for such rare circumstances. It’s vital that Hochul or her successor has the courage to use it when the need arises.
Betsy McCaughey is a former Lt. Governor of New York State and Chairman & Founder of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths. Follow her on Twitter @Betsy_McCaughey.
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The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
She is as bad if not worse, they both should be booted out by voters if New York is to survive.
HOCHUL Save NYC.NY! Hochul is like the Communist candidate running for mayor. NY State is a sanctuary state with Hochul supporting it. Please!
The only people that can send this Robot Socialist to the dust heap are the people of New York themselves. If they vote this thing in, the consequences are on their heads.
Well, NYC is learning about their options. Overall. none of the options are good. I can visualize that President Trump would have to send 2 or 3 divisions in for policing control. I to state this that it could be another “Gaza”. I would not put it past the Democrats to pull a stunt like this with possible consequences of a “Civil War” in the Northeast. The Democrats are doing their best to disrupt the nation. Probably time to change their diapers.
full disclosure: I live in New York. I’m not convinced Albany even wants to stop Mamdani. Democrats hold the majority in the state government here (veto-proof majority) and they think exactly like him.
I suppose a person who smiles a lot (albeit a sleazy, smarmy smile such as the one Mamdani flashes constantly) wins the votes of the great unwashed. NYC will be destroyed but why worry if buses are free a rent is cheap? Our republic is tragically under siege yet self-interested voters haven’t a clue or simply don’t give a damn.
Anyone remember the movie “Escape from New York”??? It is heading that way now, and will soon be in chaos thanks be to the dem/lib/commie/socialist arse holies in charge of the state.
If Communist Mamdani is elected as mayor (and currently it looks like it)), NYC will get exactly what it deserves. Financial and socio-economic chaos will follow bigly! Miami and Dallas will become the new Wall Streets! And, NYC won’t be getting any bailout funds from DC as long as DJT is is office.
IF TRUE; HOW & WHY can’t the US PRESIDENT of the United States supercede the deviants (appointed judges, etc- NOT ELECTED by the American People) who have assumed they can over-rule him ? THAT should be a ‘GIVEN’!
Given that NYC is a sanctuary city are we entirely sure Mamdani and his family are here legally? It would be cool to see him get ICED so to speak!
good luck with that…
NYC – your ONLY HOPE is in voting for SLIWA!!! If Imamdani WINS – NYC Loses! and NYC will deteriorate quickly. And it will take DECADES to repair the damage done to the city in just a few short weeks of months! It’s not worth ‘finding out’. New Yorkers HAVE TO STOP THIS! by voting for Sliwa, your ONLY hope! in this election. He is the only one running who has a GOOD Record in NYC!!! Cuomo was a TERRIBLE Mayor. And Imam is a Jew-hating anti-Semite Islamist Communist. He’s your ‘Go woke, go broke‘ mayor.
Figure that one out! Under him, everyone (except his cronies and himself) will be ‘equals’ – everyone will be ‘equally‘ miserable, poor, scared, unsafe, sick and ignorant. Does NYC REALLY want to ‘risk finding out’??? Don’t do it, NYC. It’s not worth it. Do you know about ‘socialist-communist’ nations? First, they are Dictatorships! (I thot Dems HATE that! turns out they’re OK with it if it’s a Dem Govt.) Second, no one owns anything. Third, the grocery shelves are EMPTY. And if you WANT something they don’t have, you can ‘order it’, and maybe they can get it in 1-2 weeks (I’m talking about a # of hamburger!). And Fourth, Gas/Electricity is ‘limited’ and ‘faulty’, and people OFTEN go without any for their homes for hours or days, several times every week.
Do YOU REALLY want to live like THAT? But that’s the experience of people who have lived (and are living now – China, Cuba, N.Korea, Venez, Russia…) that our Public Schools have deprived its ‘students’ of knowing or learning!!! We’ve been dumbed-down, and schools don’t even TEACH REAL HISTORY anymore!!! Shame on us for allowing the Dems to do all this to US! and not complaining (until NOW)!
And HOW have they been able to DO this to us?! Using bribes, ‘free-bies’ and empty ‘promises’ they never fulfill. Using our GREED against us to empower themselves! But don’t be fooled! SEE IT for what IT IS! DON’T WANT things you don’t need to PAY FOR! It’s a SHAM. It’s a HOAX. It’s just another DEM LIE -just to ‘win you over’, and then ‘let you down’ and blame Republicans for the Disasters THEY CREATE!!! You know the drill.
NYC. This Nation is PRAYING for YOU to do the RIGHT THING on Tuesday. Vote Sliwa!
Removing Mamdani after he has been elected? Really you think Albany will do that? Democrats run the State of New York and thereby the city. Hochul already is in Mamdani’s corner by promising to give him the billions of dollars he needs to destroy New York. We the American citizen voters have to cast our vote against this communist. Then you have taken the power away from Albany and the Governor. And the need to oust the mayor is moot. It’s just are these evil dem voters, who want their fellow citizen dead, smart enough to see what Mamdani is up to. I doubt it. He tells them fairy tales about the millionaires and billionaires he is going after while he has campaign millions received from these same billionaires and millionaires. Who do you think he is going to obey? citizen voters of New York City vote for your city and country.
If you really think that Hochul would yank Mamdani back from destroying New York City I believe there is a wonderful piece of Pacific shore coastline for sale on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon!
It’s time to Escape from New York before it’s too late
and Mamdani and Hochul take over.
to be frank, the stupidity of New Yorkers is on full display with the fact this communist idiot is leading in the polls. They deserve what they get, as long as the ignorant m. f.’s don’t desert and come to Tx. The city, and maybe the state will collapse; hide and watch.
You seriously expect this character
Hochul, the so-called Governor of New York, to save New York City, while she is destroying New York State? Thats not funny, its sad.
Okay. I do not see Kathy Hochul doing anything to remove Mamdani UNLESS her Republican challenger makes a big enough stink about it that not doing anything impacts her campaign. Otherwise the city’s only other hope is that Mamdani is just like every other lying politician and does not keep his promises, though that may be unlikely. Right now if he is elected the Financial Crisis of 1975 will seem like a small overdraft problem on a bank account with only $100 in it. If New Yorkers actually vote this guy in they will forever lose the right to call other places stupid.
Hochul won’t save NYC, she encourages Mamdani. I live in Central NYS, and she sent out voter bribes in the form of a $400.00 state check to supposedly help with our democrat created inflation. However, we will have to declare it on our income tax on both federal and state. I am wondering how much further she put NYS into debt for those checks. Still not voting for her, or any other democrat. Where are the good Maga politicians in NY? I am beginning to think that only a person as bold as Trump could win against a democrat here. Glad I don’t live in NYC. The voters there will have more chaos than they want if Mamdani wins.
Democrat politicians are dependent upon the left-wing loonies to get elected. Democrats have lost support among minorities, union workers and young people. They may not be in agreement with the socialists, but they can’t oppose them either. New York City voters love the concept of rent freezes, taxing the rich and city owned grocery stores. The fact that rent freezes result in less maintenance of properties, the fact that taxing rich people inspires them to leave the city and the fact that no one has ever seen a government owned store that works don’t seem to matter.
Don’t count on Hochul to do ANYTHING to rein in the Commie. First, she agrees with most of his views. Second, she doesn’t have the nerve to stand up to him [or anyone else]. If there is a large turnout on election day, maybe he won’t win! Someone said only 400,000 people voted last time.
Ludicrous! Why should a criminal from another country be allowed to run for such an important seat in the state’s government anyway? So that after he totally runs the city into the ground he can fired by the governor…..who in this case seems just a mentally unbalanced as Mandami is. Total nonsense. Look at who surrounds him when he gets up to “preach” to the public of twenty-five people around him. They all look like they don’t understand English and don’t know what the heck he is rambling about but because they got paid to praise everything he says, they respond. The crazy governor YOkEL should be working overtime to get him off the ballot; not agree with money that should not be spent to please this little worm’s personal desires. And, by the way, where is he getting his money and training from???? Living in Upper NY with a Clinton?
I find this very very unsettling
I don’t think that Kathy Hochul and the progressives in Albany will do anything to remove mandani because they don’t care about the safety and well being of New Yorkers,Both Hochul and her friend corrupt attorney general Leticia James are cozing up to Mandani their main goal is to resist the president no matter what the cost
Hochul won’t do it. She’s under Dem control. If mamdummy is elected, NY is screwed and they deserve it for falling into the Dem trap. If America can stand up and elect President Trump, then NYC can elect an honest American.
Hochul is just like him.
New Yorkers would be absolutely crazy to elect Zohran Mamdani. He is a communist not a socialist. His policies will bankrupt the city. State run grocery will lead to long lines and shortages. His extreme anti-capitalist, anti-cop, and antisemitic promises are disastrous, hopefully he will not get elected. This has been tried in other countries, and it has failed miserably. Do we not learn from history, I Quess we are doomed to repeat history. In the meantime, New Yorkers will suffer, Good Luck!
Nope! She won’t do a thing!
Unfortunately, NYC is going to have to hit the proverbial “rock bottom” in the event of Mamdani’s elevation to mayor! When the pain becomes intolerable enough, as it most certainly will, hopefully New Yorkers can pull themselves out of the quicksand before it’s too late! And they should receive absolutely NO GOVERNMENT BAILOUT whatsoever!
new Yorkers, do not expect the governor to remedy your bad choice for mayor. As I understand it she has thrown full support for the candidate, I believe is very wrong for your city
“How Albany Can Stop Mamdani” is just plain wrong!. I think, scratch that, I know that he will be a disaster for NYC but if the people vote him in, they will get exactly what they deserve. Much like with Trump, if the will of the people is to vote him in, others should respect their decision and then suffer the consequences. Maybe it will teach them something. Very doubtful but let them get their just rewards for their extremely uniformed/delusional voting.
Don’t expect much from Hochul and you won’t be disappointed.
Hochul won’t do anything to stop Mamdani and he will implement every horrible policy he’s promised. Part of me says that NT deserves it but at the same time, when the violent felons and mentally ill inmates from Rikers Island start finding their way of the that Communist sewer, then innocents will suffer because of the Communists in NY.
I hope she plans on helping Syracuse, Utica, Potsdam, Oneonta, Binghamton, Schenectady, and other struggling g cities as well but I doubt she will.
She already endorsed him, It’s the Dems job to stop Mamdani but they are almost ad bad i
Have you forgotten that Hochul told all NY Republicans to get out of the state? She will do nothing if Mamdami is elected mayor.
I wouldn’t hold my breath considering Hochul’s governing track record. Democrat governors don’t seem to think running their cities and states down is a bad thing. Consider Illinois, California, Washington State, Oregon etc., etc.
Albany? HER?! I laugh at your weak attempt at humor. To quote Daffy Duck, an esteemed orator and wit: “Ha Ha. Very funny. It is to laugh.”
Just in case you’ve forgotten, Hochul was Cuomo’s Lieutenant Governor, second in charge of NY. She’s still pushing the poisonous death jabs. My good friend died from turbo cancer six months after he got the first poisonous death jab, all it took was one. He didn’t have cancer before the death jab, he had had a physical at the VA previous to getting it. My other friend has had numerous death jabs, she’s had cancer twice, since, with a double mastectomy the second time around. Senior citizens in NY are still struggling to make ends meet, and now the cold weather is upon us. I’m not gullible, I know elections in NY are dishonest. Get out and vote for a “Republican” in 2026, because our lives depend on it.
This WOKE governor will do nothing but watch NYC crumble into a hellhole, all in the name of being a good Democrat and following along with the rest of the sheep, off the cliff. She has no backbone. NYC’s only hope is for all those who are not Democrat, or those Democrats who have a brain, get out and vote for Sliwa. Cuomo is just another cronnie of the Democrat machine.
Question can anything be done? Both Politician is corrupt!
When you have Satan as the head of the democrat party what do you expect. Back in 2012 at the DNC convention the democrats voted God out of their party platform, and God told my wife who is a Prophetess of God, that He had sent the democrat party and all that followed them and pushed the democrat agenda and pro-pagan-da a spirit of a strong delusion that they should believe a lie and be damned because they didn’t want to believe the truth.
There’s an old saying I came across once. So true today. It’s goes something like; elections don’t give voters the candidate they need. It gives them the one they deserve.
Amen?
The democrat left are Marxist-Islamist not socialist. The media should start referring to them as such.
it is SOLELY up to the people of the city.
if they want this person in charge so be it.
if he is elected and fails he will be un-elected by the PEOPLES LEGAL MEANS!
we in this country must deal with IS and discontinue with what might BE!
BUT will they?
he has already stopped himself. never be elected.
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