You want to focus on poverty and housing
INTERVIEW.. New York State Governor: I feel the weight of responsibility being the first woman to take office
Kathy Hoshol.
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Hochhol with the former New York governor.
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Kathy Hochhol, the first woman to lead in New York state, took office last week, under exceptional circumstances, and succeeded a governor accused of harassment.
The new state's governor faces various challenges in the field of public health, education and the economy.
Here are excerpts from an interview with the New York Times:
■ You are making history as the first female president of New York... What does this mean to you?
■■ I feel the weight of the responsibility on my shoulders, and I take it very seriously, being the first female governor, but at the end of my tenure I want to make sure that no woman, no girl, no teenager feels like there's anything he can't do.
■ How should New Yorkers judge whether your tenure was successful?
■■ I have a very focused agenda, I hold myself to the highest standards, and I judge myself more harshly than any New York voter.
Judge me by specific accomplishments, in terms of what I have announced today, and what I will announce later, and hold me accountable for those ambitions, but at the end of the day, I want people to say that I played a major role in restoring people's confidence in the state government's ability to stand by them, and fight for them.
■ As a governor, do you direct educators at the state level to get vaccinated?
■■ I want everyone in New York State to get vaccinated, especially teachers and people in a school setting.
However, the Governor does not have the executive powers that were in place a year ago, so I will work hard to develop partnerships with these stakeholders, who can work with me to make this happen.
■ How can show executive leadership be balanced with deference to local officials?
■■ This is done in consultation with the local population, after which it becomes my responsibility.
■ You have been in New York politics for a long time, but you did not work closely with former Governor Andrew Cuomo. If you weren't particularly involved in his policy-making decisions, what would you say to people who are wondering if you have the management experience to lead the state?
■■ If they have any questions about my ability to lead let them talk to anyone in local government, I take a collaborative approach, and I've heard that from countless current employees, cabinet members, agency heads, and heads of authorities.
And not being in every room meant I was somewhere else learning how to run the state like no other.
No one knows the state and no one alive knows the state the way I do.
That's because I set out to take on this role, redefining it.
■ The one thing that may not be in your job description as Assistant Governor is public disagreement with Governor Andrew Cuomo. Now that you're a governor, what was one of the main differences in politics that you had with him?
■■ I thought we should have done more with the New York City Housing Authority, and I think there's still a chance, a lot of people live in misery, it's too hot in the summer, and things are getting worse, and I want the basic principles back, so that everyone has dignity, in the presence of A good roof over their heads.
And I've seen the transformation when you give people a safe home, which many take for granted, but if you don't have it, that's terrifying;
So this is the area in which I will spend more time and effort.
"I have a very focused agenda, I hold to the highest standards, and I judge myself more harshly than any New York voter."
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