Gov. Kathy Hochul couldn\u2019t have been clearer about her top priority Tuesday: getting re-elected.<\/p>\n
In her fifth State of the State Address \u2014 her big chance to offer a real vision \u2014 she rolled out <\/a>a poll-tested grab bag of proposals, with a few decent ideas, but mostly a mix of harmful ones, petty small-ball and pure nonsense.<\/p>\n Hochul seized on the new buzzword, \u201caffordability\u201d \u2014 with \u201cuniversal day care\u201d her chief offering. <\/p>\n That\u2019s also one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s top goals, of course: The gov wants his love, and his voters . . . even if it bankrupts the state.<\/p>\n Characteristically, she offers just a modest foot-in-the-door first step: a pilot program to reach just 2,000 city kids by fall.<\/p>\n But down the road, experts put the tab<\/a> for statewide universal child care at $15 billion or more: That\u2019s likely after she leaves office, though; she\u2019s aiming to win credit for being on the right side without having to budget for it until she\u2019s done facing the voters.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the state already faces billions in red ink in coming years, and billions more as Washington cuts back on Biden-era no-questions-asked federal funds for New York\u2019s sprawling welfare state and the special interests that feed on it.<\/p>\n \t\t\tMore From\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPost Editorial Board<\/p>\n The gov opted to paint that as DC Republicans\u2019 war on the state, insisting New Yorkers\u2019 \u201crights are under attack\u201d and vowing to \u201cfight back.\u201d<\/p>\n Conspicuously, she offered no hint of seeking reforms to Medicaid, the largest single category of state spending after her last effort at a fix (to the scandal-plagued home-health-aide program<\/a>) proved a fiasco<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hochul also jumped on the anti-ICE bandwagon<\/a>, vowing to \u201cstand up\u201d to agents who abuse their power and banning the agency\u2019s use of state resources to nab illegal immigrants who haven\u2019t committed \u201cserious\u201d crimes; she also wants to require judicial warrants for any \u201ccivil immigration enforcement\u201d at \u201csensitive locations.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s a blatant pander to the radical, anti-ICE left, but hello? \u00a0Agents who break the law are already subject to consequences.<\/p>\n And all-out resistance to ICE guarantees trouble: New York already shields even the \u201cworst of the worst\u201d illegal immigrants from the least-disruptive apprehension, namely as they leave jail, prison or court.<\/p>\n Instead, state law forces ICE to go into the community \u2014 upping the odds of conflict.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet opinions and commentary from our columnists\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Red states that cooperate with ICE aren\u2019t seeing the violence and mayhem roiling uncooperative blue ones.<\/p>\n OK: A few Hochul ideas deserve some praise: She wants to crack down on auto-insurance fraud and cut red tape to speed up housing development; she recognizes the need for more energy and vowed to expand nuclear power (though she\u2019s still committed<\/a> to a lunatic green-energy plan that would reduce other energy sources).<\/p>\n Also worthy: The gov\u2019s push to protect kids from online gaming and social-media threats \u2014 including mandatory default privacy settings, expanded age-verification requirements, restricted AI chatbot features and parental tools to limit kids\u2019 financial transactions.<\/p>\n Congress should pass nationwide rules for these issues, but keeping kids safe is too important: She\u2019s wise to push state protections now (particularly if multiple states can adopt similar ones).<\/p>\n