“Let’s be clear, the Majority proposal to ‘remove’ the governor’s emergency powers is nothing more than a performative stunt. The bill is not a clean bill like the one that was proposed by my Minority Conference colleagues, where we simply called for a full revocation of the governor’s emergency powers. Our bill even mirrored that of Majority Sen. Biaggi’s, who also is calling for a complete removal of the governor’s powers.

“The bill brought before us by the Majority is a compromise made between leadership and the governor. In his first press conference since being credibly accused of sexual harassment, the governor was defiant and basically admitted to having a hand in negotiating the bill. How does the governor get a say in a Legislature bill that is supposed to take powers away from him? Doesn’t something seem off with this?

“The language of the bill allows the governor to continue amending or changing any executive order he made before today’s vote. He has made over 100 executive orders over the last year in the name of his emergency powers, and a majority of them have had negative effects on North Country and Mohawk Valley taxpayers. Majority members are going to let him continue his reign as a near dictator. Why is Majority leadership scared of taking back our constitutionally mandated powers? Why can we not complete meaningful oversight in the face of multiple scandals around the governor?

“I encourage you to read the language of A.05967 and come to your own conclusion on this sham. News reports that Majority members are revoking the governor’s emergency powers couldn’t be any farther from the truth,” said Blankenbush.