Hochul never found an emergency she couldn't embrace

                                                                              

Gov. Kathy Hochul after winning Democratic primary for governor in June

Cynics were wondering what Gov. Kathy Hochul was going to do next.

Her Covid-19 emergency order expires in three days -- on Sept. 12.

Could the governor extend that order yet again even though the covid pandemic is pretty much over?

Hochul has declared an ongoing state of emergency in New York because of the Covid pandemic ever since she became governor a year ago, inheriting the office after Andrew Cuomo resigned.

Under her declared Covid emergency, Hochul suspended state purchasing rules along with comptroller oversight of new purchasing contracts -- to the benefit of her campaign contributors.

The Albany Times Union has run a series of stories about how at least one large Hochul donor has profited from the lack of state oversight.

And we're talking a  record amount of donations. The Gothamist reported in July Hochul had raised $38.8 million for her campaign, the vast majority of it in the 11 months since she inherited the job from Andrew Cuomo. She spent $26 million to win the June 28 Democratic primary.

Hochul is now running against U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Republican from Shirley, for the governor's job in November.

How could Hochul keep those donor benefits flowing if covid is no longer an emergency?

Polio may be the answer.

Hochul  today declared a statewide disaster because of "evidence of circulating polio." 

What does that mean?

Traces of polio, a truly serious disease, has been found in the wastewater of Orange, Rockland and Sullivan counties, she said in her emergency order. 

That even was before Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced today that the virus also had been found in Nassau after routine wastewater testing.

So far one actual case of polio has been found in the state --- in Rockland County.

That person apparently caught the disease overseas as the result of a live polio vaccine. 

Vaccines carrying live polio viruses are not used in this country.

Most New Yorkers are vaccinated against polio. 

But declaring an emergency allows Hochul to suspend state rules again.

From Hochul['s emergency declaration today

So far, purchasing is not listed among the suspended state rules. But Hochul didn't suspend purchasing requirements in her first covid emergency order a year ago either. That came later when, basically, nobody was looking.

So we'll see.

Meanwhile, despite the polio threat, Nassau still does not have a health commissioner after former Health Commissioner Larry Eisenstein resigned at the end of July to take a job with the Catholic Health network. Democrats had demanded Eisenstein's ouster because he didn't disavow Blakeman's decision against mandatory masking to prevent Covid.

Blakeman announced in July that he had selected Orange County Health Commissioner Irina Gelman to become Nassau's new commissioner. At that point, she needed approval from the state Board of Health to hold the job.

A Blakeman spokesman said today that Gelman has yet to start. He did not immediately offer a start date. Nassau's interim health commissioner Andrew Knecht attended Blakeman's news conference on behalf of the county health department.

One unanswered question about Hochul's new order: 

Like her covid emergencies, will a polio emergency again allow elected representatives to attend goverment meetings remotely, rather than in person?

Nassau legis. Josh Lafazan, a Woodbury Democrat who lost a bid to run for Congress last month, seldom showed up in person in the county after he declared in December he was running for the 3rd District seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove). Lafazan attended remotely instead.