Albany lawmakers soundly rejected Governor Kathy Hochul’s nomination for Chief Judge, Hector LaSalle, on Wednesday, giving him the thumbs down after a nearly five-hour grilling at the State Capitol where he sought to defend his contentious judicial record.
Ultimately, just two Senate Democrats — Luis Sepulveda of the Bronx and Kevin Thomas of Long Island — voted to advance LaSalle’s nomination to a full floor vote while ten of their colleagues voted in opposition. Bronx Senator Jamaal Bailey and six of the body’s Republican members voted not to make a recommendation, consigning the nomination to the rubbish bin in a major political defeat for the newly-elected governor.
