Who did Hochul meet with? Newly released schedules gives us details. And This Week in New York History

And Hochul says she has concerns over the HALT Act, a law that restricts the use of solitary confinement.

Good afternoon — it’s Monday and IBM P.C. Day.

MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 2024

TODAY’S CAPCON:

• Hochul’s office has now released a few more months of her detailed schedules, including meetings and phone calls. We dive into them.

• Hochul says she has concerns about the impact of the HALT Act, a law that restricts the use of solitary confinement in state prisons.

• This Week in New York History: inventing the sewing machine, the first ever steam boat and Staten Island.

🌧️ Tonight’s Weather: Albany: Mostly clear, high 50s. New York City: Mostly clear, high 60s. (National Weather Service)

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(Will Waldron/Times Union)

🗓️ Who Hochul met with in the first three months of 2024, right up to the state budget deadline

👋 Detailed schedules for the governor have now been published for January, February and March.

I happened to check the page where Gov. Kathy HOCHUL’s office posts her past schedules this morning and found three new months were recently added.

• I don’t know when the page was updated but couldn’t find any other reporting on them. 

Reporters have Hochul’s schedule sent to them each evening but that only includes her public events — the things she’s doing that day and where you can find her.

But every few months, they post her detailed schedules. Those are hour-by-hour breakdowns of what Hochul was doing and where.

• If she does something that’s not related to her job as governor — fundraisers, campaign events, personal stuff —  that’s listed as a “private event.”

They’re posted months after they happen so unless you’re someone who’s always with Hochul, this is really the only way to find out what she was up to.

I like to go through them to see who she chose to meet with and when. It helps me connect what her priorities were but some of it is just fun to see.

• I’d find it interesting if she met with an education group one day and then changed her position on an education issue the next, for example.

But it’s also a lot to read through — more than 120 pages — and unless you have a reason, that’s probably not how you want to spend your time.

So I went through them for you and pulled out every meeting Hochul had in the first three months of the year, leading up to the March 31 state budget deadline.

• I did not include interviews Hochul had with reporters or meetings she had with staff because she has several and those are expected.

• I’m also not including her news conferences because those are public — or any big events because there are too many to fit in here.

(Will Waldron/Times Union)

❄️ January: Starting the year with a packed schedule

I’m going to try to format this in the most aesthetically pleasing way but apologies if I don’t meet that goal.

• I’m only including the days on which Hochul met with folks outside her administration.

In the first week of the year, Hochul hit the ground running with some big power players:

• Jan. 2: Hochul had a call with Jensen Huang, the CEO of chip maker NVIDIA.

• Jan. 3: Hochul attended receptions hosted by Assembly Speaker Carl E. HEASTIE, Senate Majority Leader Andrea STEWART-COUSINS, and Lt. Gov. Antonio DELGADO. She later had a call with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier BECERRA and met privately with Delgado.

• Jan. 4: Hochul met with Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council.

• Jan. 5: Hochul met with Asaf Zamir, former consul general for Israel in New York and later met with Jeff Blau, CEO of The Related Companies, a real estate firm, and Michael Polsky, founder of Invenergy, an energy company.

Here’s the second week: