Gov. Kathy Hochul Introduces Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin, Promises Mask Mandate for State

      by Yehudit Garmaise

     Before introducing her new lieutenant governor, state Sen. Brian Benjamin, Gov. Kathy Hochul, who was laying out her priorities for her leadership of New York said, among many other plans, “We are going to have a masked mandate to keep everybody safe: Get used to it, my friends.

     "The vaccination numbers are good: but they are not great."

     To be able to do more for New Yorkers, Gov. Hochul said that she would be working with "her city partners, and get used to those words: our city 'partners.' We are going to get more done working together."

     Gov. Hochul continues to express her plans to fight COVID: especially delta, provide financial aid to New Yorkers, and to "change the culture of our state Capitol: so people are proud to be New Yorkers."

     “I am so delighted to introduce my partner, someone who will work side by side with me,” Gov. Hochul said. “I am here to introduce Brian Benjamin,” who walked out in Harlem to rap music with a strong beat. "He has been a champion of criminal justice reform, affordable housing, and tenant protection: three huge priorities of mine, as well."

     “What a day,” said. “Lt. Gov. Benjamin. “125th Street, we are here today!

     "I am ready for the task.”

     When Benjamin left a promising and well-paying investment banking job to get involved in public service full-time, he remembered that a lot of people "thought he was crazy, that he didn't know what he was doing," he said. "They didn't believe.

     "Now I can day to everyone listening at home: Pursue your dreams, follow your passions, believe in yourself, even when no one else believes in you, and surround yourself with people who support you, real warriors, real fighters, who will say on your darkest day, 'We can make it: We have G-d on our side. We have each other. We have love. We will do this.'

     "I never thought in a million years would have imagined I would be standing here as the lieutenant governor of the state of New York, but G-d had bigger plans for me.

     "And He has bigger plans for all of us. But we need to pursue our dreams, pursue what we are here to do.

     "All the kids walking the streets of New York City need to do: this world is here for them, and we need to help them take it."   

     Gov. Hochul, Lt. Gov. Benjamin said, "is someone who I have a lot of faith in because of the moments we had, the conversations we had, where I could see inside her heart."

     Lt. Gov. Benjamin described Gov. Hochul as a kind person, who he knew “before she had power.”

     “On my first week as a state senator, she called me and said she wanted to walk with me down 8th Avenue to support hurting businesses," he said.

     “Brian, I am going to come and walk with you,” Lt. Gov. Benjamin remembered Gov. Hochul saying to him at the time over the pandemic. ”This is a woman who cares about the entire state and wants to take care of the state, and we will do that with the leadership of my friend, my sister, my governor: Gov. Kathy Hochul.”

     After Lt. Gov. Benjamin's enthusiastic speech, Gov. Hochul said to him, "I will take that as a 'Yes.'"

     In introducing Gov. Hochul, the Rev. Al Sharpton also alluded to the kindness and faithfulness of New York’s new governor, when he said that "on the day that she found out she would be becoming New York's govneror, she immediately dropped to her knees and asked G-d for strength.

     “This is the kind of governor we need: someone who thinks beyond herself.”