I'm Brian Lehrer. This is my daily politics podcast from WNYC Studios. It's Thursday, August 12th.

As Kathy Hochel gets ready to become governor of New York under extraordinary circumstances,

there is one living person who's got some experience at this.

David Patterson became governor in 2008 when Elliot Spitzer resigned because of a scandal.

We'll talk to Governor Patterson in just a minute, but here is Kathy Hochel, making one thing very clear in her first news conference in this role yesterday.

She is not Andrew Cuomo, and they were not close.

Here's her answer when asked if she was aware of the toxic workplace environment in his office.

The governor and I have not been close, physically or otherwise, in terms of much time.

And so I've been traveling the state and do not spend much time in his presence or in the presence of many in the state capitol.

But that is what has been being reported.

And I'm going to stand right here.

At the end of my term, whenever it ends, no one will ever describe my administration

as a toxic work environment. So, no, not me, he's not he, me, I'm not him. I didn't even know

what was going on there. He didn't even let me in there. A few minutes later, Hockel was asked how

people could trust her to be different since she was part of the

Cuomo administration. First of all, many people have supported the policies of the Cuomo

administration. There is a strong legacy of accomplishment. I was out there fighting in the streets to

raise the minimum wage. I was out there fighting for paid family leave.

I've been the champion of policies to eradicate the specter of heroin and opioid abuse,

something that has touched my family personally. Childcare issues. I've been out there making

the announcements on affordable housing, clean energy, economic development. So that will continue.

Those policies will continue and even

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