Exclusive | Rep. Mike Lawler slams Gov. Hochuls gimmick stance on NY Con Ed rate hikes in vicious takedown: Fake and political

A Republican rival to Kathy Hochul blasted the governor’s stance against massive Con Edison rate hikes — calling it a “gimmick” as he blamed her green energy policies for the sticker shock.Rep.Mike Lawler, who’s eyeing a run for governor in 2026, accused Hochul of trying to cover her butt by urging the state utility regulator to reject Con Edison’s proposed double-digit rate hikes despite raking in $67,000 worth of campaign donations from PACs and donors affiliated with the company.“Governor Hochul’s crocodile tears over Con Edison’s proposed rate hikes, when her absurd clean energy mandates are forcing energy costs higher and higher, are fake and political,” Lawler told The Post. “Like most everything she does, it’s a gimmick designed to deflect blame.”Con Edison is asking the state Public Service Commission for the increases for its 3.6 million customers that would jack up electric bills by 11.4% and send gas bills soaring 13.3% next year — increases Hochul called “intolerable” and “shocking.”Hochul held a news conference in her Manhattan office Tuesday after days of mounting outrage from tapped-out New Yorkers who would pay $1,848 more per year compared to five years ago if the proposal is okayed by the PSC, packed with her appointees.Lawler sent a letter to Hochul Tuesday saying it’s the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019 championed by Hochul and her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, that is triggering utilities like Con Ed to push for rate hikes to comply with green mandates in the law.The law requires the state and its energy producers and consumers to ween off fossil fuels by slashing gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and achieve 100% zero-carbon-emission electricity by 2040.These policies have “only made things worse for New Yorkers,” Lawler said in the letter.“The problem at hand isn’t the rate hike you’re correctly highlighting but the entire framework you’ve built that has made them inevitable,...