May 3, 2021
What, exactly, took legislative Democrats so long to decide the time was right to repeal an executive order requiring diners to purchase food if they were having an alcoholic beverage?
Democrats spoke eloquently Wednesday about the importance of checks and balances and respecting businesses and New Yorkers. Sen. John Mannion, D-Onondaga County, said the repeal was about rescinding arbitrary and burdensome executive orders and foundational constitutional principles. Assemblyman Billy Jones, D-Plattsburgh, went so far as to call the rule nonsensical.
Those issues didn’t change from March 10 to April 28. The food service executive order was just as nonsensical, arbitrary and burdensome in March as it was in late April. It’s good Democrats finally came to their senses, but in our view the fact they did so lends some credence to legislative Republicans’ efforts to rescind more of Cuomo’s executive authority.