Gov. Kathy Hochul has hired private counsel to defend her decision to pause congestion pricing in court — specifically, the same lawyer representing Mayor Eric Adams in an ongoing probe into potential campaign finance violations.
Hochul’s office filed papers in court on Aug. 15 notifying the judge and plaintiffs in two cases challenging her “temporary pause” on the Manhattan toll program that she had retained Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP, a local white shoe firm. Specifically appearing to represent Hochul will be Boyd Johnson, a partner at the firm in charge of white-collar defense.
Johnson’s name is familiar to close watchers of city government, as the very same lawyer defending Mayor Adams in an ongoing federal probe into alleged campaign finance violations in his 2021 run for mayor.
Hochul hired outside counsel after being told by state Attorney General Letitia James that she wouldn’t represent her in the matter. A spokesperson for James’ office told amNewYork Metro confirmed that the AG’s office decided not to represent the Executive Chamber due to an unspecified conflict.
James’ office is also defending Hochul in suits seeking to overturn congestion pricing, which were filed before the governor put an indefinite pause on the program on June 5. John Kaehny, executive director of the Good Government group Reinvent Albany, suspects that’s where the conflict lies.
“The issue is pretty clearly that the AG’s office is already defending the congestion pricing law from the lawsuits challenging the congestion pricing law that passed in 2019,” said Kaehny. “So they can’t simultaneously make a theory as to why the law is lawful and defend it while they’re also defending the governor from implementing that law. They can’t take contradictory positions.”
A federal judge has largely dismissed a slew of suits that were filed in the Southern District of New York seeking to overturn the program; other suits filed by New Jersey and by the state’s Trucking Association remain active.
Hochul now faces two lawsuits in state Supreme Court arguing she broke New York law with the pause.
The first suit, filed by the City Club of New York, argues Hochul violated the original 2019 statute directing the MTA to implement a congestion tolling program in lower Manhattan to fund its capital plan.
The MTA has now formally suspended $16.5 billion of planned investments in modernizing the mass transit system which were to be funded by congestion pricing, as well as associated federal grants. Those include extending the Second Avenue Subway, replacing ancient subway signals that frequently break and cause delays, and making the system more accessible for people with disabilities.
The other suit — filed by the Riders Alliance, New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, and Sierra Club — argues Hochul’s pause violates the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, the 2019 law binding New York State to goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the state’s 2021 Green Amendment approved by voters, codifying New Yorkers’ right to a “healthful environment.”
The toll to drive into Manhattan south of 60th Street was expected to reduce traffic in the central business district by 17%, and in doing so drive a reduction in traffic and emissions throughout the tri-state area.
A ‘telling’ decision’
Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director at the Riders Alliance, said he found it “telling” that Hochul had hired outside counsel to defend against his group’s lawsuit.
“It’s telling that the governor hired a white collar criminal lawyer to defend her going above the law to block public transit funding,” said Pearlstein. “The difference between what the mayor and the governor are accused of is that his actions may have helped win an election and hers have done nothing for her popularity.”
Indeed, just 46% of New York voters said they approve of Hochul’s job performance in a recent poll by Siena College, only slightly up from 44% in Siena’s June poll. That’s even as 59% of voters say that Hochul should scrap congestion pricing entirely.
Johnson is representing Adams in a federal probe into alleged corrupt campaign finance practices by the mayor’s 2021 campaign; published reports have indicated the probe is looking into whether the Adams campaign colluded with the Turkish government to trade favors. The probe burst into public view last year when the feds raided the home of Adams’ top fundraiser Brianna Suggs, and later when federal agents approached Adams on the street and seized his cell phones.
Adams was hit with a fresh subpoena last month requesting text messages and other communications as part of the deepening inquiry. The mayor has, however, not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Prior work with Wilmer Hale
Neither Hochul’s office nor Johnson responded to a request for comment from amNewYork Metro seeking to learn Wilmer Hale’s retainer fee for the congestion pricing suit.
But the firm has generated millions of dollars of income from outside retainer agreements with government officials in recent years: the Executive Chamber, as the governor’s office is known in Albany, has retained Wilmer Hale on contracts worth $6.45 million since 2022, according to the state Comptroller’s office. That doesn’t include the active contract to represent Hochul in the congestion pricing suit, which hasn’t been listed yet.
Johnson specifically has previously represented the Executive Chamber in a probe into whether Hochul’s predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, had subjected employees to a pattern of sexual harassment. That resulted in a settlement with the Department of Justice wherein Hochul agreed to make reforms to the workplace environment. As such, Kaehny said it “makes sense” that Hochul would again hire Johnson.
“They already worked with him and probably feel comfortable with him,” said Kaehny.
Once upon a time, Johnson was on the other side of New York’s governor — having been the lead prosecutor at the Southern District of New York in the prostitution case against former Gov. Eliot Spitzer that led to his resignation in 2008. Before joining Wilmer Hale, he was general counsel for George Soros’ investment fund, Soros Fund Management.
Hochul justified the pause on congestion pricing as a form of relief to hardworking New Yorkers in financial straits — even as the large majority of commuters into Manhattan take mass transit and drivers tend to be wealthier than train and bus riders. She’s denied that the pause had anything to do with politics, specifically fears the toll could cost Democrats their chance to retake several suburban House seats.
On Sunday, the New York Post reported that Hochul is “mulling” a revival of the toll, but at a lower rate and with broad exemptions for city employees.
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