He wants to be New York’s next governor, but Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado has been all but a no-show since getting his $220,000-a-year post three years ago, according to records and Albany insiders.
Since being sworn in as Gov. Kathy Hochul’s No. 2 on May 25, 2022, the lefty pol has racked up at least 411 days in which he took off or had easy shifts with only one scheduled event or meeting — or none at all, public schedules The Post obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request show.
That’s a whopping 41% of his first 1,011 days on the job, through Feb. 28.
And his schedule has gotten only lighter since he publicly broke from Hochul in late February and announced he won’t be seeking re-election, insiders said.
Delgado’s schedules don’t document vacations, but over the nearly three-year period, he racked up a whopping 135 weekdays with no reported work.
That translates into 27 weeks of vacation for an average working stiff.
If you include weekends — and many statewide pols attend public events on weekends — he reported blank work schedules for 318 days, or nearly 32% of the time.
On dozens of other occasions, his shifts included one workday activity: a half-hour or hour-long call with staff.
The former two-term Hudson County congressman has since been plotting his campaign, which he announced Monday, to challenge Hochul in next year’s Democratic primary, while still collecting a paycheck as lieutenant governor.
“It’s no secret that the lieutenant governor rarely showed up for a full day of work, and there were plenty of times he didn’t show up at all – even for the few initiatives he claimed were his big accomplishments,” said an Albany source familiar with Delgado’s work habits.
“When it comes to the last few months, it’s hard to know if he’s been doing his day job at all.”
The state’s Executive Chamber stopped providing administrative support to Delgado on Feb. 28, and the governor’s office said it’s “our understanding” that since that time, Delgado “has been utilizing state Senate systems for his calendar, email, and other [work] purposes.”
However, Mike Murphy, a spokesman for the Senate’s Democratic majority, told The Post the upper house “has nothing to do” with Delgado’s schedule, adding the lieutenant governor has not attended a Senate session since parting ways with Hochul in February.
New York’s lieutenant governor, by law, also serves as the Senate president, a largely ceremonial title that carries little weight beyond casting the tie-breaking vote in the rare case it’s needed.
Delgado’s campaign fliers boast he’s traveled “over 60,000 miles to over 1,000 events” as lieutenant governor to “hear from New Yorkers” – a claim that reads more like fiction based on his available public schedules and insider accounts.
His campaign website also touts that his job duties include chairing New York’s Hate and Bias Prevention Unit, the state’s 10 regional economic development councils, and its Council on Community Justice – and that he “oversaw the creation of the state’s very first Office of Civic and Service Engagement.”
However, his public schedule shows only 31 instances where Delgado attended meetings or conducted business via phone or in person related to the Hate and Bias Prevention Unit; 19 times for the regional economic development councils; 10 for the OSCE, and five for the COCJ.
Much of Delgado’s time was spent attending parades, ribbon cuttings, and heritage events. He sporadically met with top state government leaders and various elected officials.
By comparison, Hochul earned a reputation as a workhorse during her nearly seven years as lieutenant governor under then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Her re-election campaign declined to comment.
Robert Duffy, who served as lieutenant governor from 2011 through 2014 under Cuomo, said he was flabbergasted by Delgado’s work ethic and The Post’s findings.
“You can’t be in one corner for a couple of days here and there, and then call it a week,” said Duffy, adding the job is not “part-time.”
“It’s at a minimum, five full days a week, but probably closer…to seven days a week to fulfill your responsibilities. But then, even at that schedule, you still feel like you’re not accomplishing what you should.
“So the thought of having that many days off and for that length of time is shocking to me,” added Duffy.
Duffy, for example, said he averaged attending about 20 regional economic development council meetings a month.
As co-chair of the Finger Lakes REDC the past decade, Duffy said he knows first-hand Delgado never attended any of its meetings since becoming Hochul’s No. 2.
“He’s a very nice man, very smart, but I have to question his heart about wanting to take on a job like governor with a track record like that as lieutenant governor,” added Duffy.
Delgado’s campaign declined to provide The Post copies of his work schedules since the February break-up with Hochul, but it provided a link to one of his social media accounts that appears to show him attending at least 85 public events from March through May.
The campaign also doubled down on its claim that Delgado has attended more than 1,000 events and traveled over 60,000 miles as lieutenant governor.
“Antonio is proud to serve the people of New York,” Delgado campaign spokesman Steven Ileka said.
Ileka also pointed out that “Hochul publicly praised Antonio for doing a ‘phenomenal job” as recently as July – adding “the only thing that’s changed since then” was Delgado calling on then-President Joe Biden a week later to step down as the Democratic presidential nominee even as Hochul continued to campaign for Biden.
“We understand that challenging the status quo can be hard for some to handle, but New Yorkers deserve better leadership,’ Ileka said.
However, longtime Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf said he believes Delgado has no shot at unseating Hochul — mostly because too many New Yorkers “don’t even know Delgado’s alive.”
“They have no idea what he does, who he is, and where is!” Sheinkopf said. “He has no presence. The idea that he could be governor is ridiculous.”
