Four NYS lawmakers haven’t been to the Capitol in person once all year, damning records show

ALBANY – Four New York State lawmakers haven’t been to the Capitol once all year — with two ailing 89-year-old boys among those with the most spotty attendance records.

Records show the 10 members of the Senate and Assembly with the most absences since January also include a Republican enrolled in the military who was deployed in the Middle East, a mom on maternity leave, and two entrenched New York City Democrats who offered no explanations for their chronic absences.

Lawmakers can vote remotely but not participate in legislative sessions, but the 10 most absent lawmakers missed 442 combined with each missing more than 37% of the votes in Albany, according to to attendance records obtained by The Post through a public information request.

Although they only make up 5% of the entire state legislature, their 442 absences were 39% of all absences from January, the records showed.

Two of the four no-shows — Assembly members Vivian Cook (D-Queens) and David McDonough (R-Nassau County) — are each 89 years old, battling long-term illnesses and riding out the year as lame ducks after neither sought reelection.

Assemblyman Brian Maher (R-Orange County), a Navy reservist who missed every day of the session because he was deployed in the Middle East from November 2025 through last month, said extended absences from elderly lawmakers are a good argument for term limits.

“People will say elections are term limits. We know they’re not. We know that incumbency brings a lack of an even playing field,” said Maher, who is running unopposed in this year’s election.

McDonough hasn’t been to Albany in at least two years despite sailing to reelection with 65% of the vote in 2024, Newsday reported in February.

The seven-term incumbent announced he would not seek reelection the following week, but remains in office with state Senate staffer Shannon Fredericks running to replace him. He participated virtually eight times, records showed.

Meanwhile Cook, first elected to the state Assembly in 1990, landed in rehab in March, Assembly Majority Leader Crystal People-Stokes (D-Erie) announced on the floor of the state Assembly at the time. Cook, who is battling an unspecified illness, participated in the session virtually only once, the records showed.

And Rochester state Sen. Samra Brouk (D-Monroe) was out on maternity leave, being marked as “excused” through late April and taking advantage of the chamber’s remote voting capabilities for most of the remainder of session.

Brouk had her child in late December, she announced via an Instagram post at the time. The lawmaker, who voted remotely 24 of 64 days of the session, is strongly favored to win her reelection bid.

Questionable absences

State Sen. Sam Sutton (D-Brooklyn) and Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn (D-Brooklyn) didn’t respond to requests for comment about their chronic absenteeism.

Sutton, 77, who won a May 2025 special election to fill a vacant Senate seat, missed 36 days and never participated remotely, records showed. Only he and Brouk, several weeks from giving birth, missed the first day of the Senate session.

Records show him taking off entire weeks and frequently showing up one or two days a week for lawmakers standard three to four-day workweeks, for the roughly six months a year they work in Albany.

Bichotte Hermelyn, who led the Brooklyn Democratic Party before she was resigned in the midst of a bitter intraparty power struggle, missed 23 days including nine remote days, according to records.

Medical and family crises…

• State Sen. Samra Brouk (D-Monroe), was away from Albany the entirety of session after giving birth in December and suffering from complications, per sources. While she began attending session remotely beginning in late April, racking up 24 remote days in all, the Rochester Senator never publicly announced her extended absence from the state Capitol.

  The Senate Mental Health Committee, chaired by Brouk, didn’t meet once this year.

• Assemblyman David McDonough (R-Nassau), hasn’t shown up to the state Capitol in two years amid health complications, per Newsday’s February analysis. The 89-year-old Zoomed into Assembly proceedings on eight days, the last of which was March 31.

  “Dave is 89 years old and will step away having earned the respect of his constituents and his colleagues. Legislative operations have evolved significantly since COVID. Despite limitations, he’s passed legislation, voted on bills, and done important work in the district,” Assembly GOP spokesperson Michael Fraser told The Post.

• Assemblywoman Vivian Cook (D-Queens), 89, also missed every day of session due to an unspecified illness. The longtime Assemblywoman signed on remotely once to vote for a state budget bill on May 26.

  State Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-Queens), who also represents Cook’s Jamaica, Queens district, said he was in regular contact with Cook during the session, regularly seeking her “decisive” “advice and consent.”

  “I think she was still able to serve her community in a positive way during that time,” Comrie said.

• State Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan), suffered a stroke in early April, her office announced publicly in a statement a few days later. The episode left her hospitalized, causing her to miss session between April 7 and May 21, before attending remotely every day thereafter, state record showed.

  Krueger, 68, told The Post in an interview she has luckily escaped major stroke symptoms and doctors cleared her to return home after only six days in the hospital and without any rehab. The doctors did however stipulate that she remain in close proximity to the hospital for the first 90 days after she was released, keeping her from Albany.

  Krueger said, were it not for the bright outlook for her recovery, the 12-term incumbent would’ve seriously considered retirement.

  “Pretty quickly, I realized I’m going to be able to keep doing what I need to do,” Krueger said. “‘It’s really OK if you say to me, it’s time Liz,’” she said she told the Democratic clubs in her district.

• Assemblyman Demond Meeks (D-Monroe), took a leave of absence after his 23-year-old daughter suddenly passed away on April 17, according to an announcement posted to his Facebook page.

  Afterwards he missed several days, and eventually began tuning into session remotely. Over the year, he accumulated 23 missed days with seven remote days.

  The records show Meeks with perfect attendance prior to his daughter’s death. His office didn’t return a request for comment.

Auditioning for the next job…

• Assemblyman Alex Bores (D-Manhattan), missed 31 session days, exactly half of those as he vied in the highly competitive Democratic primary for the 12th Congressional District primary to replace retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY).

  He was sixth for most missed votes. Bores ultimately lost that race and will vacate his seat, but defended his absences noting that he would often skip Mondays, when lawmakers traditionally pass less controversial bills.

  He also said he passed 10 bills in Albany this year, despite his race.

  “They want to see you at their local events and at their town halls and at their debate and forums and you kind of half to juggle,” he said of his constituents.

• Assemblyman Micah Lasher (D-Manhattan), won the 12th District primary against Bores and a slate of other Democrats, though at the cost of missing 26 session days, or 42% of days overall. That puts him at eighth, for most days missed.

  A spokesperson for the former aide to Nadler and later Gov. Kathy Hochul, declined to comment. 

• Assemblyman Steve Raga (D-Manhattan), unsuccessfully ran in the Democratic primary to replace outgoing state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Queens), who was not seeking reelection.

  The two-term Assemblyman was crushed by leftist Democratic Socialists of America comrade Aber Kawas, who is expected to easily win the Astoria district. Per attendance records, Raga was tied for ninth place, missing 37% of days.

Serving our country…

• Assemblyman Brian Maher (R-Orange), an active New York Naval Militia reservist was deployed to the Middle East in November of last year, only returning from what became an active military theater last month.

  While active duty military service obviously meant he would not be able to participate in session, even remotely, that did not stop him from regularly communicating with his staff. That included calls with his chief of staff he said had to be cut short because income enemy fire.

  “I had to get off the phone because there was an incoming ballistic missile and we had to give to the nearest bunker,” Maher told The Post.

  He said one of his first calls after learning of his deployment was to state Sen. Mark Walczyk (R-Jefferson), an army reserve captain who was deployed for nine months in January 2024.
  “Our constituents appreciated the fact that I was getting back to them,” he told The Post. “Dven though I was where I was,” he added.

Of the 214 lawmakers included in the analysis, 61 had perfect attendance, according to the records.

They include lawmakers from across the state, including Long Island Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavone (D-Suffolk) and Southern Tier Assemblyman Joe Sempolinksi (R-Stueben).

Two Assembly members who faced — and ultimately lost — fierce primaries were amongst those with perfect attendance; Robert Smullen (R-Montgomery) and Jenifer Rajkumar (D-Queens).

Rajkumar told The Post she has no regrets of her priority to ensure she was in Albany for the duration of the session.

“Showing up is the job. You don’t take a day off from the people who elected you, not even to campaign, and not even when you lose,” Rajkumar said.