What Gov. Kathy Hochul’s public schedules tell us about Linda Sun

Looking to downplay her connection to her recently indicted former aide, Gov. Kathy Hochul told reporters this week that former Deputy Chief of Staff Linda Sun was a “mid-level aide hired by my predecessor” who “did not have contact with me very often other than standing outside in a parade or so.” But a review of the governor’s past schedules in 2021 and 2022, when Sun worked for Hochul, show that while Sun may not have been part of Hochul’s inner circle, she interacted with the governor much more often than the occasional parade. Sun was indicted this week by federal prosecutors from the Eastern District of New York and is accused of acting as a foreign agent for the Chinese government and attempting to shape state messaging in favor of Chinese government interests in exchange for kickbacks worth millions.

Just one month after becoming governor in 2021, Hochul had a call with Chinese Consul General Huang Ping. Sun was the only staff member listed as participating on that call. This week, Hochul called for the U.S. State Department to expel Ping over the Sun’s indictment. According to reports, Ping featured prominently in the unsealed indictment as the unnamed PRC Official-1. Although Hochul is not named directly either, available evidence suggests that she is Politician-2 in the indictment. Two months after her call with Ping, Hochul had a virtual meeting with Chinese Ambassador Qin Gang in November. Sun was again the only gubernatorial staff member listed as participating in the meeting. 

The call and meeting with Ping and Gang were virtually the only private communications Hochul had with foreign dignitaries until March 2022, according to a review of her detailed public schedules. The only other instance came when Hochul had met privately with then-Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in September of 2021, a meeting Sun also joined on the same day as the call with Ping. It was immediately followed by a public press briefing with the Irish official. Martin was in New York for United Nations Week and the start of the UN General Assembly. Neither meeting with the Chinese officials was referenced in the unsealed federal indictment against Sun and her husband. 

Sam Spokony, a spokesperson for the governor, did not offer any additional details about the meetings with Ping and Gang. He also downplayed the significance of Sun’s meetings with Hochul, which were often attended by many other staffers of varying degrees of seniority. “In any given week, Governor Hochul convenes multiple meetings attended by dozens of Executive Chamber staff members,” Spokony said in a statement. “The Governor also meets regularly with foreign leaders and dignitaries, including visiting the Israeli Consulate just yesterday, hosting a State Visit in Albany for the King and Queen of the Netherlands, and welcoming Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to New York City in 2021.” Hochul participated in a private tour of One World Observatory with the British royals and then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio when they visited the city in September that year, before jointly addressing the press. According to Hochul’s schedule, she did not separately meet privately with the royals. 

Spokony reiterated Hochul’s anger over the allegations against Sun, which she has expressed multiple times since the indictment. “The Governor was shocked and outraged by the details unveiled in the DOJ’s indictment, and our Administration has been assisting law enforcement as they prepare their case,” Spokony said.

Hochul had hired Sun back into the executive chamber as a deputy chief of staff in September of 2021, soon after she ascended to the position of governor following the resignation of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. At the time, Sun was working in the state Department of Financial Services following her time working under Cuomo. 

When Hochul announced Sun’s hiring, she listed her between then-Chief of Staff Jeff Lewis, whose service to Hochul dates back to her time as Erie County Clerk, and fellow Deputy Chief of Staff Melissa Bochenski, who still serves in the role and is one of Hochul’s closest and longest serving advisers. The governor touted Sun as “the highest appointed Asian American in the administration.”

According to her schedules, Hochul met with or called her inner circle of aides regularly. That included Lewis, Bochenski, Secretary Karen Persichilli Keogh, then-Press Secretary Hazel Crampton-Hays and Director of State Operations Kathryn Garcia. The governor did not have nearly as much contact with Sun, but certainly more than Hochul suggested to reporters this week. Their communication peaked in November 2021, when Sun participated in six meetings or calls with the governor, including the virtual meeting with the Chinese ambassador. 

Public schedules also may not paint the full picture of Sun’s involvement in state government, or her relationships within the governor’s office. “Linda was well known to everyone in the chamber, including leadership,” said one former state official who requested anonymity to speak candidly about a sensitive topic. Hochul herself told reporters that she often interacted with Sun as lieutenant governor under Cuomo, which the indictment appeared to support.

To Hochul’s point about parades, there is evidence that Sun attended at least one parade with the governor in February 2022. According to a detailed schedule for the month, Sun accompanied Hochul to a flower laying event for Christina Yuna Lee, a Chinatown resident murdered days earlier. The governor then went to participate in the nearby Chinatown Lunar New Year parade. While the schedule didn’t list staff, a photo taken at the parade shows Sun walking behind the governor.

Shortly before going to the flower laying event, Sun participated in a meeting with the governor, Crampton-Hayes and Marcos Soler, Hochul’s deputy secretary for public safety. It was the first indication in the public schedules that Hochul seemed to involve Sun in discussions around anti-Asian hate crimes, a topic of major concern at the time. The next month, on March 17th, Hochul had a meeting with Sun, Soler, Asian Affairs Director Elaine Fan, Deputy Secretary for Human Services and Mental Hygiene Jihoon Kim and Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs Veronica Ng. Immediately after that meeting, each staff member participated in a larger anti-hate crime roundtable focused on anti-Asian hate, an event Hochul’s office publicized afterwards. Sun was sitting directly next to the governor during the meeting.

Sun attended another meeting with Soler on April 13, 2022, which took place shortly before Hochul attended an anti-hate crime rally at Queens College. Jake Adler, the governor’s director of Jewish affairs, also attended the private meeting before the rally, where Hochul announced grant allocations to combat hate crimes and funding commitments from the recent budget. Combating anti-Asian and anti-Jewish hate was a key focus of her remarks and the rally. Hochul’s schedule does not list staff in attendance at that event.

Hochul apparently communicated with Sun for the final time in May of 2022, when she participated in a call with Sun, Ng and Fan right before hosting an AAPI Heritage Month reception at the governor’s mansion. Hochul’s schedules show no interaction with Sun in the months following. Sun went to work for the state Department of Labor in September 2022, and Hochul’s office said Sun was fired from that position in March 2023 after evidence of misconduct came to light.