The Island Now - Astorino Touts Record in Uphill Fight

News Article

By Bill San Antonio

When Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino was first elected Westchester County Executive in 2009, he gathered his group of advisors and went through the county's budget with them line by line, seeking to trim the fat wherever they could.

"I called them into my office and said, "I want you all to know that I'd rather jump out this window than have to raise taxes, so that'd better permeate with everything you do," Astorino, 47, said in an interview with Blank Slate Media on Friday.

"That was our line," he said. "We started from a place that said, we were not going to raise taxes."

Astorino said he would like to apply the same technique - which he said helped erase a $166 million budget deficit in Westchester - to the state budget if he unseats Democratic incumbent Andrew Cuomo in November.

But he also understands that Albany is a different animal than Westchester, and defeating a politician with the last name Cuomo will not be an easy task.

A Siena Research Institute poll released last week of 1,000 likely voters revealed Cuomo held a 29-point lead over Astorino, and various reports in the early months of the race said downstate voters were unfamiliar with the Republican challenger and his record in office.

"We went through this same thing in 2009, that it would be impossible to beat [former Westchester County Executive Andy] Spano, and then we got outspent 5-1 in the campaign and still won by 15 points on Election Day," Astorino said.

"It's a very different world than what people say over the telephone," he added, "and I'll tell you, when I go all over Long Island, people are not too thrilled with Andrew Cuomo."

To introduce himself to the greater New York community, Astorino proceeded to meet voters in all 62 counties in the state -- which his campaign announced was accomplished on Sept. 22 -- and has been vocal in criticism of Cuomo's abrupt shutdown of a state anti-corruption panel known as the Moreland Commission, which is now under investigation by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's office.

He also lent his support of Fordham University law professor Zephyr Teachout, Cuomo's challenger in September's Democratic gubernatorial primary, and her running mate for lieutenant governor, Tim Woo.

Last week, Astorino also questioned the sincerity of recent security meetings between Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, saying Friday that "it looked political" in light of Bharara's investigation and Cuomo's bid for re-election.

It was not the first time Astorino and Christie, the chairman of the Republican Governor's Association, have been at odds.

In July, Christie said he had no intentions of campaigning on Astorino's behalf, telling reporters, "We don't pay for landslides and we don't invest in lost causes."

"Now, everything [Cuomo] does is in the prism of politics," Astorino told Blank Slate Media.

After being criticized for ignoring past challenge to televised debates with Astorino, Cuomo on Saturday agreed to two debates in mid October -- one downstate that would be broadcast only on radio and another in Buffalo that would also include Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins and Libertarian Michael McDermott.

But Astorino campaign spokeswoman Jessica Proud said in a statement on Sunday that there have been no negotiations between the two campaigns about any debates in advance of the election.

"It's clear Governor Cuomo is terrified to go one-on-one with County Executive Astorino on television," Proud said. "Is it because he doesn't want people to see his face when he's asked about his role in the Moreland corruption scandal? The people of New York deserve better."

Astorino said Friday that corruption -- from violations of campaign finance laws to sexual assault allegations -- "is coloring almost every aspect of Albany," particularly Cuomo, who he said "promised all these things and now is swimming in a cesspool of corruption."

His platform for ethics reform includes setting an eight-year cap on legislator terms and stripping elected officials of their pensions if they are convicted of a crime while in office.

But, Astorino said, a reduction in campaign contribution limits would not remove rampant spending and corporate interests from New York politics.

Instead, he said, he would require more candidates to file campaign finance reports more frequently to increase transparency.

"Money, like water, is going to find its way," Astorino said. "Money is always going to be part of politics, but that doesn't mean changing contribution limits is the only solution."

Astorino said he would reform the state Medicaid program by cracking down on those who defraud the system and would seek to give counties the right to set their own requirements for eligibility. Both moves, he said, would help reduce the cost of the program to state taxpayers.

He also said he would remove "archaic" regulations that drive up costs, like New York's Scaffold law, which makes an employer liable for any injury an employee sustains while at work. He also said he would revise the state code, citing the elimination of the Estate tax as one of his top goals.

Though Astorino said he would retain legislation protecting same-sex marriage and abortion rights despite holding personal beliefs against the practices, he said he would work to repeal firearm restrictions under the SAFE Act, which he called unconstitutional.

"We're not thinking about the problem the right way," he said. "We put all these laws in and really the only ones who don't follow the law are criminals."

In wake of the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., Astorino said he gathered Westchester's mental health professionals, school administrators and, law enforcement officials and non-profit leaders to determine ways to make school buildings safer and provide mental health care to those who needed it.

Astorino also called the implementation of the Common Core educational initiatives an "unmitigated disaster" and a "money grab" by the state to receive federal funding through the Race to the Top program.

He said he would replace it with a program developed by state educators known as the "Lost Standards," similar to the state's previous education program, which was in development and later abandoned for the Common Core.

"New York needs to get out of Common Core," Astorino said. "This isn't the road we should be taking."

Source