Astorino (R)

On the Issues

Endorsements

Lieutenant Governor Running Mate: Christopher Moss

Currently: Westchester County Executive (2010 - Present)

Previous Work: Station Manager at Sirius-XM Satellite Radio; Candidate for Westchester County Executive (2005); Member of Westchester Board of Legislators (2003 - 2005); Councilman on the Mount Pleasant Town Board, six years as deputy supervisor (1991 - 2003)

Education: BA, Fordham University

On the Issues

• Budget↓

  On the 2014 budget: "A state budget that raises spending by a nickel is a failed opportunity...New York is systematically dying because of over taxing and overspending, and, here again, we are adding to a taxpayer burden which is already the highest in the nation. ... I will use the budget process to identify savings to put back in the pockets of average New Yorkers, just like I did in Westchester...Until we strike a healthy balance between what we want and what we can afford, New York will continue to chase away jobs and remain on the losing path." Daily News

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  [item title="Economy↓"]

  Taxes:

  "Astorino froze or cut the county tax levy every year he has served, and he has reduced overall spending in the county by 5.2%, the most in real dollars of any county in New York State. [During his term as County Executive, Westchester received] the highest credit rating among counties in New York, and it has retained and attracted new businesses to the county, helping create 30,000 new private-sector jobs from 2010-2014."

  Stated that "New York State is the highest taxed, most regulated, least business friendly state in the America under Governor Cuomo," and that he plans to "revitalize New York's stagnant economy."

  Proposes to reform "New York's antiquated tax code and regulatory system, cut spending in real terms and reduce the cost of doing business in New York, ... attack high property taxes by providing real mandate relief to our local governments."

  "If we take our foot off their necks, reduce taxes in a meaningful way and be business friendly in this state as opposed to hostile to business, then we'll see the entrepreneurs set up shop here and have that next great idea happen in New York or just have companies decide to expand here. But it's not going to happen given the climate we have here and the taxes and the cost of living and the electrical rates. ... "Unless the state begins to reduce spending and live within its means and allow schools and local municipalities to really control their own costs, this will just continue to happen." The Citizen

  "I'll reduce or hold flat state spending in each of the next four years to begin to get state expenses and costs under control. I'll make the property tax cap permanent, eliminate the 18a tax assessment on utility ratepayers, and get rid of the estate tax." Press Release, September 19, 2014

  "We will cut income taxes across the board. I will direct my budget division and tax department on Day 1 to come up with a detailed plan for a flatter and fairer system that will have two brackets instead of eight and which will give New York one of the lowest tax rates in the Northeast, making New York much more competitive than it has been in over a generation. My inclination is for two rates - 4% for all income under $200,000 ($300,000 for married couples) and 6% for all marginal income above $200,000 ($300,000 for married couples). I also want to see New York's four-page tax form reduced to one single page. Taxes should be simple and transparent -- they should not be so complicated and convoluted that one has to hire an accountant or buy expensive software to figure out what they owe." Press Release, October 1, 2014

  Proposes to: "Cut the corporate franchise tax to 5.9% by 2019; Eliminate the estate tax by 2020; Make permanent the property tax cap; Eliminate the 18a tax assessment on utility bills... To help pay for these tax cuts we will pledge to reduce or hold flat state budget spending in each of the next four years, matching my record in Westchester. We'll eliminate most of the $1.7 billion in business tax credits starting with the $420 million New York Film Tax Credit." Press Release, October 1, 2014

  Industry:

  States that he "will rebuild our infrastructure and work with the private sector to form public-private partnerships, bringing manufacturing and high tech industries back to New York." 

  Favors natural gas exploration in New York State: "President (Barack) Obama absolutely favors natural gas exploration and is encouraging it. The Interior Department, the energy secretary have all said we should be exploring natural gas. Thirty states permit it, including many Democratic governors. There are those in the environmental community that feel very strongly that if there are proper regulations, as we should have, then we should do it. The economic boom that would be unleashed for the Southern Tier, Central New York and all of New York would be incredible. Literally tens of thousands of people would go back to work with all different skill sets. It could change families for generations. We could use all that billions of dollars in revenue that comes into the state and local municipalities to lower taxes or to help education. And it's clean for the environment and it would help lower our energy costs." The Citizen

  On tech startups: "We'll accelerate technology start-ups by modeling after what Silicon Valley does well - encouraging private capital; streamlining the tech-transfer process at state colleges and universities; passing a law that bans the enforceability of "non-compete agreements"; and supporting entrepreneurial networks... We have excellent colleges and universities and we need to retain that brainpower and empower them to start ventures in this city and in this state." Press Release, October 1, 2014

  On pension reform: "We'll reform the pension system by offering new public employees a voluntary pension choice between the current "defined benefit" plan and a "defined contribution" plan (like a 401K). SUNY has had such a choice since the 1960s and 71% of employees have chosen the 401K-style plan." Press Release, October 1, 2014

  On minimum wage: "Economically you can't have every area determine a different rate; we'd be cannibalizing each other. A $13 rate or a $15 rate in upstate New York will crush the economy up there which is already in a recession, and people will leave, and people will be fired. Unfortunately, they can't afford it... There's no set number in my mind—not like a $10.10, a $13, a $15—but I think we have to gradually raise it." WNYC 

  On tackling poverty by providing localized community support programs: "We need to redefine compassion in this country and as governor we'll redefine it in this state. We'll undertake an unprecedented effort to combat poverty but it will be guided by the goals of empowerment, self-reliance and opportunity - not by simply throwing more money into welfare programs... We will transform our public assistance programs, offer educational choice to the parents of children in failing schools, provide skills training and entrepreneurial assistance, and work with local Church and community leaders to help emphasize the critical, and often neglected, role of the father in the life of the child." Press Release, October 1, 2014

• Education↓

  Supports an "education tax credit." Vimeo  

  Believes that NYS needs "more charter schools ..., not fewer" and plans to "lift the cap on charter schools and provide students with opportunity to excel."

  Has criticized Cuomo for not supporting a tax credit proposal incentivizing donations to private school scholarship funds as well as public schools. Capital New York

  Proposes to "promote vocational schools and enhanced job training programs to help develop and strengthen New York's workforce."

  Has criticized Gov. Cuomo's and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio's emphasis on Pre-K, and believes that new funding should be allocated to the state's elementary schools instead. Observer 

  Common Core:

  Proposes to "replace [Common Core] with better standards, teaching and testing, all set and controlled at the local level."

  "I'm a product of public schools. I went to public schools, I was on the School Board, that was my public service, and my wife's a teacher, a special education teacher. So I believe very much in public education. Common Core is a disaster and has been since day one... When we do get out of it we're going to replace it with better standards... I'm concerned that it should not be the federal bureaucrats' decision on what happens in classrooms in New York State... Teachers are becoming automatons... There can be a more portfolio [based] approach... Vocational skills, I think should be back in the classroom." WNYC

  "We'll replace Common Core with better standards developed by New York education experts and with input from parents and teachers. The myth of Common Core is that the standards are high but many experts say they are not. The Mathematics and English Language Arts content experts on the Common Core validation committee refused to endorse the standards saying they were of poor quality. Dr. James Milgram and Dr. Sandra Stotsky HAVE endorsed my Education Plan... [I propose] to have direct elections for the Board of Regents; increase the availability of vocational training and STEM study in schools; better prepare a student to succeed in college, career and in life; and give students and parents more choices for school and for study." Press Release, October 1, 2014

• Election Reform↓

  Proposed a 10-point ethics plan, including the following:

  • "Term Limits - Limit statewide elected officials to two terms (8 years) and state legislators to four terms (8 years).
  • Prohibit Personal Use of Campaign Money - Establish clear guidelines to limit donations solely to election-related activities."

• Environment↓

  Hydraulic Fracturing:

  Favors natural gas exploration in New York State: "President (Barack) Obama absolutely favors natural gas exploration and is encouraging it. The Interior Department, the energy secretary have all said we should be exploring natural gas. Thirty states permit it, including many Democratic governors. There are those in the environmental community that feel very strongly that if there are proper regulations, as we should have, then we should do it. The economic boom that would be unleashed for the Southern Tier, Central New York and all of New York would be incredible. Literally tens of thousands of people would go back to work with all different skill sets. It could change families for generations. We could use all that billions of dollars in revenue that comes into the state and local municipalities to lower taxes or to help education. And it's clean for the environment and it would help lower our energy costs." The Citizen

  "I think that we need natural gas exploration in New York, specifically the Utica Shale and the Marcellus Shale [which] cover about two thirds of New York."  WNYC 

  "To rescue a large swath of Upstate New York we'll move forward with safe and clean natural gas exploration and extraction in the Southern Tier. President Obama supports hydrofracking. The EPA has said it's safe. We'll move forward with the proper environmental safeguards in place and join the 30 other states in harvesting this abundant energy resource beneath the ground." Press Release, October 1, 2014

  As Westchester Executive, Astorino:

  • "helped amend the County Charter to require the purchase of high-mileage, hybrid and alternative-fuel vehicles."
  • "collaborated with local partners to realize important gains in making Westchester County's Hudson River waterfront."
  • "proposed over $25 million of capital investments in each of the last two years for county parks."  
  • "the Materials Recovery Facility in Yonkers has expanded recycling to include #3-7 plastics [during his term]."
  • advocated "for solar energy usage, through providing tax exemptions to homeowners who retrofit their homes with solar panels." 

• Government Accountability↓

  Stated: "New York is the most corrupt state in the country under Andrew Cuomo."

  Stated: "The corruption by government officials in New York has reached a staggering level of embarrassment. The culture of corruption does not just affect the perpetrators, but average New Yorkers end up paying a stealth corruption tax as a result of these insider deals." Politics on the Hudson

  Plans to "demand the resignation of Sheldon Silver as Assembly Speaker. Mr. Silver used hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to silence victims of sexual abuse in Albany in order to protect his political cronies. What did Governor Cuomo do? He protected Silver from being criminally investigated."

  Proposed a 10-point ethics plan, which includes:

  • "Term Limits - Limit statewide elected officials to two terms (8 years) and state legislators to four terms (8 years).
  • Limit Legislative Session - Convene regular session the first week in January and end on April 1, when the budget is due; Special session throughout the year can be called by a petition request from two-thirds vote of both legislative houses or by the Governor as defined in the State Constitution.
  • Independent State Commission on Public Ethics (I-SCOPE) to replace J-COPE. Five members appointed by judiciary with independent budget to receive and investigate complaints of official misconduct, including sexual harassment and assault.
  • Strengthen FOIL - Require proactive online posting of records and information required for release under FOIL requests; Information would be posted on single statewide database managed by State Comptroller.
  • Defined Contribution Plan for Newly Elected - Require all newly elected officials to join SUNY's Defined Contribution Plan instead of the existing pension system.
  • Pension Strip - Loss of taxpayer-funded pension for any elected official convicted of public corruption.
  • Prohibit Personal Use of Campaign Money - Establish clear guidelines to limit donations solely to election-related activities.
  • Ban Conflict of Interest Member Items - No "member items" to any non-profit or business affiliated with a state elected official or an immediate family member.
  • Replace Per-Diem System and require receipts for travel, lodge and food.
  • End Taxpayer-funded Vanity - Prohibit any building, facility or capital project that was paid for with taxpayer money to be named for any current elected official." Lohud 

  Called for more rigorous investigation of the Andrew Cuomo's involvement in the Moreland Commission, including the appointment of a special prosecutor by the Attorney General: "This is beyond outrageous. Obviously, it's criminal... Every step of the way [the Commission] took orders from Andrew Cuomo... In a way, what Eliot Spitzer did was nothing compared to this." NY State of Politics 

  On regulations: "I'll sign an executive order on first day instituting a moratorium on any new regulation and a thorough review of the 750,000 regulations currently on the books. I'll also adopt the 2,219 regulatory reforms proposed last January by a bipartisan Senate panel. That includes repealing the Scaffold Law, reforming Workers Comp and the State Environmental Quality Review Act and eliminating incorporation fees for new small businesses." Press Release, September 19, 2014

  Astorino has called for more rigorous investigation of the Andrew Cuomo's involvement in the Moreland Commission, including the appointment of a special prosecutor by the Attorney General: "This is beyond outrageous. Obviously, it's criminal... Every step of the way [the Commission] took orders from Andrew Cuomo... In a way, what Eliot Spitzer did was nothing compared to this." (http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2014/07/astorino-calls-for-special-prosecutor-in-moreland-case/)

  "Speaking of cracking down... Chris and I will crack down on Albany corruption. We'll increase transparency and accountability and demand term limits for all state lawmakers and a loss of taxpayer-funded pension for any public official convicted of felony corruption. Let me say that again: I will deliver term limits for all state officials through a 2017 constitutional convention ballot issue. We'll also create a truly Independent State Commission on Public Ethics (I-SCOPE). Five members appointed by the judiciary with an independent budget to receive and investigate complaints of official misconduct, including sexual harassment and assault." Press Release, October 1, 2014

• Infrastructure↓

  Proposes to "rebuild our infrastructure and work with the private sector to form public-private partnerships, bringing manufacturing and high tech industries back to New York."

• Policing and Criminal Justice↓

  On the NYSAFE Act: "I would. I would absolutely move to repeal the law because it's a law that will not do anything to make us safer... If you really want to make our communities safer, then we should be treating violence as a disease. We should be really scrutinizing and
  strengthening the mental health system... Demonizing law-abiding citizens is not the answer to gun violence." The Citizen

For Gotham Gazette's exploration of his work in elected office, see The Astorino Record.

Endorsements

Organizations: Republican Party of New York State; Conservative Party of New York

Individuals: Former Massachusetts Governor Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney; Former Rep. Rick Lazio; Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (D-9); Former Governor George Pataki; Councilman Eric Ulrich (D-32); Carl Paladino; Texas Governor Rick Perry; Salsa Dancer, Willie Colon

Lieutenant Governor Running Mate

Hawkins (G)

On the Issues

Endorsements

Lieutenant Governor Running Mate: Brian Jones

Currently: Political activist; Secretary of the Board, Eat to Live Food Cooperative

Previous Work: Co-founder of the US Green Party; Co-founder of the Clamshell Alliance; Candidate for Governor (2010); Candidate for Congress (NY-25) (2008); Candidate for US Senate (2006); UPS employee

Education: Dartmouth College

On the Issues

• Economy↓

  Hawkins proposes the following wage reforms:

  Proposes:

  • "A state $15/hour minimum wage, indexed to productivity.
  • Home rule for municipalities to set a higher than state level minimum wage.
  • Includ[ing] tipped workers in the minimum wage increase.
  • Enforc[ing] minimum wage and labor laws.
  • Increas[ing] funding and staffing for the Department of Labor in order to rapidly resolve the 14,000 case backlog of years old complaints about unpaid wages.
  • End[ing] wage theft, which amounts to $1 billion a year in New York City alone."

  Proposes establishing a state-owned bank: "Create a state-owned bank to finance public projects and private businesses at lower cost than private banking. Between 35% and 40% of the cost of public projects is interest on borrowing. When the state owns the bank, it gets this interest back, which it can use finance more projects at less cost than borrowing from private investors. The state bank would be capitalized by the deposits of state tax revenues, a portion of state pension funds, and private individuals, businesses, and pension funds that want to invest in the future of New York. This capital would then be invested in productive ventures in New York State that benefit the people."

  "State policy should support the development of unionized worker- and consumer-owned cooperatives in place of corporate welfare giveaways to investor-owned businesses. Cooperatives distribute the net income ("profit") created by the co-ops' members in proportion to each members contribution. For worker co-ops the contribution is labor. For consumer co-ops the contribution is purchases. Co-ops therefore create a just and fair distribution of the net income of the business in contrast to investor-owned businesses where the investors capture all the profits.

  The state bank should have a technical assistance arm to provide business planning, technical assistance, and mentoring for the development worker and consumer cooperatives.

  The state should partner with labor unions in creating unionized co-ops that combine worker or consumer ownership with collective bargaining in a way makes the workplace more participatory and accountable to workers and protects the needs of workers as both owners and workers of the co-op.

  Cooperatives are how we can own our own jobs because they locally owned, democratically controlled, and have no incentives to move jobs
  and capital out of state."

• Education↓

  Proposes to:

  • "Eliminate the Gap Elimination Adjustment and the state-mandated local tax cap."
  • Provide "100% Foundation Aid for public schools."
  • Provide "fully funded, full day, and developmentally appropriate Universal Pre-K and Kindergarten with certified and unionized educators."
  • "Opt out of high-stakes testing for students, teachers, and schools."
  • "Opt out of Common Core and Race To The Top."
  • "Opt into common standards, curricula, and diagnostic tests written by professional teachers in the schools, not by outside corporate contractors."
  • "Opt into teacher and school evaluation based on collaboration."
  • Support "state legislation to reduce class sizes and case loads."
  • Provide "free tuition at CUNY, SUNY, and Community Colleges."

  "We're saying opt-out of high-stakes testing, which is the road to privitization, it's designed to fail schools and turn them into private charters. We say opt out of Common Core, let our teachers--not some corporate contractors--write the test." Youtube 

   

• Election Reform↓

  Hawkins voluntarily capped his individual donations at $2,600 to match the permissible maximums in federal elections. He also does not accept contributions from for-profit corporations and businesses. NY State of Politics

  Proposes "ending the loss of voting rights for felons and parolees. Denying voting rights is not much of a punishment. Encouraging felons to participate in civic affairs can be part of rehabilitation and reintegration into society after serving time." 

   

• Environment↓

  "We want to commit to one hundred percent clean energy by 2030." Youtube

  "The Green New Deal starts with the Economic Bill of Rights that Roosevelt called for in 1944 in his State of the Union Address asking that Congress enact legislation so that everyone... who's willing and able to work could have a job, living wages, good education, affordable housing, healthcare. Now, the Green New Deal part is that we've got to deal with the climate crisis and ecological crisis and affordable energy... The state energy draft plan is too little too late. They call for eighty by fifty—eighty percent reduction below 1990 levels of carbon emissions by 2050. The climate science says that's too little too late." WCNY

  "We need a smart grid, so... every home, every business, every office, can be a power plant with solar rooftops, wind generators. You build out that infrastructure with a smart grid so you can sell your surplus and buy when you need it. You get distributed generation... It's sunshine. The sun shines, the wind blows, the waves lap at our shores—that is basically free energy once you set up the system to capture it. That reduces energy costs... Building out that clean energy system with commercially available technology, in fifteen years, it's a $600 mil investment, and would create 4.5 million jobs." WCNY

  "We want clean energy from the abundant energies of the sun, wind, and water - energy that is so widely distributed that every home and business can capture, use, store, and share it. We want a future without the coal, oil, and gas burning that is heating up our only planet." 

  Proposes to "build in 15 years a full clean energy system based on distributed renewable energy production, hydrogen fuel cell energy storage, electrified transportation, solar-based heating and cooling, and an interactive smart grid."

  Proposes to ban all new Fossil Fuel Infrastructure. "No new gas pipelines. No Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) export facilities. No railway tank cars, tank trucks, or liquid cargo barges carrying Bakken fracked shale oil or Alberta tar sands bitumen through New York State."

  Proposes to shut down Indian Point entirely, combined with "a rapid phase out [of] all New York nuclear power plants."

  "It is time to democratize the utilities and fossil-fuel industries under public ownership and democratic control. The road to solar power is public power. We need a public energy system to realize the goal of 100% clean energy by 2030."

• Health↓

  Proposes "a publicly-funded, single-payer health care program for all New Yorkers," in which all medically necessary services [are] covered," without co-pays or deductibles.

• Housing↓

  Proposes the following:

  • "Repeal the Urstadt Law.
  • Statewide income-based tax credits for renters.
  • Statewide income-based property tax circuit breaker for homeowners.
  • Provide rent stabilization coverage for all Mitchell-Lama and project-based Section 8 buildings that have left government supervision.
  • Moratorium on home foreclosure.
  • Require refinancing of mortgages at homes' current market values.
  • State funding for underfunded public housing authorities.
  • Build new high-quality, mixed-income public housing."

   

  "We need to make housing affordable for all New Yorkers, not just the rich, the landlords and the gentrifiers. In addition to a rent freeze, we need all levels of government to take action to ensure affordable housing, including expanding rent subsidies and building and improving public housing. Families should not have to pay more than 30% of their income for housing." 

• Labor↓

  Proposed numerous initiatives as part of his "Green New Deal," including:

  • Public jobs for the unemployed in public works and public services to meet community-defined needs;
  • A state-funded and locally-planned full employment program;
  • A state $15/hour minimum wage, indexed to productivity;
  • Home rule for municipalities to set a higher than state level minimum wage;
  • Including tipped workers in the minimum wage increase;
  • Enforcing minimum wage and labor laws;
  • Increasing funding and staffing for the Department of Labor in order to rapidly resolve the 14,000 case backlog of years old complaints about unpaid wages;
  • Ending wage theft, which amounts to $1 billion a year in New York City alone.
  • A living income above poverty for all who cannot or should not work.

• Policing and Criminal Justice↓

  "The Governor should appoint a Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission charged with examining and addressing the impact of the War on Drugs and Mass Incarceration in New York State, including the devastating and lingering impact on people and communities of color. The Commission would assess the impact, hear from the people affected, and recommend policies to end mass incarceration and repair its damages."

  "New York State should raise the age of adult criminal responsibility to 18. New York and North Carolina are the last two states that automatically send children who turn 16 into the adult criminal justice system. More than 30,000 youth were treated as adults in New York's criminal justice system in 2013. More than 600 children from 13 to 15 years old were also sent into the adult criminal justice system for certain offenses last year. Children's brains, characters, and personalities are still developing. They should be sent into the juvenile justice system for offenses. Children incarcerated in adult facilities are more likely to suffer physical and emotional abuse. Children prosecuted as adults to return to prison at higher rates than those prosecuted in juvenile courts. Treating children as adults in the criminal justice system undermines the goal of rehabilitating youth and protecting public safety."

  Proposes to "opt into affirmative action to reduce school segregation by race and class, such as regional inter-district transfer programs."

• Recreation and Culture↓

  When asked what sort of ball he would throw if elected: "I would throw a Jubilee Ball to celebrate canceling the debt of students and predatory mortgages. People could bring their loan papers to shred into confetti and write their balloon payments on actual balloons. We'll end prohibition of cannabis, so people can celebrate as they see fit. It'd be a zero waste event. No water bottles. Hydration station water fountains, composting. Food served would be sourced from within 300 miles of the Jubilee Ball. Beer would be served in the Ommegang Brewery Beer Garden. The performers we would invite would include Arcade Fire, Immortal Technique, Chuck D, Ozomatli, Rebel Diaz, Erykah Badu, Kathleen Hannah and the Julie Ruin, Ani DiFranco, Las Cafeteras, Eddie Vedder, Nirvana with Krist Novoselic and Joan Jett, Natalie Merchant, Tom Morello, Rubblebucket Orchestra, Thunderbody, Sophistafunk, Taina Asili y la Banda Rebelde, Pussy Riot, and the Rude Mechanical Orchestra."  Noisey

• Transportation↓

  Proposes to "build an electrified rail and vehicle transportation system that includes convenient and affordable intra-urban mass transit, inter-urban rail for intermediate distances, and high-speed rail for long distances."

  Proposes to "fully fund the MTA capital program to maintain the good repair of the New York City region's mass transit system." 

Endorsements

Organizations: Green Party of New York State; New Progressive Alliance; New York Badass Teacher's Association; United Opt Out; International Socialist Organization; Socialist Alternative; Solidarity

Individuals: CUNY Graduate Center Professor Stanely Aronowitz; Co-Director, Campaign for Peace and Democracy Joanne Landy; Political Activist Ralph Nader

Lieutenant Governor Running Mate

McDermott (L)

On the Issues

Endorsements

Lieutenant Governor Running Mate: Christopher Edes

Currently:

Previous Work: Candidate for Congress (NY-3) (2012); Real estate broker and developer (2001-2008); President of the Hauppauge School Board (1987-1989)

Education:

On the Issues

• Economy↓

  "As I look around at the places I visit on my quest to become Governor of New York State, I see firsthand the damage, heartache & suffering that has come from our states faltering economy. Things are bad all over–all of us are feeling it, and it's time for someone to stand up and make a change. It's time for US to make a change.

  No matter how many times I hear about the economic 'recovery', all I see is a cover-up. There is no recovery and we all know it.
  When I left New York some years ago, I left as a successful real estate broker who saw a thriving economy in his rear view mirror. I never thought that when I returned, it would be a painful shell of what it formerly was. Though the banking scandals and real estate bubble of only a few years ago may have caused this mess to happen, people aren't able to get back into their homes nor back into business because of some very simple and clear to point out problems...and the first one is over regulation.

  Government, once again sticking its hand into what it does not understand, has caused a situation in New York (and especially on Long Island) a situation so odious that no one can get anywhere in the matters of business. Government has yet to understand that by only freeing the producers of this nation from regulations can they go on to live their dreams and make the products that benefit us all. Imagine if Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos had to deal with the regulations we have here, now, when they created Apple Computers & Amazon.com respectively. Could they even have created these two empires (as some would call them) that have come to benefit the people by untold millions? I have to wonder.
  Until government gets out of the way, our States prosperity will never return, and nor will the countless number of young people who have been leaving our state in what many have called (rightfully) an exodus in the hopes of looking for the jobs and futures that this great state
  once had. I think it can have it again and I know we can do it together."

• Education↓

  Opposes Common Core and pledged to end it:

  "Common Core is one of the most important and personal issues in my opinion. Not only because of the enormity of the backlash towards it that has come from countless parents across New York, but because I am one of those parents opposed to it. My daughter Gracie, my youngest, is forced to deal with this debacle of overreach and I have come to see it at the proverbial straw that has broken the camel's back. Do what you want to me, but stay away from my daughter--stay away from our children!

  The system we had before wasn't the best, but at least parents could help their children with it. This nightmare even removes us from this equation as the 'problems' that Common Core puts before our children are so convoluted and (quite frankly) bizarre that we can't help our children with them. Only the schools, the teachers–the State–are able to help our children out, setting into motion the further degradation of the bonds between us and our children, an outcome that I cannot help but believe was part of the reason behind the creation of Common Core in the first place.

  Our children are our most important gift and once again government and big corporations have found a way to further drive us away from each other. I cannot help but think of these words from John D. Rockefeller: 'I do not want a nation of thinkers, I want a nation of workers.'
  Can Common Core give our children any future but this one? I think not, and neither do you, which is why I pledge to put a stop for it once and for all."

• Health↓

  Opposes the Affordable Health Care Act mandate:

  "Obamacare quite roundly epitomizes one of the major realities of our entire nation that I stand against: corporatism, the control of our nation by unaccountable corporations who use the power of government to make us buy their (often defective) products. As Glenn Greenwald wrote for The Gaurdian (in an extraordinary article you all must read): "'Whatever one's views on Obamacare were and are: the bill's mandate that everyone purchase the products of the private health insurance industry, unaccompanied by any public alternative, was a huge gift to that
  industry...'

  And a gift it was. Our nation once had the best healthcare system in the world. Kings, Queens & the wealthiest of the world once came to our shores for their major healthcare needs, but decades of government bureaucracy, the corporate revolving door & favors/kickbacks to the medical industry (Medicare Part D, anybody?) have turned our healthcare industry into a shell of its former self, and this mandate has without a doubt sounded the death nail for it if we do not some way work together to get rid of it.

  Fortunately, people across the nation, Democrat & Republican alike, have realized what a boondoggle this legislation is and the time is right to simply get rid of it. Not 'fix' it or 'modify' it, but simply throw it out into the trash and get things back to what they were before the cronyism started destroying our means for protecting our people's health.

  As governor I will end New York's participation in this disaster and look to the free market to offer the best solution–as it always has (until governments decide to stick their hands into things). As bad as things look now we can get out of it."
  

• Policing and Criminal Justice↓

  Stated that the NYSAFE Act must be repealed:

  "The rage over The SAFE ACT isn't about guns, it's about rights! What if it was the 1st Amendment being trampled on or the 4th in such an egregious way.  Many of you reading this may not like guns but you cannot be for penalizing honest Americans for a crime they did not commit! We live in an age of violence–yes, but has going after the law-abiding ever made things better? I think not, and if you think hard enough, you'll realize that this is true.

  The SAFE ACT must be repealed and thrown into the trash bin of history with a myriad of other ill-conceived 'measures' to 'keep us safe' from that which is supposedly lurking in the dark." 

  Has promised to "propose, promote, and sign legislation to remove all red light cameras in New York State." 

Endorsements

Organizations: 

Individuals: 

Lieutenant Governor Running Mate

Cohn (Sapient)

Currently:

Previous Work:

Education: 

On the Issues

• *Research Ongoing↓

  *Research ongoing

Endorsements

Organizations: 

Individuals: 

Lieutenant Governor Running Mate