Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino has been touring New York’s North Country. During a brief stop in Plattsburgh Tuesday, he met with Chamber of Commerce and economic development officials.
Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino jumped into the race against incumbent Democrat Andrew Cuomo on March 5th. On Monday and Tuesday, the Republican challenger toured businesses in Watertown and at Fort Drum and followed the northern arc to Potsdam and North Bangor. He visited the local hospital in Malone, stopped by the state-run Olympic facilities in Lake Placid and attended a meet and greet at a brewery in Glens Falls. He stopped briefly in Plattsburgh to meet with officials from the regional Chamber of Commerce. While there he talked about his campaign, blasting the sitting executive’s economic policies and initiatives, saying New York is among the most taxed states. “We have the worst business climate out of any other state. The governor goes with gimmicks. This StartUp NY ad is doing nothing to create jobs. All it is meant for is a political campaign to boost his own poll numbers. Businesses are fleeing here for Texas and Florida and the Carolinas where they’ve changed the work rules. Where they’ve attacked the extraordinary regulatory process that we have here. New York State now is an obstacle to any business.”
Astorino adds that New York is the most corrupt state in the country. “What’s going on with the Democratic culture of corruption, in the Assembly especially, is despicable. And now it seems as if the tables are turning on the governor and they’re looking into what role he may have played in the Moreland Commission directly to interefere. And that in and of itself should be looked at.”
The legislature passed an on-time budget this year, and Cuomo has been visiting communities to highlight its provisions. Astorino scoffs at Cuomo touring the state touting the passage of what officials termed the “grand slam” budget in a celebration marking the fourth on-time budget in a row. “A victory lap simply because you did your job and got a budget done on time? Come on. It’s what in the budget that matters. And what we got was billions more in taxes, billions more in debt, billions more in spending.”
Franklin County Republican Committee Chair Ray Scollin says there are numerous regional issues he wanted to make Astorino aware of and is optimistic about Astorino’s campaign. Scollin joins Astorino’s criticism of Cuomo. “In our lifetimes I don’t think we’ve ever seen a state governor who has been more intrusive and intolerant of dissenting opinions. He’s been plagued by mismanagement. From the NY SAFE Act, Common Core and now the investigation around his recently defunct anti-corruption commission, I think New York State residents are saying enough. So a new guy like Rob Astorino coming in, Westchester County Executive, I think that he can overcome his name recognition pretty easily just because of the negative feelings toward our current leadership.”
SUNY Plattsburgh Professor of Political Science Tom Konda finds Astorino’s rhetoric typical for any challenger facing a strong incumbent. “High taxes, the economy, in some parts of the state - not up here so much but out in the western parts of the state - they’re losing population. He’s also hit some rhetoric about corruption. And they’re always germane to the people unless the economy is just booming. So whatever it is in the economy, that’s going to be the dominant issue up here. He’ll get a little mileage, and I think he’s already tried to do it, just out of making that claim that challengers often make that we just need a change. That’s always fairly mindless. It resonates with people to some degree.”
Astorino may have his work cut out for him to gather votes outside his party in the North Country. For example, the Clinton County Democratic Chair declined to discuss Cuomo’s rival, saying he is completely unfamiliar with the candidate.
