County executive candidates go on offense

Noam Bramson, the Democrat running for Westchester County executive, compared his opponent to Newt Gingrich and called him “the Tea Party with a smile.”

Republican Robert P. Astorino, the incumbent, said that as New Rochelle”™s mayor, Bramson had continually raised taxes and inflicted more pain on the people of the city than anyone in history.

Bramson said though there have been improvements to the fiscal and business health of Westchester since Astorino was elected in 2009, it was in spite of and not because of the county executive”™s leadership.

“Of course things are better now because the economy has broadly recovered,” Bramson said. “But claiming credit for that is like claiming credit for sunlight or the sunrise.”

Astorino responded to accusations that his views were extreme by shooting back, “The only thing extreme are your tax increases.”

With the Nov. 5 election only weeks away, neither Astorino nor Bramson played much defense at their debate Oct. 16 in White Plains hosted by the Westchester County Association. Instead the two pounded one another over their records, with Astorino portraying Bramson as a tax-and-spender and Bramson painting Astorino as a social conservative who has unsparingly cut social programs in the county.

Astorino said he has reined in spending and made the county a destination for businesses. The tax levy has been reduced by $172 million, or 2 percent overall, in the four years since he was elected. Westchester was one of only four counties in the state that had reduced taxes in the last four years, Astorino said.

But Bramson said that takes into consideration only the county portion of a total property tax bill, which is made up mostly of public school and municipal taxes. Bramson said Astorino has failed to take a regional approach that would share services and reduce the entire tax bill, rather than just the county portion.

“There”™s so much low-hanging fruit, but it”™s not happening right now,” Bramson said. Westchester taxes have been kept down through cuts to child care subsidies and borrowing to pay county employee pensions, he said.

Astorino lashed out at Bramson”™s record on economic development, citing projects like the New Rochelle Avalon development that have not yet achieved the widespread revitalizing effect that was hoped for for the city”™s downtown. He said taxpayers were subsidizing the construction through tax abatements to the developers and an influx of new students to the New Rochelle public schools.

The county executive compared the city to other municipalities such as Port Chester and White Plains, which have experienced business district “renaissances,” he said. “Now look at New Rochelle, New Rochelle is nowhere near where it could be, there are dollar stores, there are empty stores, there are vacant stores,” Astorino said. “That”™s not development, development is a good, comprehensive way.”

The challenger criticized Astorino for feuding with the federal government over the terms of a lawsuit settlement in which Westchester is building 750 units of affordable housing in some of its richest ”“ and statistically whitest ”“ communities. The federal government is withholding nearly $20 million in grants from the county due to what it believes is lack of compliance to the terms by Westchester.

“The problem isn”™t that you”™re fighting, the problem is that you”™re losing and every single one of us is paying the price for that failure,” Bramson said. Astorino said he was defending Westchester communities”™ home rule from a federal over-reach that exceeded the terms of the settlement, which was signed by Astorino”™s predecessor Andy Spano.

Astorino called his opponent a part-time, ceremonial mayor and took issue that he receives lifetime health benefits and had a pay raise resulting in $89,000 in annual salary.

Bramson defended his work ethic and said he voluntarily contributed 18 percent to his health care costs.

Astorino countered that taking a pay raise exhibited poor leadership during a financial crisis and budget crunch in the city that has led to a reduction in fire department and other city staff.

“You”™re lucky you keep your job,” Astorino said. “That”™s not the example to set.”

Bramson responded that there had been a lack of vision and leadership on the county level. “I”™m wondering if you show up to work at all,” he said

The election for county executive has no clear frontrunner, although Bramson has the inside track in terms of voter registration, with registered Democrats outnumbering registered Republicans by more than 100,000 voters in the county. But Astorino has the advantage of incumbency and has raised roughly $1 million more than his opponent over the course of the campaign which is expected to far exceed 2009”™s nearly $4 million race as the most expensive election in Westchester history.