Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino will seek the Republican nomination for governor, facing off against one-term incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Astorino announced his candidacy Wednesday in a 6.5-minute video posted on his website, robastorino.com.[youtube]http://youtu.be/76iJ5L6GfRc[/youtube]
“I”™m Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino and I”™m announcing my candidacy today for governor of New York state because I”™m tired of listening to the fairy tale that everything is just great when it”™s just the opposite,” he said. “I”™m tired of watching New York”™s decline.”
Astorino said as governor, he would combat an exodus of businesses and residents out of the state who are fleeing due to what he called the “crazy cost of living and killer property taxes.”
“Living in New York shouldn”™t sound like a prison sentence but that”™s too often what you hear today,” he said. “”™Three more years and I”™m out of here.”™ ”˜Once the kids finish high school we”™re headed south.”™”
Astorino criticized the governor for a lack of a position on hydraulic fracturing, a method of using pressured liquid to break rocks and mine natural gas. Astorino said that he was in favor of allowing the method, commonly known as “fracking,” which supporters say can economically revitalize upstate regions but continues to be opposed by many residents and environmental groups who fear it poses risks such as groundwater pollution. He also criticized a proposal by Cuomo to offer college education courses to those serving jail sentences.
In the video, Astorino said if elected he would replace the state”™s controversial Common Core educational curriculum which he called a “disaster.” The candidate said he stood with the parents of charter school parents just one day after New York City parents rallied in Albany over city cuts that hindered charter school growth and operation in the five boroughs.
“I”™ll have your back,” Astorino said. “We need more charter schools in New York not fewer.”
Astorino is so far the only Republican candidate to officially announce his candidacy, although reality TV tycoon Donald Trump and Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino continue to express interest in running.
Astorino has been expected to announce his candidacy for several months. He was considered a front-runner after handily winning re-election last year as a Republican in Westchester, where Democrats have a nearly two-to-one registration advantage.
Robert Astorino will fit snugly in the chute as he descends with those inevitable clowns, Trump and Paladino who are now edging towards the political stage.
Putting aside his five and dime stunt of asking innocent citizens to vote for him as county executive when as county executive he actually intended to run for the governorship, voters should take care in providing Mr Astorino with funds for his campaign.
Robert Astorino will not carry New York City or any of the state’s lesser cities. He will not carry great swaths of voters who abhorred the Republican crippling of the government. Supporters of an increased minimum wage, universal medical care, subsidized college educations, supporters of abortions condemned by Mr Astorino…..the right wing list goes on and on At best, Astorino’s mind envisions a New York state populated by upper-middle class Catholics who in the main are by day wholly employed south of East 59th Street and north of the South Ferry and at night sleep soundly in the political and social world of Westchester, as imagined, of course by the self-centered Astorino.