“It”™s kind of ”˜Throw the bums out,”™” Bill Mooney said in summing up the mood of the electorate after some upstarts emerged victorious in the Sept. 14 New York primaries.
“It”™s clearly a major response from the voters to show how frustrated they are with government in Albany and in Washington,” added Mooney, CEO and president of the Westchester County Association, a business-membership organization that addresses public policy as it affects area companies and nonprofits as well as economic development. “They”™re reacting against the health care bill and the anti-business climate.”
Though he didn”™t say so in so many words, the Sept. 14 elections ”“ in which billionaire/political newbie Carl P. Paladino stunned frontrunner Rick Lazio for the G.O.P. gubernatorial nod ”“ were a vindication of last May”™s Call to Action, an event at the Hilton Rye Town in Rye Brook that the WCA helped organize locally. With former New York City Mayor Ed Koch leading the nonpartisan charge, some 1,000 business people turned out to voice their disenchantment with gridlock and, in some cases, malfeasance in the New York state legislature.
Mooney said the rejection of government intervention indicated by the primary results can only mean a win for the small companies that make up roughly 80 percent of business in Westchester County. While the large banks are not going to suffer with the new regulations being instituted under financial reform, local banks are going to get hurt, Mooney said:
“They”™re going to be spending more time complying with the regulations than lending to customers.”
Meanwhile, insurance companies are raising rates between 10 and 30 percent in anticipation of health care reform.
“All this to me is anti-business,” he added. “If it”™s going to cost money, it”™s anti-business.”
Coupled with what he sees as anti-business interference from Washington is the unhelpful attitude of tax-happy Albany.
“Over the last several years, New York state has lost 1.5 million people, resulting in the loss of $4 billion in revenue,” Mooney said. “New York ranks 49 out of 50 when it comes to states unfriendly to business. The only state that”™s worse is Alaska. People can”™t afford to live here.”
Mooney is encouraged by the victories for Paladino and for Republican Nan Hayworth, who”™ll square off against Democratic incumbent John Hall in November to represent the 19th Congressional District, which includes parts of Dutchess, Orange, Rockland and Westchester counties and all of Putnam County.
A partner in the Mount Kisco Medical Group, Hayworth understands business and health care, Mooney said.
“We”™ll see what happens,” he said. “But they have a good chance.”
