By all accounts, Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino will have his work cut out for him in his bid to unseat the heavily favored and well-funded incumbent, Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
But despite Astorino”™s many uphill battles ”“ he”™s a socially conservative Republican in an overwhelmingly Democratic state and is expected to raise only a third of the campaign funds of Cuomo ”“Â Astorino”™s opponents don”™t appear to be taking any chances, sharpening their talons and striking early and often at his candidacy.
Astorino formally announced his bid for the governorship Wednesday in a campaign video on his website, but his coming out party was immediately met by a fast and furious backlash from his critics. Uphill battle or not, his opponents appear to be taking his chances seriously. Pro-choice groups took aim at Astorino”™s pro-life views and what they called “anti-women” policies.
Reine Schiffrin, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic Action Fund, said Astorino had cut funding for teen sexual education programs and vetoed legislation that ensured safe access to reproductive clinics. (Astorino said at the time the law was flawed and noted it had been opposed by several pro-choice county legislators as well).
“Rob Astorino is bad for women, bad for families, bad for New York,” Schiffrin said. “Apparently he takes his cues from politicians in places like Texas and North Dakota, putting ideology ahead of the commonsense health care needs of the people of Westchester.”
Astorino, who is so far the only Republican to seek the party”™s nomination, has also taken heat from environmentalists for his support of the hydraulic fracturing industry, a controversial method of mining natural gas, and his pro-nuclear energy stance. Cuomo has outwardly called for the closure of the Buchanan nuclear facility Indian Point Energy Center but has said more information was needed before he decided whether hydraulic fracturing poses environmental risks.
Locally, county Democrats pounced on Astorino”™s campaign and even prior to his announcement had held a press conference and funded television commercials that said as a candidate for governor he was not spending enough time focused on his county duties.
Cuomo continues to see strong polling in comparison to potential GOP rivals, although his approval rating hit an all time law in a NBC4/Wall Street Journal/Marist Poll report released Thursday. In that polling, he beat out Astorino by 40 percentage points, 65 percent to 25 percent. Cuomo polled even more strongly against other potential candidates, Carl Paladino (68 percent to 25 percent) and Donald Trump (70 percent to 26 percent).
Cuomo”™s job approval rating, according to the poll, dropped to 42 percent, down from 52 percent in November 2014.
I am a lifelong Democrat who quit the party because of Cuomo’s draconian absurd SAFE Act. I would vote for anyone running against Cuomo but I like Astorino. Even if he loses, Cuomo knows he can hurt him worse than Trump or Palladino, who he squashed in 2010. Trump and Palladino are known quantities who come with their own well worn baggage. Trump is a longtime media personality whose trademark slogan is, “You’re fired!” with a 60% dislike factor among New Yorkers. He may be popular with business owners or the self employed but a billionaire who yells, “You’re fired!” is not popular with workers who have been fired by bosses including CEOs who ran their companies into the ground then got multi-million dollar bonuses for it. Palladino is popular with some in his Western NY area who like his blunt two-fisted Italian-American style which he celebrates, but he is viewed as a hothead loose cannon by many more and an Upstate joke by Downstaters. His take no prisoners Republicanism, demanding a purge of less conservative R.I.N.O.s (Republicans In Name Only) has zero chance of winning in a state dominated by liberal Democrats and moderate Republicans. Trump’s birther accusations that President Obama is a foreign born Muslim and other far right conspiracy beliefs put him in the same category with the same result. Astoriino is conservative but doesn’t bellow about it. Even as he attacks Cuomo he does it in a calm reasonable manner, in contrast with his double barreled blowhard rivals. That most New Yorkers don’t know him is to his advantage. He is a blank slate he can write himself. He is young at 46 but not too young. He has an attractive family. He is a proven winner, elected twice in a county dominated by Democrats. He speaks Spanish and won the majority of the Hispanic vote, the opposite of almost all Republicans who tank worse with Hispanics in every election. Perhaps his biggest advantage is that he is a media professional. His opening video announcing his campaign is excellent and a taste of more to come. As a gun owner, two things he has said that concern me are that he will replace the SAFE Act with something he doesn’t define. NY had some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country before the SAFE Act. NY gun owners don’t want to get rid of the SAFE Act and replace it with some other statewide gun law. We want to get rid of it and as many other infringements on the Second Amendment as we can. He said that he doesn’t own a gun which is a red flag with gun owners. We know that due to human nature non-gun owners don’t invest a lot or any energy into defending the rights of gun owners. Is he only attacking the SAFE Act for political purposes or is he that rare non-gun owner who actually cares about the Second Amendment? If he wanted to buy a gun would his wife let him? What does he think about Westchester County’s pistol permit process? It’s one of the most difficult and restrictive counties in the state outside of New York City which has its own laws and functions as a separate state or country that rules the rest of the state as a colony. Westchester County should change its highly restrictive pistol permit process. Is he in favor of that? I’m not ready to go for fracking. It seems too potentially dangerous. The industry says in only a few years they will develop fracking fluid so clean you can drink it instead of the highly toxic fluids used now. That sounds great. Let’s wait for those clean fluids and frack then. If it will only be a few years I don’t see the need to frack now. Astorino’s biggest liability is his anti-abortion belief which conforms with his Catholic faith. That will lose him most New York women including those who might have voted for him otherwise. If abortion was my issue I wouldn’t trust his assurances that he won’t have an effect on current law. He will naturally try to chip away at it as he can. But I think he has the best chance of beating or hurting Cuomo so I sent him a donation and this message, “Don’t wimp out on us.”
Yawn… more ideological stuff. Here’s a better idea. Instead of all the people upset about Mr. Astorino’s views on family values, abortion, etc., why not have unemployed people weigh in? Why don’t we interview people who lost jobs since Gov. Cuomo was elected? I suspect the numbers of unemployed in NY outnumber those who are pro-choice.
We can split hairs about social and religious issues all we want. While we do that, the fact remains NYS is anti-business with their excessive taxes and regulations. We are losing population (and jobs) to more affordable states. Tax free zones aren’t going to save us.