Four candidates participated in the televised New York gubernatorial debate Wednesday, but it was the accusations flung between the major party candidates that took center stage.
Republican Rob Astorino accused Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, of playing the race card in the campaign and said he was embroiled in a corruption scandal that may end with the governor indicted. Cuomo painted Astorino as racially discriminatory because of his lack of compliance with an affordable housing lawsuit in Westchester County, where Astorino is the county executive.
Cuomo said that African-Americans were not able to move into the county due to exclusionary policies. Through much of the evening, he portrayed his opponent as far to the right in his policies and beliefs.
“One of the options in this campaign is an ultra-conservative philosophy that disrespects women, minorities and immigrants and I reject that,” Cuomo said. “I believe we have more to do but the arrows are pointed in the right direction.”
Westchester continues to clash with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development over implementation of a 2009 affordable housing lawsuit, which requires the county to build 750 units of affordable housing in some of its richest and whitest communities. Astorino said the county is building the units but has continually said analyses of local zoning codes identified no exclusionary practices.
“This is all about the federal government overreaching, and they”™re coming into Westchester and they”™re going to be coming into your community next,” he said. The debate took place in Buffalo and was broadcast on WNET (Channel 13). Astorino inherited the settlement terms from the previous administration. The deputy county executive at the time was quoted in the press as calling the suit “garbage.” That deputy, Larry Schwartz, is now Cuomo”™s chief of state, Astorino said.
The Republican candidate took jabs at the governor over his handling of the Moreland anti-corruption commission, which Cuomo set up then disbanded prematurely. The New York Times reported his administration had interfered with the work of the commission, including backing investigators off allies of the governor.
Astorino said Cuomo came into office four years ago with the promise of being a white knight to fight corruption and clean up Albany. “Unfortunately right now he”™s swimming in a cesspool of corruption,” Astorino said.
The two also had differing views on economic development and allowing hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas from underground rock formations. Cuomo refuses to take a stand on the issue, saying he is awaiting studies due at the end of the year from the Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Conservation. Astorino said he would approve fracking as a means to revitalize the economy of the upstate region. Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate, said he opposed fracking due to its health concerns. He also said he supports upping the minimum wage to $15. Hawkins is polling at 9 percent, which is exceptionally high for a third-party candidate in a statewide race in New York.
The debate was the first and likely the last of the campaign season. Cuomo”™s campaign agreed to only two debates: Wednesday’s debate, at which he insisted Hawkins and Libertarian Party candidate Michael McDermott be included, and a WNYC radio debate, which was declined by Astorino because he said the governor would not allow that debate to be televised.
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