State lawmakers take note: The business-as-usual attitude of Westchester County politics got bounced last week.
Political gamesmanship and high taxes are no longer being tolerated by voters.
In a press conference outside his home the day after defeating Westchester County Executive Andy Spano, Rob Astorino said:
“This is a shock to Albany. You better shape up and you better shape up quickly. People are fed up with what”™s been going on in Albany. They”™re clearly upset here in Westchester and in the suburbs. People are getting taxed out of their homes. This is a working-class neighborhood. And many people throughout Westchester have said the same thing every day. And I”™ve heard it louder and louder. ”¦I”™ve had seniors crying to me. They are moving out.”
Last week Spano found out just how angry the voters are.
He was first elected county executive on a campaign promise to cut taxes by 15 percent by his fourth year in the post.
That was 1998.
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The demographics of Westchester County have not only changed since then, but the tolerance of the business community and taxpayers wore thin as another tax or new fee was heaped on them.
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In an interview with The New York Times in May 1998, Spano was upset with what his predecessor, Andrew P. O”™Rourke left him, among other things, high taxes, the Westchester Medical Center and cost overruns in the Department of Correction.
“You don”™t handcuff your successor,” he said in the interview. “It gives me more cost initially and prevents me from Day One from doing some of the things I promised the people of Westchester.”
The tax cuts never materialized.
Streamlining government never happened.
Astorino embraced the voters”™ anger and understood the voters”™ frustrations with government insensitivity.
Last week, the voters had their say and it was “enough is enough”: enough of indifference by government leaders to the business community and residents of the state; enough of special interests dictating laws; enough of a lack of strong leadership; enough of not doing all it can to help.
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Astorino knows those are the reasons why he got elected county executive of Westchester County.
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His relative inexperience as a politician should serve him well.
Why?
Because he is not indebted to anyone ”“ any one political party, any one group or any union.
He now has a free hand to turn things around in the county.
The business community should be among the first that his new administration addresses.
Taxes are crushing business in New York state.
Most lawmakers are cowards, voting in blocs to not upset the party leaders.
As we have written in these pages, too many companies have already voted with their feet and left the county for more tax-friendly climes in the South.
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Precision Valve shut its operations in Yonkers in favor of business-friendly South Carolina.
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Perennial gubernatorial candidate and Paychex founder Tom Golisano found he could put $5 million in taxes he pays each year to New York to better use by setting up residence in Florida where there is no personal income tax.
Earlier this year, more than half of the Westchester doctors responding to a survey said they are ready to pack their bags, as well.
What happened to the leaders who championed the causes of the people?
That faux coup the state Senate staged during the summer was an embarrassment.
Lawmakers in Albany need to heed the sea change that is occurring among the electorate.
The way Albany lawmakers deal with the state deficit in the coming weeks will predict their political futures come next November.
Astorino said his campaign has always been about property taxes.
“We have to stop the tax madness. It”™s like a runaway train”¦”
Government, he said, needs to be made smaller and more efficient.
“The services that are required and needed will stay, but the waste in this government that”™s gonna go. And hopefully this will be the example for Albany as well. We know what”™s been going on up there. It”™s been called the most dysfunctional state legislature in the United States. ”¦
“Enough is enough in this state and it starts here in Westchester.”
Mr. Astorino, you have a solid mandate from the electorate ”“ good, honest government and reasonable taxes.
Please follow through and don”™t repeat the missteps of your predecessor.
