Astorino pans State of the County Address
Republican Rob Astorino, who seems to be gearing up for another campaign for Westchester County Executive in 2009, just e-mailed this statement about last night’s State of the County Address:
“Once again, (County Executive Andrew Spano) offered up nothing but a litany of excuses and blame as to why property taxes are painfully high. It’s outrageous that he spoke for one hour and had a video produced justifying the need for a bloated county government but only six minutes n the property tax crisis. It’s even more absurd that he claims here’s nothing he can do to lower or even stabilize taxes and spending, yet he can save the world from global warming. Andy Spano has been in county government since 1982. Clearly, he is out of touch and out of control.”
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four terms is always difficult…and for andy considering
the mood of the taxpaying public..four terms will
be tough to sell
As soon as he’s voted out of office, he’ll tire of his own personal onerous property taxation and drag his Callaways to somewhere in Florida where there has been some fiscal conscience employed by the powers- that -be.
Even before he’s out of office, Andy Spano should be tired of listening to himself. Most everyone else is. His Florida home course will be Gator Gulch. Playing time there is very, very fast for reasons that remain unclear.
Rob Astorino is right on the money. He should be the next county executive and the people of Westchester, regardless of political affiliation, should be smart enough to recognize that.
BEFORE THE PEOPLE OF WESTCHESTER RECOGNIZE ANYTHING, THE WESTCHESTER REPUBLICAN PARTY SHOULD BE SMART ENOUGH TO REALIZE THAT ROB ASTORINO AND OTHERS LIKE HIM ARE THE FUTURE OF THE PARTY.
ASTORINO SHOULD BE SUPPORTED AND PROMOTED UNANIMOUSLY BY COUNTY REPUBLICANS.
TO STEAL A LINE FROM HIS 2005 CAMPAIGN, HE IS “THE LEADER WE NEED”
Rob Astorino is the brightest and most diligent man whom we in Westchester could hope to have as County Executive. He is quite a guy. He will thwart efforts by the hacks who now control the legislature to raise taxes—and their own salaries— while he gets our county back in working order.
Rob Astorino is the sort of citizen-politician we want running county business.
Andy Spano looked old and tired. He managed to survive a hard fought race in 2005, but there’s no doubt that Spano’s days are numbered. Astorino is gearing up early this time and should be ready to take Spano out next year.
OK, let’s see…it’s unanimous. 7 bloggers, all Republicans – 7 people who diss Andy Spano and praise Astorino.
Unfortunately, there are a lot more people who vote than blog. Andy will crunch Astorino again. In fact, any Democrat will win the CE spot.
The sun has set on the Republican Party in Westchester.
We welcome Democrat Insider to our discussion. Many of us are contrarians, glad you are here.
“The sun has set on the Republican Party in Westchester.”
Not for long. It might seem like Alaska in seven months.
1976: Ford loses, Democrats hold 2/3 control of Senate and House. A friend tells me, “The Republican Party is dead. It will fold, and its remaining officials will either join the Democrats or form a third party.”
Thank you, James Earl Carter III, for reviving the GOP. Four short years after my friend’s dire prediction, Reagan swept into office and brought a Republican Senate with him, as even Frank Church lost.
The cycles of American politics produce these swings.
When I lived in Manhattan, it was unthinkable that a non-Democrat would win city-wide election. As you’re aware, 1993 brought a sea-change in that thinking.
Challenging assumptions keeps us keen; it also keeps our elected officials in check, and they should not become too comfortable.
andy spano not only looked old and tired….his focus was not on the problems facing homeowners and property tax
payers in this county…he spent a total of six minutes
on the subject..while his staff “on their own time”
produced a stunt movie regailing the benefits of county
government..in fact his whole speech was a defense of
county government and the fact of the matter is
the present structure of county government is bloated
and the main reason that property taxes have increased
57% over the last several years…Connecticuit has
no county government and they do just fine…
we don’t need an elected executive with paid aids
public relations people and a staff that occupies the
entire ninth floor..we don’t need an elected board
with a chairman who is too busy to attend the state of
the county but not to busy to fly to arizona to
attend a conference…and we don’t need to pay legislators
to put together a budege that is 90% mandated by the
state..we need a professional manager and non political
professional department heads with a zero sum budget..
Simple response to the Consultant. YES.
The consultant’s first post mentioned that four terms are tough. If County Executive Spano were to seek a fourth term, his first problem might not be the Republicans. Another Democrat might consider a primary. It is not as if the Democrats lack candidates with talent and ambition. Among those who might consider running: County Clerk Idoni; Legislators Kaplowitz, Alvarado, and Burton; Assembly-members Latimer, Brodsky, and Paulin; Mayors Young, Bramson, and Feld; and insiders such as Dennis Meile all might consider running. It could be a difficult primary that Mr. Spano might choose to avoid. In many respects a multi-candidate primary among (say) County Clerk Idoni, Assembly-member Brodsky, Mayor Feld, Mayor Young, Legislator Alvarado, and Mr. Spano would factionalize the various biilding blocks of the Democratic Party. Would any candidate get 40% of the vote? Pssibly not. I expect others know (I do not) if such a script produces a runoff primary. My point: Mr. Spano may face a strong challenge from Democrats. If he were to win such a bloody primary, he would be among the weaker candidates a Republican could face.
What a lineup – Idoni, Young, Alvarado, Paulin, Bramson. You left out Choo Choo Coleman, Elio Chacon, Ed Kranepool, Marv Thronberry and Galen Cisco. You gotta believe. But you can’t.
I believe that andy spano will not be the next county
executive…how and under what circumstances that scenario
actually plays out would be difficult to forecast exactly
However it is fair to say..the the people of westchester
will seek a change..the issue is who best to offer it
Ed gave us some of the lineup from the original ‘62 Mets, one of the worst teams ever. As Manager Casey Stengel said—“Can’t ANYBODY here play this game?”
As for that Democratic lineup—Get the (Jay) hook.
Phil Reisman also pans Andy’s Gang in his column today.
Jay Hook! Casey said about two 20 yr. olds he had at spring training, “That one kid’s got a chance in ten years to be pretty good. The other kid in ten years got a chance to be 30.” Thanks. I’m headed to Reisman’s column.
Casey also said Felix Mantequilla had butter hands. He was kidding. He meant Felix Mantilla. And then there was Hot Rod Kanehl and an aging Roger Craig and so on.
Silversmith: One last Casey-ism. He said to one of his Yankee players: “Bad news, one of us has just been traded to Kansas City.”
A Yogi-ism – “It ain’t over till it’s over”
Said by Yogi, but could have been Andy or Ryan: “I wish I had an answer to that because I’m tired of answering that question.”