Astorino to announce county exec bid
It’s (almost) official.
Robert Astorino, a Republican who ran against County Executive Andrew Spano, is going to announce his candidacy for another run on March 21 at the Mount Pleasant Community Center, 125 Lozza Drive.
Astorino garnered 42 percent of the vote in his last run against Spano and is expected to campaign on similar issues — government reform and tax relief. He says county government is bloated, inefficient and not responsive to citizens. Astorino has been raising money for the race.
See who is giving to both candidates in our database.
Astorino is now program director of the Catholic Channel on Sirius Satellite Radio and hosts a weekly show from St. Patrick’s Cathedral with the Archbishop of New York.
A former county legislator, Astorino served on the Mount Pleasant Town Board for 12 years, including six years as deputy supervisor. He also served on the Mount Pleasant Board of Education.
Governor George Pataki in 2006 appointed him to the Hudson Valley Greenway. He serves on the Westchester Business Council’s Government Action Committee, is a charter member of the Mount Pleasant Rotary Club, a member of the North Castle Land Trust, as well as other profession associations.
He has a bachelor’s of arts in communications from Fordham University. He is married with two children.
| 
Email This
Advertisements
Nice looking young man, but crossed arms = really bad body language.
He’s got a better shot at seeing God…
That looks like NYC in the background, not White Plains, Yonkers, New Rochelle or any other Westchester community.
So, is he running for Mayor of New York City or to be the County Executive in a suburban community?
And I agree with Leslie. The crossed arms were a terrible idea.
It doesn’t matter anyway. He won’t win no matter what he does.
Astorino is well positioned to win this time around. With the economy tanking and people fed up with constant tax increases, Andy Spano is in real trouble. In fact, word is that Andy Spano is afraid of running without Larry Schwartz behind him. It could be just a matter of time before Andy Spano drops out. Either way, Astorino is a fresh face and this will be a year of change. My money is on Rob Astorino.
This is definitely the race to watch this year. Astorino has been gearing up for this for years and Andy Spano can only get away with raising our taxes for so long. The arrogance of Andy Spano to even THINK about running again after constantly raising our taxes is truly stunning. Remember when Spano said he was only running for one term and now he thinks he’s running for his 4th? This is a repeat of Mario Cuomo in 1994. Andy Spano will go down hard and Rob Astorino will be the next Westchester County Executive.
Astorino has no shot? Yeah right. I’m sure there will be plenty of Andy Spano’s hacks posting here on county time trying to make that case! And Andy Spano better have lots of people doing that because he has a horrible record to try to defend. People are hurting because of Andy Spano’s crushing tax increases and mismanagement and that is not a record any politician would want to defend. I look at Andy Spano’s record and I know he’s vulnerable and any objective observer can see that. Astorino taking this is a very real possibility!!
the astorino supporter on this blog is living in a fantasy world. if andy spano runs again he will win because he has done a great job as county executive. ask people to look at their property tax bills. the county portion is the smallest, maybe second smallest after the library tax in some places. school property taxes are the largest and when there real waste is. if astorino truly cared about the taxpayer he’d run for state assembly or senate or the school board and fight to lower taxes. he’s only concerned about personal power. truth be damned. oh, and westchester is still 2 to 1 for the democrats. good luck overcoming that and 2 million dollars.
That’s right, you have to tip your toupee to Uncle Andy. His next clue will be his first. A Dean Martin wig and two million dollars is hard to beat. If Alfred E. Neuman, while picking his nose and studying the discovery, despite being unable to add, were a Westchester Democrat, he’d be running the show.
andy spano is the point person for bloated county
government, wasteful spending, round the clock
body guards, gary kriss, and trips to china,,it
doesn;t matter what portion of the county tax bill
is from the county, voters aren;t interested in
statisics.they vote on global issues…are their
housing values down?,,is their property tax bill
the highest in the nation?,,,it doesn;t matter also
that democrats outnumber republicans..last time around
democrats outnumbered republicans and janet difiore
the republican won…that is because it is the large
and growing number of non party registered voters
who determine elections…and andy spano is a bit
long in the tooth and represents the old way of
running government….rob astorino is the arnold
schwartenegger of westcheseter….hasta la vista
andy
Truth be Damned – I guess your argument is that Andy Spano is just a small part of the problem, so let him stay where he is so he can continue doing real damange to taxpayers? County portion of the tax bill may not seem big to Spano and his supporters, but that ever expanding “small portion” of the tax bill is inflicting real pain on the families of Westchester. Truth be Damned doesn’t get it; Spano doesn’t get it. But Rob Astorino does get it. The people of Westchester are hurting and Andy Spano is too arrogant to get it.
The Consultant does get it by the way. Andy Spano’s time has passed and Rob Astorino is the future.
All the Republicans do is complain about taxes meanwhile when they controlled County Government their tax increases were triple anything Andy Spano ever proposed. And George Oros reinventing himself as a taxpayer crusader is the biggest joke. Just look at the budgets they passed when he was board chairman. And Gary Kriss, bad ol’ Gary Kriss – was on the payroll back then too. In fact, he was a creation of the old guard Republicans.
Mike Edelman thinks the voters are dumb. “People don’t care about statistics” he says.
They do care about an increase that amounts to an additional $11 per year (county) vs. an increase that amounts to an additional $250 a year (school) or $92 (town).
Wasn’t Rob Astorino on the school and town boards? Did he ever vote for a tax increase, an astronomical, double-digit tax increase? He probably did because the Republicans are are all hypocrites who lack the integrity or responsibility to accept part of the blame for an overtaxed region.
IF ELECTED WILL ROB ASTORINO PLEDGE TO
CUT EXPENSES IN THE COUNTY EXECUTIVES
OFFICE, INCLUDING STAFF, BY TWO THIRDS?
WILL HE PLEDGE TO DO AWAY WITH THE BODY
GUARDS AND DRIVER AND EVEN THE CAR?
WHAT ABOUT THE FREE TRIPS?
WILL HE PLEDGE TO CUT THE BOARD OF
LEGISLATORS EXPENSES AND STAFFING – AND
SALARIES – BY TWO THIRDS?
MOST IMPORTANTLY, WILL HE REDUCE HIS OWN
SALARY FOR THE POSITION?
HE CAN TALK UNTIL HE’S BLUE IN THE FACE
ABOUT PEOPLE WHO ARE HURTING AND THAT HE
FEELS THEIR PAIN AND SO ON. BUT UNTIL HE’S
READY TO SIGN A PLEDGE TO DO ALL OF THE
ABOVE AND MORE THEN HE’S JUST ANOTHER
POLITICIAN WRANGLING FOR THE OPPORTUNITY
TO RAISE YOUR TAXES.
What’s your point? That Andy Spano raised taxes but not as much as others? So that means he’s doing a good job?
Give me a break!
There is no need for County Government yet Andy Spano and Bill Ryan still raised taxes (revenue) to feed and grow this unnecessary monster. You cannot blame anyone else for that.
Electing Rob Astorino will return sanity to the CE’s office. He will bring the County Government back to a responsible and reasonable size and eventually, hopefully, eliminate it all together.
Or you can elect Andy Spano again and King Andy will continue to raise your taxes so that he can golf in Scotland, sunbathe in Hawaii and eat peeking duck you know where…
oh believe me..i get it…its not just the county
it definitely is the school and local duplication
but the county is setting the tone for bloat….
and King Andrew is setting the tone for failure
to manage government….for a beurocracy that seems
to be insensitive to the times….people are losing
wealth by the minute…home sales are down by 50% and
those that do sell have plummeted in value..meanwhile
andy spano is defending the need to continue to
operate county government as if he were a monarch
that is not what the taxpayers of westchester want
and rob astorino’s approach to the largest government
in westchester will serve not only to replace the
bloated executive’s office…but will send a message
to all the other municipal leaders in the county
that managing the public;s money does not give them
carte blanche to spend it faster than they can collect
revenues….taxpayers will be in full rebellion come
election day
With Astorino it’s like father, like son. The Republicans would be wise not to run this clown.
democrats….stop taking the election of andy spano
for granted you are making a huge mistake
Anyone catch Andy Spano on news 12 tonight??? he actually said Westchester County is the best managed government in the state! I cannot get over the arrogance of Andy Spano. He is so out of touch and will be thrown out of office this November after a taxpayer revolt that he somehow refuses to see. If Rob Astorino can hammer home the tax message and paint Andy Spano as the tired, out of touch and out of control politician he is, Astorino wins this thing.
Question for the Consultant – do you think Andy Spano actually runs? Or does he see the writing on the wall and drop out? I think Larry Schwartz had the right idea. Andy Spano seems too arrogant too realize…
The bond rating is good because the bond rating agencies know that the county can cut nothing and just continue to tax the hell out of us and we’ll pony up, as we always have. Maybe people are about to get smart and realize everything coming out of the COB is BS.
I think andy spano thinks he has no problem…on the
other hand I heard that polling indicates that he
has a serious problem….
Rob Astorino is a young and energetic candidate but money and voter affiliation will be huge disadvantages for him.
Andy Spano is in the twilight of his career and comes across as cranky and stubborn. Despite that, he still maintains a multi-million dollar war chest and a huge Democratic enrollment advantage.
But Andy Spano can be beaten if Rob Astorino runs a smart and organized campaign. It’s an uphill battle for Astorino, no doubt, but it can be done.
If Spano’s polling is as negative as Edelman indicates, there is the very real possibility that Andy Spano, the septuagenarian, does not run again.
If this is the case, expect a battle royale in both the Republican and Democratic Party’s for each respective nomination.
On the GOP side, Nick Spano and Tony Colavita immediately come to mind as potential challenges to Astorino in a primary. Spano probably wins.
For the Dems, Amy Paulin, Richard Brodsky and Tim Idoni top the list. My money is on Idoni.
Others could emerge on either side.
The bottom line is that it is the first week of March and nothing is set in stone.
how about my new hybrid irons…they are set in stone!
Golf is like politics in a lot of ways. All the biggest wounds are self-inflicted.
so true..plus you are always being measured against
something you did before….like gee I birdied the
hole the last time out..can’t understand what happpened!
To Andy, golf is like politics in that:
1. You have multiple drivers.
2. Someone else always pays for the round.
3. Your ultimate goal is to go for the green.
4. You’re good with the stiff shafts.
5. You use hybrid clubs to lessen your carbon footprint.
6. A lot of deals are made in the locker room.
7. Plenty of people are lined up to carry your bags.
8. You pay off your losses in IOUs
9. The only birdie you ever saw was in a tree behind the house in Yorktown.
very funny ed
Con – “Jesters do oft prove prophets.” – King Lear. :>)
“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.” Dr. Seuss
Okay, I just returned home from Chicago and this just seemed to fit the converstation…especially because today is Dr. Seuss’s birthday
Doctor Suess got his doctorate honorariiy, as did Yogi Berra, Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, Marisa Tomei, Jesse Jackson and a thousand others. Seuss’s makes the most sense.
If Andy Spano really is in trouble in pollng this early, watch out.
Yes, Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss. On another note, did anyone see the Journal News article that Andy Spano cut his expenses from $34,000 to $19,000? Susan Tolchin wants Andy Spano to be given credit for that but somehow fails to explain why it was ever so high to begin with (or why $19,000 is acceptable). Not good enough. Not even close.
Well democrats…when it was time for a new president all I heard was the word “change”. Where are you now?
I get a laugh at some of the comments on here about crossed arms as bad body language. I’d like to first know where you got your body language education from and what makes you a guru of knowing bad bl. Second, those who are making those kinds of comments I could bet 100% are Barack Obama supporters, voted for the man and he too subscribed to the same kinds of poses and let’s not forget his snobbish chin in the air in so many photos during the run up to the national election.
Here we have a republican candidate who isn’t tied to any family dynasty like Spano and is more middle class than anything that’s come down the pike and all you liberals can talk about is folded arms.
Disgrace. Only in Westchester could such morons be content w elected liberal democratic officials who keep taking your money and giving it to total strangers who dont work.
I wouldn’t bring up Rob Astorino’s family as a selling point. With him, it’s like father like son…
Want to play family games? You mean like Joe and Ted Kennedy? Or Tom and Christopher Dodd? Or Richard J. Daley and Richard M. Daley? Or Adam Powell, Jr. and Adam Clayton Powell IV?
Please tell me exactly what it was that Astorino’s father did to be in the category of a Kennedy, Spano, Pelosi Dynasty?
That wasn’t my intention. My point was to point- out the hypocrisy of Dem Supporter’s post. He can speak for himself.
With the Westchester County Government, and the MTA, competing to be the biggest bloated money grabbers in the tri-state area, why would anyone vote to re-elect Spano?
Besides the special interests that are feeding off the taxpayers.
No one thought John Hall could beat an incumbent, so don’t think Astorino has no chance here. When government officials such as Mario Coumo and Sue Kelly didn’t listen to the wishes of the people, as opposed to special interests and their party, they were defeated.
Spano is has been doing the same, because he thinks he is invincible. Astorino just needs to run a good, informative campaign, and a little help from the local media.
With the Westchester County Government, and the MTA, competing to be the biggest bloated money grabbers in the tri-state area, why would anyone vote to re-elect Spano?
Besides the special interests that are feeding off the taxpayers.
No one thought John Hall could beat an incumbent, so don’t think Astorino has no chance here. When government officials such as Mario Coumo and Sue Kelly didn’t listen to the wishes of the people, as opposed to special interests and their party, they were defeated.
Spano has been doing the same, because he thinks he is invincible. Astorino just needs to run a good, informative campaign, and a little help from the local media.
one of the problems here is that sam zerka is making
andy spano look like a victim…zherka says he is
against county government but then he exploits the
county execs son for his own political gain….making
the county exec a sympathetic figure..all of which
distracts from the issue
When I rule the world, I am going to remove the word “only” from the dictionary. “Only” is primarily used by people that want to take more of your money, (including your family sometimes). “Only” can be used even more effectively when you break something expensive down into days, or months. “Only” 3 dollars a day. “Only” $40 a month.
The politicians in this area are “only”-ing us to death wherever we go. On the highways, at the airport,on the phone, on the train, at work, at the stores, and at home.
Well, the County portion of the tax bill being “only” a small portion is a joke. I have every tax bill I ever paid. It truely used to be a small portion. But now considering very few counties have their own layer of government, we shouldn’t even be talking about the county portion being a small portion, unless it was back were it was 15 years ago.
Our county portion is getting to the point that people in other states pay for their ENTIRE tax bill.
And don’t forget about the extra 1/2% sales tax the county added on sales a few years ago, without including Spano’s big constituencies who he left out, because he needed them for their big blocks of votes. What a flim flam that was!
Yeah, he’s really keeping costs down and doing a great fiscal job!!
mike your math is off…...the county portion is mandated
80% by the state which means if there was no county government..you would still have to pay it….so that
means mathmatically that of the 20% which is not state
mandated…you are talking about 4% of your tax bill
get real..the waste in government is the local services
which are redundant..43 police departments all with their
chiefs…and pensions…43 courts with their court clerks
and judges…43 dpw’s…43 city manager or mayors and 43
separate school systems with superintendents making 200m
boards of ed ..and their staffs…and of course individual
principals….you haven;t got a clue as to where your
money is going…sorry to say…its not the county
that is ripping you off..its you
If the State wants to mandate, let the State tax us and pay for it all and bear the brunt of the public’s judgement on the matter at the polls. As of now, bevies of local politicians hide behind this “mandate” provision and are incapable of doing anything about it except to say to the taxpayer “hey, it’s not me; it’s not us,” but, they disingenuously howl into the winds because in the end, they all like to keep it that way so that the patronage flows and so that they can count on these thousands of robots to continually back them with time, organization, and money to keep them in office. Too many needless jurisdictions, chiefs, commissioners, school superintendents, principals and on and on. All flatulent patronage.