Candidate for
Member of the State Assembly; District 99

Why I am running

Albany needs real leaders, on both sides of the aisle, willing to demand comprehensive reform and stand up to the party bosses and three men in a room. I will redouble my efforts to eliminate, and continue to draw attention to, Albany's systemic corruption that protects the insiders and lobbyists. I will continue to combat unnecessary tax increases and reform the broken budget processes that are responsible for Albany Inc.'s wasteful state spending.

School tax reform has always been my top priority, and that will continue to be my lead objective. At the local level I will continue my efforts to pass child safety zone legislation, shake up the Putnam patronage mill and fight to crack down on the hiring and housing of illegal aliens. For example, I look forward to working with unions in the region to crack down on the black market economy by focusing on 10-99 misclassification and the prevailing wage law.

Two million New Yorkers have left this state because of sky rocketing tax increases and an unaffordable living environment. I went to Albany to fight for the people and against the dysfunction, not to become part of it. As a former Air Force Captain, Air Force Academy graduate and now as a State Assemblyman, I have dedicated my life to public service.

Two years ago I promised to be the hardest working Assemblyman this district has ever had, and I believe I have fulfilled that promise. For two years I have given this district, and the hard working men and women in it, my blood, sweat and tears.

As the blue collar son of a postal worker I was raised to believe in the dignity of hard work and honest living. By standing up to some of the most powerful people in this state and region, on taxes, corruption and illegal immigration, I am now their target. I wear their attacks as a badge of honor. The baseless attacks by the insiders against me are a testament to the impact I am having; it means that I am doing my job, stirring the pot, demanding more and asking the tough questions.

Reforming Albany

Albany is broken, and while I cannot wave a magic wand he is fighting everyday to fix it. I support campaign finance reform, serious ethics & budget reform and is a sponsor of term limit legislation. The time for deep rooted and substantive change has arrived.

I believe it is high time to return Albany to its right owners - the people of the State of New York. It is time to give a voice to all New Yorkers - Democrats, Republicans, Conservatives and Independents from cities, suburbs and rural areas both upstate and downstate.

I cosponsored the responsible state budgeting law signed into law in 2007. In my next term in the assembly, I look forward to passing legislation to further government transparency, enact real campaign finance reform, put an end to unfunded mandates, and reining in out of control state spending.

School Tax Reform

There is no more pressing issue than School Tax Reform; it is the single most important issue that must be dealt with by the New York State Assembly. I have been working across the aisle to enact a meaningful, long-term and comprehensive solution to this crisis.

I am working within the district and throughout the entire region with school administrators, teachers, school board members and tax reformers in a monthly School Property Tax Reform Task Force. A number of our group's recommendations are now before the legislature. The legislation supported by this bipartisan group is geared towards protecting seniors and working families from unfair and excessive taxation.

Part of the solution is the "three-legged stool approach" advocated by Responsible New York, the New York State Property Tax Reform Coalition, the Tax Foundation, the nonpartisan Hudson Valley Property Tax Reform Task Force, the conservative Empire Center for Public Policy, the liberal Alliance for Quality Education, and endorsed by the Governor's Blue Ribbon Panel on Property Tax Relief chaired by Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi.

My plan to alleviate this crisis includes:

School Property Tax Cap

• Begins to limit out-of-control state spending
• Limits tax levy increases to 2.5% or 120% the rate of inflation, whichever is lower
• Allows school districts to continue to vote every year on their school budgets-55% of voters
• Gives school districts incentives to propose increases of less then the cap and allows "banking" of unused cap space
• Freezes school taxes for seniors at age 65
• Provides enhanced STAR recipients and the disabled with a property tax freeze

  STAR 'Circuit Breaker'

• Provides immediate relief to taxpayers
• Ties a portion of property taxes to income so taxes are more fair and based on one's ability to pay
• Households with incomes below $90,000 and pay property taxes over five percent of their gross income would receive a 25 percent refundable credit for property taxes that exceed five percent of their gross income.
• Taxpayers with household incomes between $90,000 and $125,000 would receive a 20 percent refundable credit for any property taxes over six percent of their gross income.
• Those earning between $125,000 and $250,000 would receive a 15 percent refundable credit for any property taxes over seven percent of their gross income.
• Over 54,000 residents of my district will see their property taxes decrease, putting more money in their pockets to help spur the economy and create jobs.
• Restores funding to Senior STAR gutted by the 2008 budget

  Unfunded mandate release provisions

• Provides immediate relief to local municipalities
• Bans new legislative and regulatory mandates
• Establishes greater accountability for existing mandates
• Provides for greater state support to address the costs of salaries, pensions, and health care
• Repealing Wicks law requirements imposed on construction projects
• Consolidation and pooling of certain paperwork requirements and insurance costs
• Creating the Office of State Inspector General for Education to investigate financial abuse and misconduct in schools

The economic crisis

I am a budget hawk and has voted against every unnecessary tax increase that has come across my desk. I have made a name for himself as a fierce advocate for eliminating deficit spending and fighting against all tax increase, state and local.

When I first voted against the bloated and irresponsible budget back in March, I opposed it not only because it was propped up on unrealistic revenue projections and contained hundreds of millions of dollars in wasteful spending and pork; but also because it recalculated the STAR formula which gutted the enhanced STAR program for our seniors, and proposed deep cuts to our home health care providers and Medicaid reimbursements.

While it may not be popular to say it, what this really amounted to, was yet another tax increase passed on by Sheldon Silver and the rank-and-file Assembly Democrats onto those who could afford it least.

With the sad news that Westchester now ranks top in the nation in property taxes, and Putnam and Dutchess are not far behind, rank and file members of the legislature must demand serious cuts in the bloated state budget. The leadership in Albany is hopelessly addicted to spending and New York State government has become an albatross around the neck of free enterprise and entrepreneurship in this state. It is clearer now, more than ever, that the New York State legislature must take immediate action to protect working families and seniors.