“Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it”-Ronald Reagan
For Immediate Release
March 5, 2021
Contact: Shaun Marie
518-356-7882
www.cpnys.org @cpnys
CONSERVATIVE PARTY CALLS FOR RELEASE OF ALL COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN CROWN PUBLISHING AND GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO, HIS AGENTS AND THE ADMINISTRATION
Brooklyn – March 5…The New York State Conservative Party today called for the immediate release of communications between Crown Publishing, Governor Andrew Cuomo, his agents, and members of his administration leading up to the publication of Mr. Cuomo’s New York Times best-seller book “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic” (Oct. 2020, Crown.)
The core premise of “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic” was Mr. Cuomo’s purported successful management of Covid-19 in New York State. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times are now reporting that Mr. Cuomo and members of his administration altered an official New York State Department of Health report to falsely embellish Mr. Cuomo’s image as an efficacious governor in the depths of a public health crises at the very same time that Mr. Cuomo was negotiating his book deal.
“Today’s news reports raise an obvious question: Would Crown Publishing have invested in Governor Cuomo’s book had they known the full extent of the nursing home deaths caused by the governor’s misguided policies?,” asked Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar. “And did Governor Cuomo and members of his administration work to bury the true numbers in an effort to seal the book deal? The public needs answers to these questions, and the governor and Crown can begin by releasing the communications between them.”
The Conservative Party has previously asked Governor Cuomo to make immediately public the profits he received from his book, and questioned whether the facts Mr. Cuomo concealed fostered a false narrative required for the book’s publishing. Governor Cuomo has refused to address these questions.
“If the truth had been known about the nursing home deaths in the autumn of 2020, it’s hard to believe that Crown would have moved forward with ‘American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic’” Mr. Kassar continued. “So the question remains: Did Governor Cuomo hide the true nursing home death toll for personal financial benefit, and, if so, exactly how much money did he make from that lie? The public deserves to know.”
More startling allegations were made this week by former Congressional candidate and aide to Governor Cuomo, Lindsey Boylan, charging the Governor with sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct.
Boylan wrote about her experience working for the Governor Wednesday and went into very disturbing detail. Boylan gave specific instances of Cuomo engaging in inappropriate workplace behavior saying “the Governor would go out of his way to touch me on my lower back, arms and legs.”
In another instance Cuomo suggested he and Boylan engage in a game of “strip poker” as they traveled together to an event. Finally, Boylan charges the Governor with kissing her during a one-on-one meeting.
This new information coming from the very credible Boylan is extremely disturbing and further adds the proof that the Governor is no longer fit to lead the state of New York. His nursing home order, followed by the subsequent cover up of deaths, lies and now these sexual harassment allegations have earned him a much-deserved federal investigation.
The people of New York deserve accountability and answers, instead of providing that, Cuomo has set out to hire more staff members to handle his “messaging.” More taxpayer dollars spent on hiring staff members to cover up for his transgressions is appalling, but not surprising.
For almost a year, the Conservative Party has been questioning the Governor’s handling of this crisis. It was clear from early on; the administration was willing to use the pandemic as a political tool for self-promotion and false praise. Thankfully, Congresswomen Elise Stefanik and Nicole Malliotakis, who called for an investigation nine months ago, ere on our side calling for the truth.
Assembly Republicans have begun to take the first steps into an impeachment trial of Governor Cuomo, a move that has gained the support of many prominent Democrats, including Queens Assemblyman Ron Kim, who himself charged the Governor with threatening his career last week.
COVID-19 Relief Transforms into Democratic Wishlist
The American Rescue Plan is nothing but a pork filled Democratic wish list that provides billions in foreign aid and leaves Americans stranded and eventually on the hook for the bill.
Auditors at OpenTheBooks.com cite numerous examples of what they consider to be suspicious spending, including: $1.5 million for Chuck Schumer and the Seaway International Bridge connecting New York to Canada; $112 million for Nancy Pelosi and BART; $50 million for family planning groups such as Planned Parenthood; $852 million for civic volunteer agencies such as AmeriCorps, AmeriCorps Vista, and the National Senior Service Corps; and $470 million for libraries, museums, arts and humanities agencies.
This is not COVID relief, this is theft of American taxpayer money. Only 9% of the $1.9 trillion goes to public health, only 1% to vaccine, and 95% of the money allocated for schools in this bill is not eligible to be spent until 2022. Meanwhile, about $500 billion from the last relief bills remains unspent and unobligated.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis said on Inside City Hall with NY1 political anchor Bobby Cuza. “This bill, unfortunately, has so much unrelated stuff in there that has made the bill so expensive, and it doesn’t just focus on the tailored needs of our communities.” The Congresswoman also points out that this bill could come at a cost of $15,000 per American household to pay for Biden’s pork filled package.
Relief packages should be about just that, relief. We all understand the need to help Americans who have been affected by this pandemic at no fault of their own, but now is not the time to spend money we simply don’t have on things, nor provide relief for COVID-19.
Schumer’s Numbers Erode
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s approval rating among his New York constituents has hit a two-decade year low. Senator Schumer recorded his highest-ever “poor” rating according to a new Marist Poll.
Schumer gets an “excellent” or “good” rating from just 41% of New York registered voters, according to the poll released Tuesday. Good for the second-lowest of his Senate career. Nearly 30% of the respondents believe he is doing a “poor job.”
This is unwelcomed news for the Senator who is up for re-election next year and it is rumored that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is preparing a potential run against him. Amongst young voters, a key constituency for Ocasio-Cortez, 58% believed Schumer was doing a poor job.
The poll was not much kinder to Senator Gillibrand who also saw her numbers take a hit statewide.
While Senators Schumer and Gillibrand worked to build national profiles, they neglected to do their jobs at home. They have both become two comfortable, taking their large Democratic voting bloc in New York City for granted and ignored them while on a quest for self-fulfillment.
Perhaps these new polls will remind the two Senators they work for New York State and all politics are local.
For Immediate Release
February 23, 2021
Contact: Shaun Marie
518-356-7882
www.cpnys.org @cpnys
Statement by New York State Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar “The public deserves to know now how much Gov. Cuomo profited from best-selling COVID-19 book.”
Brooklyn, NY – “‘American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic’ (Crown, 2o20), Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (semi-fictional) New York Times best-seller, presumably made the governor a tidy profit. The public deserves to know the exact amount now, as questions about his handling of COVID-19 are squarely in the public eye.
“To profit from such a human catastrophe in the first place — after potentially fatal mistakes were made by him and his administration — raises significant questions about Mr. Cuomo’s judgement. He should report how much he made at the first possible opportunity to the people who gave him his job.
“The governor is currently delaying release of the profit figure until May, when his next financial disclosure statement is due. That’s not good enough. The man who once promised to be the most transparent governor in history needs to be transparent now.”
FBI, U.S. Attorney Officially Open Investigation into Governor Cuomo
It has been 10 months in the making, but the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn have formally launched an investigation into Governor Cuomo, his coronavirus task force, and their handling of nursing homes during the peak of the pandemic.
The Eastern District of New York is on the ground floor of their investigation but is preparing to dig into Governor Cuomo and some of his senior staff members for their role in the coverup of thousands of deaths throughout New York State.
In another startling revelation Democratic Assemblyman Ron Kim revealed the Governor called him repeatedly, ultimately threatening him and his career if he did not stop calling for a criminal investigation.
“The thing that really pisses me off the most is that he took away our ability to legislate by not sharing that data in real time,” Kim said of Cuomo’s COVID-19 death coverup.
We are only in the beginning stages, but the Governor and his henchman earned this investigation. They deceived the state of New York, they deceived the family members who lost loved ones all in the name of a political agenda. While the Javits Convention Center, USNS Comfort and Samaritans Purpose field hospital went unused, thousands died, the Governor accepted Emmy awards for his “heroic” response and cracked jokes on national television.
As this saga continues to unfold, it is very important to note and remember the Republican State Assembly announced the forming of a commission yesterday to investigate impeaching Governor Cuomo. As this commission continues to weigh its options, we should be keeping an eye out to see which state Democrats are willing to put their money where their mouth is, put party politics aside and support impeachment proceedings.
Yesterday, I went on with David Brody from Just the News to discuss Governor Cuomo and the crimes very like committed. You can watch it here.
Rush Limbaugh 1951-2021
Earlier this week we lost an icon in the conservative movement. Rush Limbaugh saved AM radio and gave millions upon millions of common-sense conservatives a voice.
A man who knew of America’s remarkable greatness and opportunity, his career in radio and show business spanned from 1971 until his death days ago. Rush was conservative radio’s happy warrior, always having fun and keeping his listeners engaged.
We lost a titan but will also remember his contributions. Rest in peace, Rush.
VP Harris Taking Private Meetings on Behalf of America
So, who is running the country you ask? Well, it appears to be the Vice President, just as we suspected would happen.
During the 2020 election cycle, then candidate Biden’s ability to handle the grueling schedule of being the President was brought into question due to his campaign’s half work, or no work, days. Now, we have learned the Biden Administration is calling early “lids” on his day and allowing VP Harris to take solo calls with foreign leaders on behalf of President Biden.
In the final year of the Trump Presidency, VP Pence took no direct calls with leaders of other nations, leaving no doubt that President Trump was in charge and executing the duties of his office.
The VP also spends her day shadowing President Biden for several hours, almost as if she is getting accelerated on the job training to take over for the President. The VP has her own radical left-wing agenda, one that is arguably 2 steps to the left of President Bidens.
It is reported the VP also get’s the last word in the room, even when the President is present, begging the question, who is running the country? American’s deserve to know the mental and physical state of its Commander-in-Chief.
For Immediate Release
February 16. 2021
Contact: Shaun Marie
518-356-7882
www.cpnys.org @cpnys
DID ANDREW CUOMO COMMIT FRAUD FOR BOOK PROFITS? Statement by New York State Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar
Brooklyn, NY – “Governor Andrew Cuomo’s best-selling book, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic” (Crown, 2020), was written under false pretenses, it has now been made clear. That begs the question: ‘Did Andrew Cuomo purposely mislead editors and readers — falsely establishing him himself as a COVID-19 leadership whiz — in order to make the maximum amount of money for himself through book sales?
“If the Governor knowingly misled editors and readers for remunerative benefit, he may have committed fraud. It’s a serious question that needs to be looked into by an independent investigator.”
BOMBSHELL: Governor Cuomo’s Top Aide Admits to Hiding Nursing Home Data
Last night, what we all knew to be true for many months officially became verified information when Melissa DeRosa, top aide to Governor Cuomo, admitted that his administration has been lying and covering up nursing home deaths for months to deceive the Federal Government.
The stunning revelations came yesterday after DeRosa apologized to Democratic members of the State legislature, admitting they “froze” because then President Donald Trump was tweeting true information regarding the nursing home crisis created by Governor Cuomo and his Health Administration.
“So we do apologize,” DeRosa said. “I do understand the position that you were put in. I know that it is not fair. It was not our intention to put you in that political position with the Republicans.”
For nearly a year, the Conservative Party has been calling for an independent investigation to be conducted by the United States Department of Justice. While the mainstream media and Democratic New York State Assembly and Senate praised Governor Cuomo and ignored the facts right under their nose, we repeatedly cried foul. Today, we could be taking our first steps towards true justice and holding Governor Cuomo and his administration accountable.
Many of our Conservative/Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives, State Assembly and State Senate have been trying to lead their fellow colleagues in government to water, but their refusal until now to put partisan politics aside, work for the people of New York, and resist the bully in the Governor’s mansion led to Andrew Cuomo believing he was above the law.
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik has been a leading voice and outspoken critic of Cuomo’s. She was ridiculed in the media and attacked by the Governors top errand boy Rich Azzopardi, but she remained consistent.
“I have said from the beginning that this is more than a nursing home scandal, this is a massive corruption and coverup scandal at the highest level of New York State Government implicating the Governor, the Secretary to the Governor, the New York State Health Commissioner, and the Governor’s staff,” the Congresswoman said.
As this story begins to develop, it is clear the Cuomo administration has earned themselves a DOJ investigation, and criminal charges. The Governor, his aide DeRosa, Health Commissioner Zucker, and lead errand boy Azzopardi should resign effective immediately.
Claudia Tenney Sworn In
We would like to officially congratulate Congresswoman Claudia Tenney from New York’s 22nd District on her hard-fought victory.
It took over 3 months to certify, but when the dust settled, the results were clear. Now Congresswoman Tenney is seated in Congress and ready to take aim at an America First legislative agenda.
We are happy this race was finally certified and proud of Claudia for flipping the district back red. I look forward to working with her and all the members of our Conservative delegation.
Link to Our Live Event With Newsmax Chief Political Correspondent John Gizzi
I was pleased to host John Gizzi earlier this week to discuss his distinguished career covering New York and Washington politics. John has been a long time friend of the Conservative Party and his insight is second to none.
If you missed us live, please click here to listen to the interview which is pinned to the top of our Facebook page.
I want to wish everyone a safe and happy President’s Day weekend!
Conservative Party friend & supporter Herb Stupp prepared the following obituary for the late Barbara Keating-Edh.
The Conservative Party of New York sadly announces the death of Barbara Keating-Edh, on January 30th. Barbara is best remembered by Conservatives as the party’s 1974 candidate for U. S. Senator. Left out of many statewide polls through September 30th that year, Barbara shocked many observers by garnering nearly 823,000 votes statewide, or 17% in the three-way race. Her strong showing held three-term liberal Republican Senator Jacob Javits to well under 50%, with radical Democrat Ramsey Clark polling a distant second. Keating TV commercials took a strong pro-life stance.
After a stint on the staff of U. S. Senator Jim Buckley, Barbara helped to found “Consumer Alert,” a non-profit policy group emphasizing free market competition over big government as the best way to protect American consumers. During a speech for the organization in California, Barbara met her future husband, Lennarth Edh, who survives her.
Her marriage brought her from Westchester, New York to Modesto, California, where she lived with Lennarth for nearly 40 years. She almost won a state legislative seat as a Republican and ran the county office of Catholic Charities. Barbara also served on the Board of the American Conservative Union, as well as on the transition team for President-elect Ronald Reagan.
Born in 1938 as Barbara Galvin, she married Marine Corps officer Daniel Keating, and they welcomed five children. Major Keating was killed in action in Vietnam in 1968, leaving Barbara to raise their children alone.
She joined the Conservative Party and began speaking about the importance of Vietnam, debating the likes of Bella Abzug, William Kunstler, Ramsey Clark, Black Panther leaders and other radicals and liberals. Although she never attended college, Barbara was quick-witted and well-informed, always “schooling” her debating opponents on the left. Her gleaming smile and fresh-faced beauty surely disarmed many of her opponents.
In addition to husband Lennarth, Barbara is survived by a large family of children, stepchildren, their spouses, 19 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren. Please keep them, and Barbara, in your prayers.
Nursing Home Crisis Continues
A judge ruled Wednesday that Governor Cuomo’s Health Department broke the law by refusing to give the total number of nursing home deaths to a Government watchdog organization.
In the decision, acting Albany Supreme Court Justice Kimberly O’Connor voiced her displeasure with the DOH for repeatedly denying the Empire Center for Public Policy the information.
“We’re very pleased but we don’t have the data yet and there’s still a chance that they will appeal and tie this up for potentially months longer — and given the way they’ve behaved so far, I wouldn’t be surprised,” said The Empire Center’s Bill Hammond, who also referred to the ruling as a “great victory.”
However, in their efforts to shield Governor Cuomo from taking responsibility and answering for his failures, New York’s Democrat supermajority on Monday blocked a motion to subpoena records of the Cuomo administration. The motion was made by Sen. Thomas O’Mara, the ranking Republican on the Investigations Committee panel during a virtual meeting, but the Democrats put up a roadblock and did not even allow members to make a vote.
As dominos continue to fall, it is clear there will be attempts to pass the buck on the nursing home crisis as State Democrats will follow their pied piper and continue to disregard decency and common sense.
Live with Newsmax’s Chief Political Columnist John Gizzi
John is Newsmax’s chief political columnist and White House correspondent. He is “the man who knows everyone in Washington” as well as many who hold elected positions and party leadership roles throughout America. He has appeared on countless radio and TV shows in America and Europe. He is the recipient of the William A. Rusher Award for Journalistic Excellence and was named Journalist of the Year by the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2002.
We are happy to have him join us live Tuesday, February 9th at 7:00pm on our Facebook page.
2021 Legislative Agenda
New York State Conservative Party released the Party’s 2021 Legislative Program earlier this week. We publicly submit our Program each year to make clear our beliefs and priorities for the annual legislative session in Albany.
Political parties have a duty to spell out the ideas and legislative measures they support, and we are pleased to do so again in 2021. Unsurprisingly, we continue to call for fiscally sound, pro-economic-growth policies; respect for human life; strong public safety laws; religious and other constitutional freedoms; free-market solutions to healthcare and housing shortages; accountability in education, and government reforms, including the return of powers to the State Legislature, a co-equal branch of New York State government. We urge members of all political affiliations to review and consider these recommendations for a better state.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 2, 2021
Contact: Shaun Marie
518-356-7882
www.cpnys.org @cpnys
NEW YORK STATE CONSERVATIVE PARTY RELEASES 2021 LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM
Brooklyn, NY – New York State Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar today released the Party’s 2021 Legislative Program. The Conservative Party publicly submits its Program each year to make clear its beliefs and priorities for the annual legislative session in Albany.
“Political parties have a duty to spell out the ideas and legislative measures they support, and we are pleased to do so again in 2021,” Mr. Kassar said. “Unsurprisingly, we continue to call for fiscally sound, pro-economic-growth policies; respect for human life; strong public safety laws; religious and other constitutional freedoms; free-market solutions to healthcare and housing shortages; accountability in education, and government reforms, including the return of powers to the State Legislature, a co-equal branch of New York State government. We urge that members of all political affiliations review and consider these prescriptions for a better state.”
You can access the full 2021 Legislative Program on our website or click here.
I knew it, you knew it, and the Governor knew it. Now, he cannot hide it.
According to a new report released Thursday by Attorney General Tish James, the Cuomo administration under-reported COVID nursing home deaths by nearly 55%. An absolutely astonishing number.
For months, grieving families have searched for answers. Why did Cuomo’s Health Department order nursing homes to accept COVID positive patients? They knew the disease to be deadly, yet they placed them amongst the most vulnerable residents of our state, all while the USNS Comfort remained empty on the Hudson and a field hospital at the Javits Center went unused.
“Government guidance requiring the admission of COVID-19 patients into nursing homes, may have put residents at increased risk of harm in some facilities and may have obscured the data available to assess that risk” the report from the Attorney General said.
While you searched for answers, Governor Cuomo wrote a book and was nominated for an International Emmy. You grieved for a loved one, while he posed for the camera. He gleefully sat in front of the camera daily, smiled, cracked jokes, and lied straight to our faces while we spent day and night worrying about our elderly parents.
What the Governor did is beyond shameful, despicable, and dishonest, even for him. To add insult to injury, he has taken repeated victory laps for months and been showered in praise by his lackey’s and sycophants in Albany.
I have called for a full federal investigation into Governor Cuomo and his cover up of thousands of deaths. Additionally, it is time the Governor and his Health Commissioner do right by the people of New York and resign immediately. They are not fit to lead our state, in any capacity, any longer.
Lincoln Project
Rino’s masquerading as real Republicans, or Democrats undercover as Rino’s? No matter how you look at the Lincoln Project is nothing but an organization built on grifting, led by people no longer of any political importance to the world, who can’t quite come to terms with one simple reality; they are not wanted professionally. Anywhere.
If it were up to them, we would have 100 less conservatives walking the halls of Congress and no hope of taking back control of the House of Representatives or Congress in 2022. Instead, they would have us many political cycles, maybe even a decade behind. With what has transpired in Washington in just one week of the Biden administration, I cannot even begin to imagine what multiple years of Democratic control would look like.
The Lincoln Project set out to influence the 2020 elections and propel Democrats to victory over every Trump supporting candidate running for election or re-election to the House. In doing so, they spent $67,000,000 by convincing liberals from all over the country to give them money to run cheesy, non-effective television ads. As we all know now, Republicans would go on to make unexpected gains and give Nancy Pelosi the smallest majority to work with since World War II.
As the Lincoln Project burned left wing money on expensive stunts, like a Times Square billboard in one of the most uncontested districts in America, New York City’s 12th Congressional, Trump had support from 91 percent of Republicans and voters who lean Republican, according to a Fox News Voter Analysis . Although Joe Biden outperformed Hillary Clinton’s 2016 suburban numbers, Donald Trump won a higher percentage of white women in 2020.
Perhaps the Lincoln Project should be spending more time in sensitivity and ethics training following the revelation that co-founder John Weaver resigned after admitting to sending sexually inappropriate messages to at least 30 young men, attempting to trade sexual favors for political favors.
It may be time for the Lincoln Project to take on a more suitable name, perhaps naming themselves after another one time American leader, Benedict Arnold.
The Benedict Arnold Project has a more honest ring to it.
Biden Signs Executive Order Effectively Ending Women’s Sports
President Joe Biden wasted no time issuing an Executive Order “Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation.” This political move became instant news in the sports world. Why? Because of one clause, “Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.”
“There is no comparison, especially between adult females and males, males are just more dominant. They are stronger,” said Dr. Linda Blade, a sports performance specialist.
The Biden administration avoids one very inconvenient point on the topic: how muscle mass, bone density, and lung capacity of biological females give them an unfair disadvantage. Biological men will be competing on a vastly uneven playing field on their way to wins, trophies, championships and college scholarships.
In 2018, Craig Telfer competed for the Franklin Pierce University Mens’ Track Team, he finished eighth in a field of nine competitors. A year later, Telfer competed as CeCe and defeated seven biological women, winning an NCAA women’s track national championship. This is just one example of biological females who have dedicated their life to training and perfecting their craft only to have it taken away by a biological male.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 28, 2021
Contact: Shaun Marie
518-356-7882
www.cpnys.org @cpnys
Statement on Attorney General Nursing Home Report by New York State Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar
“An honorable leader would resign under such circumstances.”
Brooklyn, NY — “Attorney General Letitia James’s damning report on New York nursing home deaths has exposed one of the most egregious cover ups in New York State history. There must be a price to pay.
“The report confirms what millions of New Yorkers already suspected: Governor Andrew Cuomo and his administration willfully manipulated data to hide the number of deaths caused by their inexplicably foolish policy decisions.
“The pain suffered by thousands of New York families who lost loved ones because of the Governor’s poor decisions, compounded by Mr. Cuomo’s appalling braggadocio over the past year about his handling of the Covid-19 crisis, is made more painful still by this report. The Governor tried to wash his hands of their deaths, and now he has been found out.
“An honorable leader would resign under such circumstances.”
It took less than 12 hours for President Biden cancel over 40,000 working class jobs when he halted all work on the Keystone XL pipeline. He followed up that decision to eliminate jobs immediately by re-joining the disastrous Paris Accord which unfairly, and unjustly hurts America.
With the stroke of a pen, President Biden fired an estimated 42,000 American workers who were either employed directly or indirectly to the project. The layoffs will result in over $1.5 billion dollars in lost wages.
Additionally, President Biden did the environment no favors. It is environmentally more friendly for oil to pass through pipes, resulting in 42% less emissions, rather than be transported by rail which increase emissions by nearly 50%. To make matters worse, the cost of a barrel of oil increases between $5 and $10, causing more financial burden on you, the consumer.
That was followed up by his decision to rejoin the Paris Accord which will undoubtedly lead to more American jobs lost while putting an unfair burden on the United States.
Finally, President Biden ordered deportations be halted for 100 days and to open travel from states considered as terrorist hot spots. Caravans are already forming from South America and thousands are heading towards America, during a pandemic, looking to take advantage of the United States and their newly implemented plan to grant undocumented travelers’ entry.
This is just the tip of the iceberg and the ultimate example of elections having consequences.
Attorney General James Attacks NYPD
New York Attorney General Leticia James joined forces with rioters earlier this week when she introduced a lawsuit against the NYPD for responding with force to a destructive mob hellbent on doing damage to city and private property.
Eleven New York City police offers were injured in what James called “peaceful protests.” Conveniently, this summer Attorney General James was MIA as rioters and looters were costing the city of New York tens of millions of dollars.
With early murder rates and shooting victims already outpacing 2020’s dangerous numbers, the NYPD are the only ones serving this city to seem to have any interest in keeping it safe. This attack is asinine and unconscionable.
While thousands have left New York City, leaving the city as an impasse that even Governor Cuomo believes could take 5 years to recover from, it remains unclear to me just how bad the situation here needs to get before voters open their eyes. As a lifelong New Yorker, I can assure you todays inhabitants don’t want to experience the city the way I did in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Ignorance is bliss until the “not in my backyard” crowd experiences it in their backyard.
Cuomo’s Short Sided Budget
Governor Cuomo made it very clear earlier this week that if New York does not receive a federal bailout to the tune of $15 billion, he will sue the federal government then take the states shortcomings and reckless spending out on the taxpayer by way of massive tax hikes.
The new tax rate for top earner would be nearly 11% in New York State, a number that will surely lead to high earners once again packing their bag and heading for friendlier tax pastures. These individuals have a right to save and provide for their families without being the Governors personal piggy bang.
As Senate Minority Rob Ortt stated earlier this week, New York’s overtaxing and reckless spending far predate the financial complications brought on by COVID. “This is poor financial management and poor governing” the Minority Leader said after the budget proposal was released.
Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay echoed Senator Ortt’s thoughts on twitter “Yesterday was not a budget presentation. It was the same finger-pointing rhetoric we have heard for months. Federal help is necessary but threatening legal action if your demands aren’t met is far from a reliable strategy.”
New York has been wildly spending money they don’t have since day 1 of the Cuomo administration, never once stopping to consider the situation the state would be in during a time of crisis. The Governors inability to responsibly plan for our state’s future has put us in a deficit it could take a decade to recover from.
With just days remaining in his term, President Trump was impeached in the House of Representatives in another stunt that was both a waste of time and counterproductive for America.
At a time in which tensions are high, a rushed impeachment with no due process and no trial, just a rushed vote by a Democratic majority, is shameful and set’s a dangerous precedence moving forward.
I want to thank six of our New York Representatives for voting no on the sham impeachment. I had the opportunity to speak with Congressmembers Stefanik, Zeldin, Malliotakis, Jacobs, Garbarino, and Reed. They were thoughtful and clear on why they were voting no. I applaud their transparency and willingness to discuss their rationale.
However, the State Conservative Party is disappointed that one New York Representative did vote with Nancy Pelosi to impeach the President. We consider Congressman John Katko’s actions to be ill-informed. It does nothing to bridge the divide, but it does everything to further aggravate it.
2021 Legislative Agenda
The Executive Committee of the New York State Conservative Party met last weekend in Brooklyn to finalize our legislative agenda.
Amongst the big-ticket items are repealing the criminal justice reforms passed by State Democrats in 2019, ending cashless bail, preventing defunding of the police, opposing the legalization of recreational cannabis, and vigorously defending New York taxpayers against the massive tax increases being proposed by the State Legislature.
As we finalize our agenda in the coming days, I look forward to going into more depth on what you can expect from us in 2021.
Minority Conference Legislative Agenda
For the third consecutive year, State Democrats will control both chambers of the State House in Albany and will surely be looking to expand on their progressive agenda.
The State Legislature that brought us dangerous criminal justice reform, looks to expand on that and continue to give criminals, often repeat offenders, just as many rights as those who abide by the law daily. Additionally, Albany Democrats have made it no secret that they will work to raise taxes, including massive tax increases on the wealthy who continue to leave New York State in droves.
Last week, the Republican Senate released its agenda, “Resetting New York.” Minority Leader Senator Rob Ortt has promised Republicans will oppose all tax increases and will introduce a hostile amendment every day that the Governor continues to hold increased executive powers granted to him by the legislature last year.
In their efforts to get the economy moving in the right direction, The Assembly Minority has also set their agenda called “Jump-Start New York: A Plan for Economic Recovery.” Assembly Republicans are also looking to decrease the Governors powers and increase local authorities’ powers during times of crisis. Additionally, they want to implement the “NY Business Emergency Relief Act of 2021” to direct unallocated funds to business relief purposes.
