Gov. Cuomo Sets Course For Reelection Campaign With Tax Cut Gambit

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is hoping to win over some voters upstate with a plan that would cut somewhere from $2 to $3 billion in New York State taxes and fees.

In a surprising announcement scheduled for Wednesday morning, Cuomo will appoint former Gov. George Pataki and former Democratic state Controller Carl McCall to head a task force charged with finding ways to cut between $2 billion and $3 billion in taxes next year, a source with ties to McCall said Tuesday night.

Cuomo wants to announce an aggressive tax-cutting plan as he heads into his reelection run next year.

On the face, this makes perfect sense. New York has a reputation as a high tax state, but when you look under the hood, the tax cuts would do New Yorkers a tremendous disservice. There are several high profile projects around the state that are in dire need of funding, and some or all of the money to be cut would go a long way to funding those projects.

I'm talking about critical infrastructure improvements.

In New York City alone, there's Phase 2 of the Second Avenue Subway that needs to be funded so that the East Side of Manhattan commuters get relief beyond a stub line. Throw in bridge repairs and infrastructure improvements in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, and there's a pretty long list.

Then, there's Gov. Cuomo's pet project - the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement. It's waiting on confirmation of a federal loan program to fund the project, and the state has already borrowed nearly a billion dollars to get the project off the ground.

Upstate infrastructure needs significant investments, including sewer and water treatment facility upgrades, road rebuilding, and bridge repair or replacement.

Instead of cutting these revenue sources altogether, redirect some or all to fund infrastructure projects that will help modernize the state's crumbling infrastructure and to protect its residents from the effects from tropical storms and hurricanes.

New York Trio of D'Amato, Koch and McCall Calls Paladino Out For His Racism

Here's the open letter written and signed by none other than former US Senator Al D'Amato (R), former NYC Mayor Ed Koch (D), and former state comptroller and gubernatorial candidate H Carl McCall, attesting to Carl Paladino's inadequacy and competency to be governor of New York:

KochMcCallDAmatoOnPaladino

The three make several very important points. Paladino has engaged in divisive behavior, including distributing racist and bigoted emails, which are an affront to a significant portion of the state's population.

Paladino claims to be an outsider, and yet has spent tons of his money to lobby for state business and has profited from those lobbying efforts to the tune of millions of dollars. Far from being an outsider, he's used and abused the very system he complains about.

His response to the letter is to brand D'Amato, Koch, and McCall as little more than lackeys to Cuomo.

The way I see it, those three wouldn't have joined together unless they saw the state in such perilous shape and that it needed someone who would take the situation seriously without adding to an already rancorous and toxic environment in Albany. Paladino clearly needs to cast the three as lackeys to Cuomo, but that just doesn't wash - particularly with D'Amato.

UPDATE:
Gothamist has a list of Paladino's latest utterances and classic rants, but they missed the one where Paladino called Speaker Silver Hitler.

Note too that Paladino claims to oppose abortion, even in cases of rape and incest. That's a position that runs counter to most New Yorkers, who prefer a right to abortion, including in such instances. Andrew Cuomo's father, Mario, had long opposed abortion on religious grounds, until shifting his views to accepting a woman's right to choose.