Not many politicians can radiate confidence while challenging a sitting governor with good approval ratings — and a $33 million campaign war chest.
But that’s just what Rob Astorino did on Wednesday when the Republican Westchester County executive announced he is running for governor.
That’s good news even for New Yorkers who don’t support him. Democracy depends on voters choosing from candidates with competing visions. Unfortunately, New Yorkers have gone a long time without a candidate willing to campaign for a government that lives within its means, lets workers keep more of what they earn and looks at the private sector for the economic growth that creates jobs and opportunity.
Astorino could be this candidate. To begin with, not only does he have a vision, he has hands-on experience putting these principles into practice. Back in 2009, he defeated a two-term Democratic incumbent for county executive on the theme of “stop the tax madness.” Once in office, he cut both taxes and spending.
Apparently, citizens liked what they saw. Last year, he was re-elected with 56 percent of the vote. What makes this so compelling is that Westchester is a county where Democrats hold a two-to-one advantage in enrolled voters. Even so, Astorino won the support of two local NAACP leaders and says internal polls show him gaining 61 percent of the Latino vote.
The heart of the message he laid out in his video Wednesday is that today’s New York is last in too many categories — especially our business climate — and we are losing people to states like Florida and Texas. That’s not a future he says he wants for his children. He also scores Gov. Cuomo for sitting on his hands at a time when fracking offers the state tax revenues, good jobs and lower energy prices.
In his own appearance before the charter-school rally this week, Gov. Cuomo made an excellent point when he noted that while New York spends the most per pupil on education, the results rank in the lower half. We’d guess this is true of much of New York’s spending. And if Rob Astorino has his way, New Yorkers are finally going to get a real debate about that.