Republican candidate Joe Lhota lost the mayoral race big-time last week, but his party prevailed in several contests in blue-leaning areas outside the city. At least one of those GOP winners, Rob Astorino, tells The Post’s Fredric U. Dicker he might run for governor next year.
And why not?
Four years ago, Astorino was elected Westchester county exec by vowing to rein in property taxes there, which are among the nation’s highest. He made good, shaving the tax levy 2 percent, after it had risen 17 percent over the previous five years. This went hand-in-hand with budget cuts, including a 15 percent payroll trim.
Today, the county spends less than when Astorino first took office.
Given Bill de Blasio’s ideological hostility to businesses and his vow to hike taxes, it wouldn’t surprise us to see Astorino try to lure city firms to Westchester — just as Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Texas Gov. Rick Perry have done on behalf of their states.
Of course, the city is not the only place with a climate hostile to enterprise. “New York is hemorrhaging jobs,” says Astorino, which he blames on the state’s “extraordinarily high taxes,” its “terrible regulatory climate” and Medicaid and public-pension costs that are “killing counties, local governments and school districts.”
If Astorino takes on Gov. Cuomo, he’d have a ready-made plan to spur jobs Upstate: opening up New York to fracking.
Sure, Blue York’s gov would still be tough to beat, as Astorino himself notes.
But Dicker reports that Astorino already has “several financial heavy hitters” ready to back him in a run for governor. What makes it interesting is this: In Astorino, Republicans have a man who’s shown how to run on core GOP principles — and win.