ALBANY — Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino accepted the Republican nomination for governor Thursday by proclaiming that his mission is to save New York.
“They’ve nearly ruined a once-great state,” Astorino said of the Cuomo administration in remarks that were greeted with loud cheers at the GOP state convention in Rye Brook, Westchester.
Comparing his record as county executive to Cuomo’s as governor, Astorino pledged to bring the same fiscal discipline to Albany as he has to Westchester.
“New York government grew so wide, so fast, and so broad that it had to tax its people into the ground to support itself,” Astorino charged.
He said he would repeal the SAFE Act, the state’s strict gun law, and the Common Core, the state’s new school curriculum, if elected.
The challenger has a lot of ground to make up. He has $1 million in his war chest, compared with $33 million for Cuomo, and trailed the governor by 30 points in a recent poll.