We have a clear choice for governor this year, Carl Paladino, a self-made businessman, or Andrew Cuomo, a status quo Albany insider and career politician.
In four years with the disgraced and scandal-ridden Spitzer-Paterson administration, Cuomo has never offered a serious plan to cut spending, reduce taxes, create jobs, or reform government. But now that he is running for governor and needs your vote, he suddenly has a plan to fix New York.
Status-quo politicians like Andrew Cuomo are responsible for New York’s out-of-control spending, high taxes, closed factories, empty storefronts, and dysfunctional government.
Furthermore, Cuomo is not the squeaky-clean reformer he professes to be. In an August 2006 investigative report, the Voice’s Wayne Barrett exposed Cuomo’s cozy relationship with subsidized-housing slumlord Andrew Farkas. Farkas was caught red-handed using $7.6 million in HUD subsidies for kickbacks to owners of federally subsidized housing projects he managed. On Cuomo’s watch he settled out of court, paid no penalties and admitted no wrongdoing.
Not surprisingly, after leaving HUD, Cuomo raked in over $1.2 million from a Farkas company and $800,000 in campaign contributions from the Farkas family and business associates. Now Farkas is Cuomo’s campaign finance chairman.
Cuomo was the force behind pushing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into the subprime housing market and excluding big mortgage lenders from disclosing mortgage terms. This led directly to the subprime mortgage crisis.
Carl Paladino is not a politician and he is not beholden to special interests, shady contributors, or Albany insiders. Paladino is a successful businessman who has actual created private-sector jobs. He will cut spending, taxes, and burdensome regulations to create a climate where business can prosper and create sustainable good-paying jobs. We need to clean house in Albany, and electing Carl Paladino governor would be a great first step.
Daniel Bray
Washington Street
Canandaigua