LETTER: Cuomo attacks the very constituents that pay his salary

Last week, Governor Cuomo made a very insensitive statement about those Republicans (and numerous Democrats) who have disagreed with some of his recent proposals and laws.

Frustrated that his agenda has consistently met bipartisan opposition from across the state, the Governor took to the radio to call those of us who have legitimate disagreements with him “extreme” and stated that those who agree with us “have no place in the state of New York.”

As an elected official, I’m used to being called names, but for the Governor to levy such an insult on people he is paid to represent crosses a line.

It is unconscionable for him to spend his time attacking such “extremes” as private religious views held by several million New Yorkers, while remaining painfully silent on the extremes that are having a very real and very negative impact on New Yorkers in their everyday lives.

Since November, New Yorkers have watched their electricity rates almost double; according to the U.S. Department of Energy, New Yorkers paid the highest electricity rates at the end of 2013 out of all the state in the mainland U.S.

This wasn’t a surprise: for years, independent experts have plead with the Governor to make it easier to generate clean electricity in New York, only to meet continued opposition from state agencies run by Cuomo appointees.

When can we expect the Governor to decry the extreme regulatory problems that have made our electrical bills more than 50% higher than the national average with the same energy that he condemns law-abiding gun owners?

In the meantime, our school and property taxes continue to climb.

The reforms that were promised by the Governor when he proposed the tax cap have failed to materialize, and New York is more secure than ever in its position as having the highest such taxes in the nation.

Will the Governor speak out against the extreme unfairness of seniors having to choose between paying property taxes and buying medicine with the same gusto that he attacks Catholics, Orthodox Jews and Muslims?

New York presently sits near the top of all the bad lists and the bottom of all the good ones.

Taxes, business climate, corruption, cost of living, even car insurance rates—and that’s only naming a few.

Unlike the religious and political views of private citizens, these are things that Albany actually has the ability to change.

With courage and hard work, Governor Cuomo has the ability to make New York a better place to live.

So why does he choose to make inflammatory political statements instead?

There are five months remaining in the legislative session.

That’s plenty of time to lower property taxes, make New York more affordable and help the private sector create jobs.

Making New York a better place to live isn’t a Democrat or a Republican issue.

Choosing to make political attacks against dissenters might be easier than taking on the Albany special interests, but it’s not what the Governor was hired to do and it is definitely not what the people of New York want or expect.

The extreme intolerance he displayed on the radio last week definitely has no place in New York.

Assemblyman 

Steve McLaughlin

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