Daily Campaign Roundup: Kaplowitz Fights For Property Tax Cap
By Mike Connery on 08/09/2010 @ 04:45 PM
TODAY'S CAMPAIGN ROUND-UP.... Today's installment of campaign-related news. Democratic Candidate Mike Kaplowitz fights for property tax cap. Democratic Candidate Joanne Yepsen leading the way to save New York's racing industry. Republican Senator puts personal profit ahead of public health.
- Democratic Candidate Mike Kaplowitz fights for property tax cap – Mike Kaplowitz denounced The State Assembly for failing to pass the property tax cap that the Democratic Majority in the State Senate passed last week. “It is disappointing that the Assembly left town for the summer without also passing the property tax cap. This is Albany dysfunction at its worst. There is no excuse for the Assembly’s failure to enact the cap into law.” Kaplowitz brought attention to the fact that New Yorkers pay the highest property taxes in the country and that local property taxes in New York grew by 73% from 1998 to 2008 -- more than twice the rate of inflation. “Unless the Assembly enacts a property tax cap immediately, more New Yorkers will lose their homes, more families will be forced to leave our state, and more jobs will be lost,” Kaplowitz said.
- Democratic Candidate Joanne Yepsen on Aqueduct Deal: Seal It Now - Joanne Yepsen is urging the state to act quickly on New York State Lottery Division’s recommendation to award the Aqueduct Race Track video lottery terminal contract to Genting Inc. “New York state is losing $1 million a day in revenue until the VLTs are up and running at Aqueduct, forcing taxpayers to pick up the difference in funding state programs. Tragically, this nine-year delay has cost $2.5 billion in revenue to New York state, all at a time when our deficit and unemployment rate are of great concern,” Yepsen said.
Last Friday, Yepsen met with Sen. Eric Adams, chair of the Senate Racing Committee, to talk about the Aqueduct Race Track bidding, argue for the necessity of capital investment in the Saratoga Race Course, and highlight the local jobs and economic activity tied to such a project. Yepsen has been leading on this issue for quite some time and has continually stressed the importance of this revenue stream, “not just to Saratoga but to our entire state." - Republican Senator George Winner deemed “poster boy for Albany ethics mess” – Republican George Winner failed to disclose “a glaring, previously hidden conflict of interest on an issue of grave concern to all water-drinking New Yorkers.” The issue is hand is permitting hydrofracking in New York -- something Winner is a vocal proponent of. It was revealed that Winner’s his law firm has done work for some of the very companies who are seeking to make millions off the process and are lobbying the Senate to be able to drill upstate. In a true act of political cowardice, Winner is refusing to say who exactly his clients are -- or how much they are paying him. This led The New York Daily News to call this a “slam-dunk example of why the state Legislature needs ethical scrubbing.” Democrat Pam Mackesey is running to replace Winner, who is retiring, in the 53rd Senatorial District. Mackesey supports a moratorium on hydrofracking until all New Yorkers can be assured that it will not negatively impact their health in any way.
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