Politics & Government

Westchester County Executive Candidates Slug it Out During WCA Debate

Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino and New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson didn't say anything new during Wednesday's debate inside the Atrium at 1133 Westchester Ave. in White Plains.

But the two candidates in this year's County Executive race didn't waste time feeling each other out like they did during their first debate earlier this month. Instead, the candidates picked up where they left and began their attacks early during the event, which was organized by the Westchester County Association and moderated by Steve Scott, host of WCBS 880’s “Eye on Politics.”

Astorino, the Republican candidate, pointed to his record of decreasing the tax levy since he was elected to office in 2009.  He accused Bramson, his Democratic opponent, of raising taxes in New Rochelle by 109 percent during his tenure.
 
"Now let's talk about New Rochelle," Astorino said. "So in 2009, when the economy was in a tailspin, when people could not afford to stay in their homes...what was happening in New Rochelle? The taxes were going up on an average of 7 percent a year...You think that's acceptable?"

Astorino also attacked Bramson for accepting a pay raise in his first year as mayor.

"He accepts and votes for a 40 percent pay hike to $89,000 and when the economy was really going bad and people were losing their jobs, he could've said no to that," Astorino said. "But what did he do? He did the opposite of what should've been done."

Bramson accused Astorino of lying and brought up a ruling by the Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee in August that said five claims Astorino made against against him in a television campaign ad were unfair.

"He hopes that these types of claims will serve as a distraction," Bramson said. "Five of his specific claims were deemed unfair and untrue by the Westchester Fair Campaign Practices Committee...That 109 percent statistic that you heard a moment ago, if you look at the same amount of time in every big city of Westchester County, it turns out that the rate change in New Rochelle was the lowest and today, New Rochelle has the lowest municipal tax rate of those same large cities."

Bramson also defended his workload as mayor.

"Governing a diverse complex city of 18,000 require an enormous amount of attention and I have thrown myself into every sort of challenge because I know that's my job," Bramson said. "And when I think about the level of neglect Rob, of economic policy, environmental policy, a lack of energy applied to solving duplication and wast among different public institutions in Westchester....I wonder if you're showing up at work at all."

Bramson went on to call Astorino's political ideology extreme and attacked him for vetoing a proposed last year that would create a protective buffer for patients at reproductive health clinics, reinstating gun shows at the Westchester County Center in 2010 and voicing support for the state Conservative party in its opposition of same sex marriage.

"I consider those positions, you're entitled to hold them, but they are far to the right, far more conservative, far more in line with the Tea Party than what people in Westchester expect from their leaders at the regional level," Bramson said. 

Said Astorino: "The only thing extreme are you tax increases. If you hate the Tea Party so much, I'm going to ask you a question. Mr. Giulio Cavallo, founder of the [Westchester] Tea Party has endorsed you. Mr. Giulio Cavallo is on your campaign. So I call on Mr. Giulio Cavallo to step down as chairman of the Independence Part. I call on you to do the same. Or is that the Tea Party is alright if it's with you?"

Tweets from Wednesday's debate can be viewed above in Storify. The Journal News Media Group also be recorded the debate for broadcast on lohud.com.

Wednesday's debate was sponsored by the Building Contractors Association Westchester and Mid-Hudson Valley, Inc., the Construction Industry Council of Westchester & Hudson Valley, Inc., the RPW Group, Inc. and the Journal News Media Group.





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