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Politician Press Releases
As we draw closer to the Republican Party Primary election, being held September 12, it is important that the voter understand my reasons for investing time, energy and money into a campaign.
There are many issues facing New York which have to be addressed in the State Legislature. The following is a brief look at just a few of them and what they mean to the residents of New York.
Excessive State Spending – During the last legislative session, the state legislature approved a budget in the amount of 113 billion dollars. This represents a 13 billion dollar increase in state spending and coincidentally a 13 percent increase. This spending increase is nearly 4 times the rate of inflation and threatens New York’s already fragile economy.
We must come to grips with the fact that Legislators in Albany are unwilling to curtail spending. Every dollar comes from you. The art of politics allows each level of government to blame the other for over spending but regardless who generates the invoice the taxpayers of the state pay the bill.
Shifting the burden from the county to the state only means the state will take more from you but will not in any way alleviate your total tax bill. It is impossible to have tax relief without corresponding reductions in spending.
In last years legislative session the legislature gave billions of dollars in guarantees and incentives to public and private sector unions in exchange for support in this upcoming election year. Union leaders describe the last session as the most successful in recent memory and yet they continue pressing for additional benefits while our state is rapidly loosing population and manufacturing jobs.
I propose to introduce legislation freezing state total dollar spending at the 2006 level of 100 billion dollars. Though it is not an immediately reduction it will provide sufficient funds to maintain vital services while a reengineering of state agencies begins. It is my hope that as a result of this measure an ultimate reduction in total dollar spending can be realized within 2 years.
Excessive State Debt – New York debt estimates range from as low as 200 billion dollars to over a mind boggling 500 billion dollars. In an effort to convince the residents that all is good, property tax rebate checks are being sent to home owners at a cost for postage of about 3 million dollars. However, this so called rebate is funded with borrowed money. That means the taxpayer will receive a rebate check from the state which in some cases will result in an increased income tax liability. In addition, the money will have to be returned to the state at a later date with interest in order to repay the debt.
This scheme while certainly intended to solicit votes during this election season will in fact exacerbate the debt problems in New York and make the recovery that much more difficult.
In addition to the obvious consequences there are also the not so obvious. Since it is at some point cheaper to leave than pay the bill, many across New York will choose in the next few years to depart New York for more affordable pastures. State debt will contribute to lost jobs, increases in foreclosures, business failures and ultimately increased taxes for those that remain and actually work.
I propose to introduce legislation that will require the state to provide funds to begin the elimination of the state debt. Additionally, the legislation should provide that any surplus be applied directly to the debt.
State Pension – The state pension represents the single biggest grab of public funds in recent memory. It is astounding that the pension program while granting benefits unheard of in the private sector should be insured from loss by the taxpayers.
The state pension fund, like so many are invested in the markets. As is common, the markets may from time to time increase or decrease in value. When the state pension fund experiences a loss in the market, the loss is passed onto the residents of New York who very possibly suffered the same loss. Therefore, the pension plan is made whole while the taxpayers are damaged twice. Once by a declining market, and again by increased taxes to replenish the pension fund.
This should not be allowed to continue. The residents of New York are not here to provide “public servants” a lavish living during and after being employed by the state. A reasonable reorganization of the pension plan must begin immediately. Such legislation will however never happen as long as legislators are recipients of campaign contributions from public sector unions. As one man put it “we already have the best legislators money can buy”.
Therefore I propose to introduce legislation prohibiting public employees from contributing to the campaigns of candidates for public office. This type of legislation is already in place at the federal level and must be put in place in New York. We must remove the obvious conflict of interest which exists when legislators accept monies from public unions or representatives of those unions.
Property Taxes – the essential components of the property tax formula are, irresponsible spending and unaccountable management.
New York residents pay the highest property taxes in the country. In and of itself this may not be all that bad but for our money we have horrible roads, failing schools, an enormously inefficient Medicaid system and totally unresponsive legislatures from county to state.
The state legislature must begin a study into the funding of local municipalities with the objective of relieving property owners of the crippling effect of property taxes. Every issue, every idea must be put on the table in order to rebuild New York.
No individual should ever loose a home for the inability to pay property taxes. The practice of seizing homes for taxes must be stopped and I will propose legislation which will do just that.
Second Amendment – New York has some of the most restrictive gun legislation in the nation. I recognize there are those that commit crimes with firearms however, law abiding citizens have a constitutional right to own and purchase firearms for reasons of sport, protection or no reason at all. The actions of the lawless do not constitute reason to violate the rights of the lawful.
I submit to you that if not all, nearly all of New York’s restrictive gun control laws are unconstitutional and I would work to repeal every one of these laws.
The purpose of the second amendment was to protect the citizen’s ability to defend themselves from a corrupted government. We must not allow ourselves to forget the price of liberty and the cost of regaining it once lost. Gun legislation, however well intentioned, weakens the citizenry and strips them of their ability to defend themselves.
State Agencies – the agencies of the state which interact with the community are in large measure unaccountable for violations of law. Agencies such as the Department of Taxation, Workers Compensation Board, and Department of Labor often use the appearance of authority to extort monies from private citizens and local businesses.
Persons or businesses threatened by these agencies have only two options: pay the extortion or hire an attorney and defend yourself. The trouble is that the legal process is so convoluted that the cost of litigation exceeds the cost of the extortion. Hence, many simply pay the agencies even though they may not agree with the assessment of the agency.
I propose to introduce legislation which will strip agents of the state of protection from prosecution both civilly and criminally for crimes committed in the performance of their office. This legislation will also reimburse victims of agency extortion all legal fees and provide restitution for other quantifiable losses.
The people have the right to know that the agents of the state with whom they interact are knowledgeable of the laws they are enforcing and remain within the laws that govern their behavior.
God Bless You All,
Leonard A. Roberto
Republican Candidate NYS Senate
© Copyright 2008 by Speakupwny.com
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