Politics
Tom Suozzi Comes to Town
By Michael Rebmann
Aug 3, 2006, 16:19

Tom Suozzi spoke to a packed house in West Seneca yesterday evening. About 90 to 100 people listened to Suozzi for 35 minutes at the Carriagers Social Club. Mr. Suozzi opened up the floor to questions from the audience for the final 30 minutes of his appearance. The focus of his talk was to answer the question “why vote for Suozzi instead of Eliot Spitzer, the front-runner?”

Suozzi started out by reminding us why people are leaving New York State. The reasons are taxation, out of control government and the poor business climate. He then talked about the differences in his experience as a County Executive and Eliot Spitzer’s as State Attorney General. Tom Suozzi was elected to the County Executive position in Nassau County, a county that was in dire financial condition. He not only managed to stop the bleeding, but completely turned the county around. He accomplished this by standing up to the status quo politicians and special interests that were the root cause of the problems. He vows to do the same thing for New York State as Governor. It is not a problem caused by Democrats or Republicans, it is a problem caused by a corrupt system. He mentioned the politics of Bruno and Silver as prime causes of our economic woes.

Eliot Spitzer, on the other hand, has been Attorney General for 7 ½ years. In that time he has had more than enough opportunities to go after corruption in government. Instead, he chose to be the “Sheriff of Wall Street” and go after businesses in the financial and insurance industries. These businesses are not the reason people are fleeing the State. Instead of tackling government reform, Eliot Spitzer was more concerned with generating headlines and enhancing his political future instead of doing real good for the people of New York.

Tom Suozzi elaborated on the status quo. He pointed out that the same special interests and lobbyists who support Pataki, Silver and Bruno are the same groups supporting Eliot Spitzer. These people want Eliot Spitzer in the Governor’s mansion so they can continue business as usual in New York State. Tom Suozzi plan will make business as usual a thing of the past. His plan will attract businesses to New York, not just the City, but Upstate as well. When the businesses come, it is only natural that people will follow.

Suozzi said that a typical turnout in the primary, about 17% (700,000) would result in a Spitzer victory. A turnout of 1.2 million would result in a Suozzi victory. The action, or lack of, from the voters on primary day will determine the path for Western New York and the rest of the State.

A special thank you goes out to Cynthia Locklear for organizing the public meeting with Mr. Suozzi.



Photography by Michael Rebmann
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