N.Y. Republican opponents push back on Hochul’s $216 billion budget and $21 million campaign war chest
ALBANY — Republicans seeking to unseat Gov. Hochul are not fans of her $216 billion budget proposal.
Several top Republicans took issue with the governor’s fiscal plan, accusing Hochul of trying to spend her way out of the COVID crisis and at the same time failing to provide enough economic relief to the average New Yorker.
Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), the presumed GOP gubernatorial front-runner from Long Island, assailed the budget as a continuation of Democrats’ “tax and spend, Albany-knows-best mindset.”
“Albany’s never-ending assault on the wallets of hardworking New Yorkers has been relentless and unsustainable,” Zeldin said. “This is one of the primary reasons why New York leads the nation in population loss percentage and why every single day more and more New Yorkers hit their breaking point and flee the state for good.”
Despite Zeldin’s contention, Hochul’s plan includes several tax cuts, including $2.2 billion in one-time property tax rebates for low- and middle-income homeowners.
Hochul is also proposing moving up planned tax cuts scheduled for 2025 to next year.
Former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, also mounting a run for the Executive Mansion, took similar umbrage with Hochul’s proposals.
“It’s a classic Albany status-quo budget – the special interests get everything they want and the taxpayers get patronized, then stuck with the bill,” he said. “When I’m governor we will audit every penny of the state budget, cut the waste and redundancy, lower our debt, reduce taxes in a real way and cap spending.”
While Hochul called for large infusions of cash for pandemic recovery efforts, such as supporting health care workers and struggling businesses, much of what she has pitched is covered by federal relief funds.
Hochul said Tuesday her plan will maintain a balanced budget and projected no gaps or deficits for the next five years and the current surplus will allow for more money to be stashed into the state’s rainy-day reserve fund.
“For the first time ever, with smart planning, New York will have no out-year gaps,” Hochul said. “All these commitments are either one-time expenditures or are supported by the expectation of a reasonable growth in revenue as projected by our division of budget.”
The attacks come as campaign finance disclosures reveal Hochul has amassed a campaign war chest topping $21 million as she seeks a full term in office and faces a Democratic primary in June.
Hochul’s challengers have raised a fraction of her record-breaking haul.
On the Republican side, Zeldin has about $5.5 million in his campaign coffers after bringing in $4.3 million in contributions over the past five months.
Astorino, who previously mounted a failed gubernatorial bid against former governor Andrew Cuomo in 2014, has about $1.3 million on hand. Andrew Giuliani, the son of former mayor Rudy Giuliani, has brought in about $188,000 in contributions.
The governor’s primary opponents have likewise struggled to match her fundraising efforts.
Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-N.Y.), who has called for state investigations into Hochul over reports related to her use of state aircraft to attend campaign events, has slightly more than $5 million in his account.
New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, meanwhile, raised $222,000 for his bid.
Williams, who ran a fairly competitive lieutenant governor race against Hochul in 2018, also took aim at Hochul’s budget proposal this week.
Unlike Republican critics, Williams called on Hochul to find more ways to raise money to support additional efforts to assist struggling New Yorkers.
“The Governor’s insistence that we cannot create long-term programs because of a lack of funding is undercut by her refusal to include common-sense revenue raising measures in her budget,” he said in a statement. “We need a budget and approach that makes longtime investments that improve people’s lives – not just for a year but for the course of their lifetimes.”
