Tedisco: “No Matter What the Governor Says, It’s Public Safety, Stupid!”

“No matter what the Governor says today in his State of the State Address, it’s public safety, stupid!”

“We should be mindful that the most basic function of government at any level is to protect the public and keep them safe from harm.  The number one issue my constituents tell me they’re concerned about is the ability of our law enforcement to successfully do that because of the new bail reform law, which went into effect on January 1^st.”

“Short of repealing the bail reform law as I have proposed (S.6849), the Governor and Legislature’s top priority should be to close the revolving door of danger and disaster and pass legislation like the bi-partisan bill (S.6861/Assembly Bill # pending) I have authored with Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara to give judges greater discretion as to whether an alleged perpetrator poses a threat to the community before automatically releasing them under the state’s new bail reform law.”

“Giving judges more discretion on bail to protect the public should be the first legislation that gets passed this session. Any changes to the bail and discovery reform law should be debated and voted on their own merits on the Floors of both houses of the Legislature and NOT as part of the state budget. New York State is in this public safety nightmare now because the bail reform law was passed in the dark of night as part of the budget without proper vetting. Let’s get this done now and let’s do it with full transparency!” 

“Meanwhile, New York State government is grappling with a $6.1 billion deficit and the solution our downstate leaders are eyeing is more of the same bad medicine that poisoned our state’s economy in the first place:  Higher taxes on middle class taxpayers and small businesses. And all indications are that’s their prescription as Speaker Heastie has been using the code words for higher taxes and spending: ‘raising revenue.”

“New York State is seeing an unprecedented population loss. The millions who have fled our state and those who are now contemplating their exodus to a more taxpayer-friendly state have one thing in common:  No one wants to be the last one left in New York to pay for our state’s overzealous taxes, regulations, mandates and laws. We need both a short term plan to address the budget deficit and a long term policy of moderation and common sense – not more social experimentation on the taxpayer’s dime!”

“As the original sponsor of and driving force for passage of the Property Tax Cap, I’m heartened that it has been made permanent. But what’s good for the goose should be good enough for the gander. That’s why we need to permanently cap state spending.  We must reduce state taxes, unfunded state mandates and regulations for taxpayers, municipalities and our small businesses. We need better broadband and cellular coveragein large swaths of Upstate New York and the 49^thDistrict where it is lacking or non-existent. We need fair and full funding for the diversity of needs for our Upstate schools. And we must oppose any toll hikeon the New York State Thruway, which is just a backdoor tax increase that will lead to increased consumer prices and costs to businesses.”

“New York has a chance to be the Empire State again but we can’t keep reaching into the same well of higher taxes as has happened in the past.”

“Sure, the Democrats can continue to ‘Just Tax It’ in New York. And if they do, taxpayers will continue to ‘Just Leave It.” 

“And then who will be left to pay the bills?”