Times Editorial Comes on the Heels of Endorsement from Mayor Bloomberg

WHITE PLAINS – State Senate candidate Bob Cohen (R,I,C – 37th District) was today endorsed by the New York Times. In their endorsement, the Times wrote:

"The Republican candidate, Bob Cohen, dares to name United States Senator Jacob Javits — a voice of thoughtful moderation — as his hero. He is challenging Senator Suzi Oppenheimer, a Democrat, who has held the seat for 26 years.

A real estate executive and political newcomer, Mr. Cohen has promised to focus on straightening out the mess of a state budget. He wants to cap state spending with adjustments for inflation, set long-term targets for Medicaid and schools, and eliminate “all V.I.P. tax credits to politically connected insiders.” Mr. Cohen says he wants to work with both sides of the aisle, a revolutionary idea, especially in this polarized year. Senator Oppenheimer is a person of integrity, but she has too little to show for her years in Albany. "

We support Bob Cohen, the Republican, in District 37.

View the Times endorsement here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/opinion/29fri3.html

New York City Mayor: We Need Fresh and Energetic New Leaders in Albany Like Bob Cohen.

WHITE PLAINS – Independent Mayor Michael Bloomberg has endorsed Bob Cohen (R,I,C) to be the next state Senator representing the 37th District. To date, Cohen is the only challenger for state Senate that Mayor Bloomberg has endorsed.

“Albany is broken and it has been for too long,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “It's time for a change. Bob Cohen is a businessman, not a career politician, and he is running to bring fiscal order to Albany. I’m an independent and I support candidates for office from both parties who I think are best for New York State. That’s why I’m strongly supporting Bob Cohen for State Senate in Westchester.”

Mr. Cohen said, “Mayor Bloomberg has been a model for independent leadership and has shown great courage and determination in taking on the special interests who have taken over Albany. From the Senate, I look forward to working with him to reform our corrupt government, reduce what has become the highest tax burden in the nation, and create more stable, good-paying jobs. I could not be more honored to have the endorsement of Mayor Bloomberg and I thank him for his support and confidence in my campaign.”

WHITE PLAINS – State Senate candidate Bob Cohen (R,I,C – 37th District) today cited a new study by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation that singled out New York as having the worst tax climate in the nation as further support for the need of widespread change in Albany.

“People are voting with their feet and we are witnessing the depopulation of New York State because of the reckless string of fiscally irresponsible budgets that Senator Oppenheimer has supported over 26 years in the Senate,” said Cohen. “The policies of Senator Oppenheimer and her allies in the spending lobby are destroying the state’s economy, and if this continues, more young people, more retirees, and more employers will look for opportunity elsewhere.”

According to the study New York fell to 50th in the nation in this year’s Tax Foundation rankings, down from 49th last year. New York now has a worse tax climate than California and New Jersey. View the full report here: http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/22658.html.
Kail Padgitt, a staff economist at the foundation who wrote the study, told the New York Post: “New York has a lot of things that tend to be indicative of bad tax policy.”

STATEMENT FROM BOB COHEN

The findings in the state Inspector General’s bombshell report on the bidding process for selecting a VLT operator at Aqueduct race course are appalling. While I am disgusted that politicians can’t even manage to keep their unethical activities within the bounds of Albany’s already lenient rules, what’s more distressing is that it happened right under Senator Oppenheimer’s nose and she didn’t have a clue.

The people implicated in this report are her long-time colleagues, her party leaders that she voted to put there. Indeed, she is a member of the so-called Ethics Committee that Senator Sampson chairs and his name is all over this report. I, for one, would like to know if she will continue to support them as the leaders of her conference.

From the beginning, Albany’s career politicians rigged the process, placing personal and political gain ahead of the taxpayers. Again, New Yorkers will pay millions for Albany’s incompetence and face further embarrassment from their state government. And again, Senator Oppenheimer is asleep at the switch and it is costing taxpayers millions.

Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee Finds Oppenheimer Attacks are Intentionally Misleading and Factually Inaccurate

WHITE PLAINS – State Senate candidate Bob Cohen’s campaign today demanded that Senator Oppenheimer stop her campaign of negative, unfounded personal attacks after the bogus claims she makes in her first television advertisement were debunked by an independent review panel. Following a hearing yesterday evening, the Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee ruled the advertisement an ‘unfair campaign practice.’ The ruling is below.

“The Committee basically confirmed what we’ve been saying all along – that the whole focus of Senator Oppenheimer’s campaign thus far has been based on a pack of lies,” said spokesman Josh Hills. “Her advertisements are fiction; complete with imaginary tenants and a fabricated a government agency. They even used a building that is not owned by Bob Cohen as a backdrop. Her whole campaign is based on untruths.

The Business Council endorses Cohen for State Senate

ALBANY— The Business Council of New York State, Inc. is endorsing Bob Cohen for the New York State Senate in the 37th Senate district.

“Bob Cohen is a business man who knows how difficult it is to create jobs and grow in New York because of the burdens placed on our economy by Albany,” said Kenneth Adams, president and CEO of The Business Council of New York State.

“Bob’s opponent, Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer, has consistently voted for higher taxes and costly mandates on business. To create jobs and move our economy forward we must lower the cost of doing business in New York. Bob Cohen understands that,” added Adams.

Cohen supports the Business Council’s Enough Already NY campaign’s Five to Survive economic reform agenda which includes: a property tax cap; a state spending cap; reducing the tax burden; reforming public employee pensions and limiting government borrowing.
Oppenheimer scored 15 percent on the Business Council’s Voters’ Guide consistently voting for higher taxes, including the MTA payroll tax. The voters' guide is available here.

The endorsement comes through the Business Council’s Political Action Committee. Kenneth Adams made the endorsement at a media conference in White Plains.

WHITE PLAINS – State Senate candidate Bob Cohen (R,I,C – 37th District) today warned MTA commuters of another massive fare hike beginning on January first as part of the Legislature’s multi-billion dollar plan to bailout the troubled authority. Senator Oppenheimer cast the deciding vote on the measure in 2009.

“The obvious solution is to make the MTA run more efficiently, not to add new taxes on struggling employers and hike fares for commuters,” said Cohen. “But career politicians like Senator Oppenheimer always find it easier to throw more tax dollars at their problems – even as they become more and more scarce. She’s driving up costs for commuters while doing nothing to reform the deeply seeded problems of the MTA.”

In addition to adding a new payroll tax on every business, non-profit group, and municipality in Westchester County, the Oppenheimer plan raises fares for commuters by as much as 9.4 percent in January depending on their route.

“There is a whole list of new taxes and fees that would have been avoided had Senator Oppenheimer voted in the interest of her constituents instead of the Albany special interests and political bosses,” said Cohen. “Here is one more to add to the list. It seems that when your only commute is up the Taconic to Albany for 26 years, you lose sight of what the rest of us go through.”