FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: HOW MUCH MONEY IS PETER HARCKHAM
COSTING TAXPAYERS ON NAKEDLY POLITICAL
GOVERNMENT MAILINGS?
With $13.3 Billion Budget Deficit, New Yorkers Facing
School Funding and Service Cuts, Crippling Tax Increases.
Hudson Valley-Jul. 23...
Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess County residents deserve to know how much of their money State Senator Peter Harckham (SD-40) is spending on thinly-veiled political mailings — in the middle of the worst budget deficit in New York State history, former two-term Westchester county executive and state senate candidate Rob Astorino today said.
“New York is more than $13 billion in the hole; services and school funding are about to be cut, and Peter Harckham is sending out political mailings on the taxpayer’s dime,” the former county executive said. “He needs to tell us exactly how much that’s costing us — $100,000?, $200,000?, more? That’s money we need to make our classrooms safe for children, to get senior citizen centers back up and running, and to cover healthcare costs for those most in need.”
Mr. Astorino said the alarming budget deficit demands that state legislators tighten their belts just like everybody else, particularly on things like self-serving mailings. As an incoming county executive, Mr. Astorino cut the size of his own budget and required that he and members of his administration chip in for their own healthcare costs.
“My phones started ringing the moment Mr. Harckham’s latest government mailing arrived in mailboxes,” Mr. Astorino said. “People are incredulous that he’s using tax dollars to promote himself politically when families are holding on by their fingernails. Talk about a disconnect between an Albany politician and the struggling families he’s supposed to represent.”
.jpg)