Assemblyman Graf Responds to Cuomo 'State of the State'

"I was extremely disappointed by the lack of leadership displayed in the governor’s speech today. The Long Island delegation might as well have not been there. This speech didn’t mention anything about the people of Long Island,but rest assured, when the bill comes for all the programs the governor listed today it will be addressed to the Long Island taxpayer.

"This was nothing more than a free two-and-a-half hour campaign kickoff commercial for the governor’s 2014 re-election campaign. There was no mention of mandate relief −which was initially promised three years ago. He did not talk about working with PSEG concerning the four increases to our electric bills after his signature legislation for LIPA was signed, nor did he discuss the additional debt that will be thrust upon the Long Island ratepayer. There was nothing about fixing the distribution of funds to the victims of Superstorm Sandy.

"The destructive implementation of Common Core has been all over newspapers throughout the state, but if you listened to the governor’s speech it is apparent he hasn’t heard about it. What happened to the advocate for the children our governor claimed to be? He has received twenty-two thousand signatures from my fixnyschools.com website alone. Children, parents, grandparents, and educators have begged for him to intercede on their behalf and put the brakes on this damaging program. He apparently cannot hear them; he has locked the door and left our children to struggle on their own.

"Gov. Cuomo also talked about property tax cuts, but expects us to ignore the strings he has attached that keep those tax cuts out of the reach of the vast majority of New Yorkers.  For example, if Suffolk County wants to qualify for this property tax cut, the Suffolk County legislature would have to vote to dissolve itself and go back to a board of supervisors.  What are the chances of a legislature voting itself out of existence?

"I can only hope that this year the legislature will deal with the real problems troubling the people of this state, and that the governor will follow our lead in helping to make New York stronger and more affordable so that the people of this state can stay, work, retire, afford a home, or start a business. I only hope that in the near future, the governor will stop focusing on his political aspirations and focus more on the people of this state who are looking for true leadership."

You can find Assemblyman Graf’s remarks on the State of the State here or visit http://youtu.be/anyKVvIxO9U. 

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