Doesn’t everyone raise our taxes?
By Dan Murphy
In last year’s race for Westchester County Executive, republican Rob Astorino’s campaign compiled the total number of times that his democratic opponent, George Latimer, voted for tax increase as a member of the Westchester County Board of legislators, which was 46%, and used it to campaign against him as a ‘tax and spend democrat.’
One year later, in the race for Latimer’s old State Senate seat in the 37th District special election set for April 24, the republican candidate, Julie Killian, is being criticized for voting for some of the same tax increases that Latimer voted for while she was a member of the Rye City Council.
According to the campaign of Killian’s opponent, democrat Shelley Mayer, Killian voted for the Rye City budget for 2017 that raised property taxes by 6.7%, a number that far exceeded the property tax cap and required Killian, and members of the Rye Council to vote to override the tax cap.
Some of the other property tax increases voted on by Killian were not as significant as her recent vote for the 2017 budget. Before leaving office in Rye, Killian voted for a 3% property tax increase; other budget votes by Killian included: 3% in 2015—2% in 2014—2.7% in 2013-and less than 2% in 2016.
Killian’s votes before the 2017 budget are all below the property tax cap, but her vote in late 2016 for the 2017 budget do raise questions about her claim to be the fiscal conservative in the race. Furthermore, if we used the logic that the Astorino campaign used last year against Latimer, then Killian has raised property taxes in the City of Rye by a total of 20%.
The other consideration that voters must consider when they vote in the special election on April 24th is that the winner of this contest may determine which party controls the State Senate for the next two years.
Here’s my best attempt to explain the different factions and complicated math. For the past seven years, several democratic state senators have broken ranks with their party to form the Independent Democratic Conference, IDC. The IDC has joined with the 31 republican state senators to form a majority and has made republican Senator John Flanagan the Majority Leader of the Senate.
There are currently 8 members of the IDC, including here in Westchester, Sen. Jeff Klein, the Chair of the IDC, who represents Pelham, and Sen. David Carlucci, who represents Ossining. After years of defecting from the democratic senate caucus and handing power to the republicans, IDC members are under intense pressure this year to either re-join the democratic caucus or face a democratic primary this September.
Late last year a compromise of sorts was reached by Governor Andrew Cuomo, Sen. Klein, and Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who represents Westchester and is the senate democratic conference leader, and Majority Leader in waiting, if the democrats can ever unite.
The compromise called for no primaries against IDC members if IDC senators return and support the democratic leadership team, which would include a shared leadership between Stewart-Cousins and Klein.
In the 63-member Senate, democrats need 32 Senators to form a majority. Currently there are 30 democratic senators total, and 31 republicans, with 2 vacant seats. One of those vacancies is here in Westchester, for Latimer’s old seat in the 37th District, being contested between Killian and Mayer. The other vacancy is in the Bronx and will go to a democrat in a special election also on April 24.
A Mayer victory gets democrats closer to their goal of 32 senators. A Killian win seals the republican majority for another two years. So, voters in the 37th District need to realize the importance of their votes.
To complicate matters further, one other democratic state senator will also have to be convinced to come home to the democratic senate caucus before Senator Stewart-Cousins is named Majority Leader or co-Majority Leader. His name in Simcha Felder, a Brooklyn democrat, who has also caucused with the republicans for the past 6 years but not as a member of the IDC. “I’m lucky to represent a district that really doesn’t care about party affiliations,” said Felder.
Governor Andrew Cuomo, the State top democrat, has always been seen as a behind the scenes supporter of the IDC and shared power with the senate republicans. This year he has endorsed Mayer for Senate here in Westchester and supports the agreement to bring all democrats together.
So, voters in the 37th District may have two choices when they go to the polls April 24, not only for their State Senator, but a vote to see which party controls the senate into 2020.
Editor’s Note: Another Westchester State Senate race may also impact which party has control. In Northern Westchester, Republican Senator Terrence Murphy is seeking re-election and will have a democratic opponent. Much more on this race after April 24.
