Pelham Manor Mayor Runs for Lieutenant Governor
By Dan Murphy
A second Westchester elected official will be on the ballot in New York State this November for lieutenant governor. Pelham Village Mayor Mike Volpe has joined with Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner on a bipartisan, fusion ticket that will challenge Gov. Andrew Cuomo and others this fall.
Volpe, a Republican, and Miner, a Democrat, have formed a bipartisan ticket – or non-partisan ticket, as they like to call it – to stop the corruption, disrupt the status quo, and return civil discourse and rational public policy to state government.
“Michael is a true public servant who has demonstrated real leadership by listening to his community and following-through with nonpartisan solutions,” said Miner. “I am honored that Michael has joined our effort and am excited for the rest of New York to get to know my friend and partner in this endeavor.”
“When I first ran for office, I did so in a way that transcended party politics,” said Volpe. “What I quickly learned is that real people didn’t care about partisan labels – they just want honest, transparent, reliable government.
“The current state of New York politics is broken, corrupt, and too partisan with taxpayers footing the bill. The fault lies with both parties and voters deserve a new choice. Stephanie and I hope that our uncommon partnership sparks a real, honest dialogue among New Yorkers from all walks of life. And we hope that dialogue can be channeled into real action that inspires systemic change.”
Volpe became civically active through youth soccer and Little League, eventually joining the Pelham Civic Association. First elected in 1999 to what would become two terms on the Pelham Town Council, Volpe then served as both trustee and deputy mayor of the Village of Pelham. Volpe was elected mayor of the village in 2015 and re-elected in 2017. He is a partner at Venable, where he heads the firm’s nationwide labor and employment practice group.
Born in Syracuse and raised upstate, Miner is the oldest of five. Her first paycheck was earned as a school janitor’s assistant and her first job in politics was as Gov. Mario M. Cuomo’s Central New York Regional Representative. Twice elected to the Syracuse City Council, Miner was elected in 2009 as the 53rd mayor of the City of Syracuse, becoming the first woman to lead one of New York’s “big five” cities. She was re-elected in 2013 with 68 percent of the vote and left office in December as the result of term limits.
“Our current political system is broken,” said Miner when she announced her independent run for governor last month. “I’m running to change the culture of cynicism. Nobody believes Albany has their best interests at heart; everybody knows you have to pay to play, they think the system is rigged, and they’re not wrong. But the only way it will change is if voters re-engage. If they continue to sit out elections because they don’t see any point in voting or casting their ballot for the same old party establishment on one side or the other, nothing will change.”
Miner’s career has been marked by courageous stands championing policies that may not have been politically popular in the moment but were proven to be sound over time. From opposing tax breaks for an over-hyped mall in Syracuse, to speaking out against budget gimmicks to fund pension programs, to warning about the folly of wasting state money on the disastrous Central New York Film Hub, Miner has repeatedly put politics aside to advocate for better policies and outcomes for taxpayers.
“We have a system where corruption is condoned, and thoughtful public policy is ignored,” said Miner. “And our system is designed to minimize citizen participation and reward campaign contributors. We need to ask ourselves, if things are going so well, why have one million residents moved away over the last eight years?”
Miner will run under the auspices of the Serve America Movement, which seeks to promote fairness, integrity and common-sense solutions that transcend the hyper-partisanship that grips Washington and Albany alike.
“By working with the Serve America Movement, I join Democrats and Republicans from across the nation who are seeking solutions to gridlock like ending partisan gerrymandering, expanding voter registration and access, and focusing on tackling big problems like our crumbling infrastructure,” said Miner, who is not afraid to tie Cuomo to the one million New Yorkers who have left the state over the past eight years and the corruption that she says “has touched the governor’s inner sanctum.”
To learn more, visit MinerforNY.com and JoinSAM.org.
Miner and Volpe will have to collect 15,000 signatures statewide to get their names on the ballot on an independent-Serve America Movement party line. In addition to Volpe, Rye Republican Julie Killian is running for lieutenant governor on the Republican line with GOP Gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro.
Another candidate for governor may have the most name recognition. “Sex and the City” star Cynthia Nixon submitted more than 65,000 signatures on her petitions to get on the Democratic ballot for a primary challenge against Gov. Andrew Cuomo. More than 3,500 Nixon volunteers collected the large number of signatures for Nixon.
“The overwhelming support we received throughout our petition process shows that New Yorkers are sick of centrist, corporate Democrats. The establishment is no match for the people of New York,” said Nixon, who made her first appearance in Westchester as a candidate last week in Peekskill, to stand opposed to the Millennium gas pipeline that runs through parts of Westchester near the Indian Point power plant.
Nixon used the recent conviction of Dr. Alain Kaloyeros, who was found guilty of bid rigging in the use of state funds for the Buffalo Billion redevelopment project upstate, to highlight corruption in government that has occurred under Cuomo.
Nixon aired two online commercials that highlight the link between Cuomo and Kaloyeros, who was hired first by Mario Cuomo and then Andrew Cuomo. One television commercial has Andrew Cuomo bragging about Kaloyeros several years ago; another has Cuomo admitting days ago that, “Yes, it happened on my watch.”
Four years ago, liberal activist and law professor Zephyr Teachout collected 45,000 signatures, but lost to Cuomo in the Democratic primary for governor. Polls show Cuomo with a comfortable lead over Nixon, but Nixon supporters point to the upset victory by Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez over Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary for Congress in New York City last month as proof that another progressive upset at the polls is possible in September.
Nixon also has the support and current endorsement of the Working Families Party, so even if she loses the Democratic primary to Cuomo, she will still be on the ballot in November. Cuomo, Molinaro, Nixon and Miner make four candidates for governor that should be on the ballot.
But let’s add two more to the mix: Don’t forget about Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for governor who got 5 percent of the vote four years ago, and Larry Sharpe, the Libertarian Party candidate who has a little bit of buzz on social media.
Political pundits offer two different analysis on what multiple candidates on the ballot for governor means in November. One view is that Cuomo will have to fight off two Democrats – Miner and Nixon, who both might siphon off Democratic voters away from Cuomo, with Miner’s supporters coming from northern New York and Nixon’s from NYC and the suburbs. This theory benefits Molinaro, who many believe that if he can get 40 percent of the vote – like Rob Astorino did when he ran as a GOP candidate for governor four years ago – he can win.
The other theory has too many candidates fighting for too little media attention, resulting in Cuomo winning easily in a Democratic primary in September and in the general election on Nov. 6.
GOP candidate for governor Marc Molinaro welcomed Miner into the race.
“Mayor Stephanie Miner has been an outspoken critic of Andrew Cuomo’s reckless administration of this state, and I welcome her into the governor’s race,” he said. “As yet another criminal corruption trial involving the Cuomo administration kicks off in federal court today, it comes as little surprise that this is now a four-way contest. Gov. Cuomo’s corrupt and disastrous pay-to-play policies have cost New York taxpayers billions of dollars they can’t afford, lining Mr. Cuomo’s campaign coffers with an obscene amount of money at everyone else’s expense. The Cuomo corruption holding New York back from reaching its true economic potential must end.”
Molinaro and lieutenant governor candidate and Westchester resident Julie Killian held a press conference outside of New York City Hall to highlight their opposition to a plan that would ban tipping of waiters and waitresses at New York restaurants, in an effort to force restaurants to pay their servers a $15-per-hour minimum wage.
“If you hear the words, ‘I’m Andrew Cuomo and I’m here to help,’ do two things: check your wallet and then run as fast as you can,” said Molinaro. “Andrew Cuomo will destroy the New York restaurant business in the blink of an eye. In banning the tip wage, he would literally be taking money out of the pockets of people who serve people food at tables in order to put food on their own.”
Molinaro and Killian both waited tables to pay for college. Today, the tip wage in New York City is $8.65 per hour, which is going up to $10 per hour at the end of the year, according to Molinaro. In 2014, when the tip wage was just $5, the average hourly income for a food server was $23.34, according to the New York City Hospitality Alliance. Bartenders made $27.48 per hour. Those numbers are surely higher for both now.
“Andrew Cuomo is creating a problem where there is none because he’s in a do-or-die political primary with left-wing challenger Cynthia Nixon,” continued Molinaro. “Julie and I will always be on the side of everyday, hardworking New Yorkers trying to make ends meet. We’re speaking out to Mr. Andrew Cuomo loudly and clearly: ‘Hands off New Yorker’s tips.’”
