League of Women Voters of New York State Education Foundation, Inc.
	Westchester County, NY November 2, 2010 Election
	Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues Member of the State Assembly; District 89

The questions were prepared by the Leagues of Women Voters of New York State and asked of all candidates for this office.     See below for questions on Economy, Budget, Campaign Finance, Redistricting, Education Click on a name for candidate information.   See also more information about this contest. 1. What measures do you support to save existing jobs and create new jobs in New York State? Answer from Robert J. Castelli: I wrote and co-sponsored bills to impose a State spending cap (Assembly Bill A9061), change the fiscal year to begin on the first of May and require the use of generally accepted accounting principles in the State fiscal plan to restore fiscal accountability (Assembly Bill A5925), cut taxes on businesses and corporations (Assembly Bill A6547), greatly strengthen accountability and transparency of companies receiving taxpayer funding to create jobs (Assembly Bill A5660), repeal the nefarious MTA payroll tax (Assembly Bill A10011), and to protect local governments and working families with a moratorium on unfunded mandates (Assembly Bill A11258), a tax freeze for seniors (Assembly Bill A10757), an income-based circuit breaker (Assembly Bill A7094) and property tax cap (Assembly Bill A2796). I also voted against the furlough of state workers when we could not get the budget out on time, and spoke out against the lay-offs of police and firefighters unlike my opponent who did lay them off recently. The last thing we should be doing in the midst of a recession is putting people on a breadline. 2. How do you think New York can best deal with upcoming unsustainable deficit budgets? Answer from Robert J. Castelli: Budget cuts should be made with a scalpel, not an axe. We must work to shrink the size of government through shared services and consolidation, and spend smarter, not harder. Legislators must also have the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the status quo and work to repeal unfunded mandates. I am the prime sponsor of the Assembly legislation to repeal the Triborough Amendment (Assembly Bill A10187), which allows public employees to continue to receive step and scheduled raises, even when a collective bargaining agreement has expired. 3. What reforms would you propose to address inadequate campaign finance rules and enforcement in New York? Answer from Robert J. Castelli: I have sponsored the toughest ethics reform bill in the Legislature (Assembly Bill A11241), which enacts the Brennan Center for Justice's reforms for strict new rules regarding lobbying, requires full financial disclosure from all legislators regardless of profession and codifies provisions to protect the Minority parties in both houses of the Legislature, and I support the "Joe Bruno" bill (Assembly Bill A10950), which would prohibit lawmakers from earning outside income. I also have worked to to pass member-item reform that would ensure all legislators, regardless of party or seniority, receive the same amount of State funding (Assembly Bill A10116-A) and supported legislation to enact term limits for legislative leaders and legislators (Assembly Bill A10950), and to create an independent, non-partisan redistricting process and to establish procedures for "initiative, referendum and recall" by citizens (Assembly Bill A6815). 4. What reforms would you support for the redistricting process? Answer from Robert J. Castelli: Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, founder of the non-partisan, good government coalition "NY Uprising" has endorsed my call to reform State government. I was previously honored in June as with his "Hero of Reform" Seal of Approval for being in the very first, original set of lawmakers to sign NY Uprising's three pledges to reform State government in three specific areas: Independent Redistricting, Ethical Government and Responsible Budgeting. We all know Albany is dysfunctional. It shouldn't have to be that way. I am running for re-election to bring together like-minded voices from across the political spectrum who are committed to reforming State government. My voting record and my legislative agenda show I am committed to term limits, independent redistricting, budget reform and Constitutional reforms to the way the Legislature does business, including an end to the "three men in a room" approach to government by sponsoring legislation to move up the scheduled 2017 vote on convening a State Constitutional Convention to next year. Perhaps most importantly, measures enacted by the Convention would be implemented independent of the State Legislature. 5. Would you support a cap on property taxes and, if so, how do you think school districts can deal with the decrease in revenue? Answer from Robert J. Castelli: Absolutely. As part of a multi-faceted approach to tax relief I support and indeed co-sponsor the Assembly legislation (Assembly Bill A2796) to enact an inflation-indexed property tax cap (or 2.5%, whichever is less) that may be overridden at the local level. I also support limiting local property taxes based on an owner's income. The system is in desperate need of reform. I am the co-sponsor a bill (Assembly Bill A7094), legislation creates a "circuit breaker" which would tie a portion of property taxes to income, making the system more fair and equitable. We also need to fight for Westchester's fair share of State School Aid. In the 2007 then Senate Leader Joe Bruno cut a deal that short-changed Westchester County schools at the expense of other areas in the State, making our schools vastly under-funded compared to the others. Our taxpayers pay 93% of the cost of our education while those in the rest of the State pay only 50-60%. This typical back door deal is why people hate politicians and another reason we need transparency in government. Although Westchester County is closer to the economic, social and geographic makeup of Long Island, Westchester received a lower portion of Foundation Aid and High Tax Aid. Along with all of my colleagues in Westchester on both side of the aisle, I have co-sponsored legislation (Assembly Bill A2637) to correct this imbalance, and rectify this injustice. Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' responses are not edited or corrected by the League. The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.