Suozzi Charges Spitzer With Using "Albany Math" on Property Taxes
Suozzi Charges Spitzer With Using "Albany Math" on Property Taxes
Hits opponent for using non-existent money to pay for his non-existent plan
After hearing Eliot Spitzer's excuses for not having a property tax plan and his bogus accounting for how he would pay for his yet-to-be announced proposal, Democratic Candidate for Governor Tom Suozzi today charged that his opponent simply can't be trusted on the issue.
"I am afraid Eliot has gone from 'No Specifics' Spitzer to 'No Credibility' Spitzer," Suozzi said. "His rhetoric and his numbers just don't add up he is using non-existent money to pay for his non-existent plan."
When directly challenged by Suozzi at the Mineola train station yesterday to explain why he was not making property taxes a priority, Spitzer first claimed he had information about his property tax plan on his website.
When Suozzi pointed out that he could find no such proposal on his opponent's website and demanded to know how Spitzer would cut property taxes, Spitzer changed his story, saying he would be putting out a plan soon and that he would pay for it by squeezing savings out of Medicaid.
But that claim is directly contradicted by Spitzer's own past statements, Suozzi said.
1) The Attorney General has said he would add 1.4 million New Yorkers to the Medicaid rolls, which would mean (at over $7,500 per recipient) more than $10 billion dollars in new spending, not savings. (Spitzer Speech, A Vision for the Future of Health Care, January 18, 2006)
2) And Spitzer has himself said that there is actually little money to be saved by reforming Medicaid -- "Ninety-eight percent of that money, I would hazard to say, is spent where it's supposed to be," Spitzer told the Daily News (Daily News, Spitzer Silence Deafens Suozzi, April 7, 2006)
"Eliot's been part of the broken political system for so long that he apparently can't help but use Albany math to account for his policies," Suozzi said. "This is exactly the kind of bogus budgeting that has driven our state deep into debt and driven property taxes through the roof."
"The fact is, if you add up all of Eliot's sunny promises and big-spending proposals, it seems clear that he not only won't be able to cut property taxes, he will have to raise state taxes to pay for his plans. Maybe that's Eliot's idea of change, but it's not mine, and I doubt it's what any New York taxpayer had in mind. They want relief from Albany math, not a repeat of it. And I am the only candidate in this race to put forward a credible, responsible, and achievable plan to cut property taxes.
Suozzi continued, "the bottom line here is that Eliot should not be allowed to get away with saying just anything to provide cover for his inability to make hard choices or his unwillingness to offend his special interest backers just because he is way ahead in the polls New Yorkers have already suffered enough from Albany's irresponsibility. It's time to hold him accountable for backing up platitudes and promises with hard facts and credible numbers."
http://tomsuozzi.com/announcements/pr-060306/