George Borrello

New York State has a new $212 billion budget after the State Assembly passed measures just before midnight Wednesday. The State Senate had already passed measures early Wednesday morning. State Senator George Borrello said he had to vote no,

“It was an unprecedented 12% increase, $23 billion increase to a record breaking and back breaking $212 billion dollar spending package. Just completely irresponsible.”

Borrello said the budget process was led by downstate progressives pushing a radical agenda, citing the early retirement incentive as an example,

“One of the biggest slaps in the face was the idea that an early retirement incentive which would have been helpful for people across the state and helpful to the state budget was only enacted for state workers in New York City. It was a blatant disregard for the hard working people in Upstate New York that have dedicated their time.”

Borrello criticized the tax increase on the wealthy that is estimated to raise around $5 billion,

“You’re taxing job creators and you’re making it more difficult. You’re taxing businesses that reach down into small business when it comes to the tax and business franchise fee increases that we’re seeing. You’re continuing to look at the unfair way we’re quote, unquote ‘investing in infrastructure.'”

When it came to the increase in foundation aid for schools, Borrello was in favor of that part of the budget, saying it helps eliminate disparities in state aid,

“So this helps correct that a little bit. And it’s certainly going to help our smaller school districts that rely so much on state funding to make their budgets whole.”

(Left to Right) Jason Schmidt, PJ Wendel, Andy Goodell, George Borrello, and Tom Reed

It was a clean sweep for Republicans in Chautauqua County in the 2020 Election, as all GOP candidates on the ballot appeared to have won their respective races, regardless of the record number of absentee ballots that have been cast and await to be counted.

The big winners in the county-wide races were Andy Goodell (R-Ellicott) for the 150th State Assembly District, Paul “PJ Wendel (R-Lakewood) for the special election for Chautauqua County Executive, and Jason Schmidt (R-Fredonia) in the race for Chautauqua County District Attorney. Also picking up regional victories were George Borrello (R-Irving) for the 57th State Senate District and Tom Reed (R-Corning) for the New York 23rd Congressional District.

• ALL ELECTION NIGHT TOTALS IN CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY

SCHMIDT VOTED INTO OFFICE FOR THE FIRST TIME

Jason Schmidt

For Jason Schmidt, the second time was a charm in his run for Chautauqua County District Attorney. He appears to have cruised to any easy victory over incumbent Patrick Swanson (D-Fredonia) after previously losing to the current DA in the 2016 election.

This time around, Schmidt received 29,925 votes between early voting and Election Day voting while Swanson picked up 17,122.

According to the Chautauqua County Board of Elections, there remains a possible 11,926 absentee ballots in Chautauqua County that could be added to the final vote total, but even if Swanson picked up all of those votes, he still wouldn’t have enough to win.

“I’m humbled, honored, and grateful to all my supporters and so appreciative to the team of people who have stood by my side the entire time and the movement that we created. Getting into this, it was really about the community – the victims and the police. We stayed true to that and that’s really what it is all about for me,” Schmidt told WRFA on Election Night following news that he had won.

Schmidt also offered his thoughts on how he was able to win by such a wide margin on Election Night.

I think in many respects, the election was about different philosophical approaches to the office. I tried to make that clear and I wanted to define the campaign based on that. I felt there wasn’t enough emphasis being placed on prosecution and conviction,” Schmidt said. “That doesn’t mean that I want to go out there and be a hammer looking for a nail, that’s not who I am. But at the same time I feel there were a lot of people let down in many high profile cases here, and that was never lost on me. It was important that they be remembered and honored by my campaign.”

WENDEL NO LONGER ‘ACTING’ COUNTY EXECUTIVE

PJ Wendel

In the special election for Chautauqua County Executive, Wendel defeated Democratic opponent Richard Morrisroe (Dunkirk) by an election night vote of 33,633 to 13,126. Wendel had been serving as acting county executive after being appointed by the Republican-controlled county legislature at the start of this year. Previously he had served as a member of the legislature representing Lakewood and Busti along with a small portion of Jamestown. He also was legislature chairman prior to his appointment to county executive.

“I’m excited and I’m very humbled by the residents of the county who elected me for this position. I’m humbled to win by that much – that’s the voters who spoke. It’s not an appointment, that’s the residents of the county and I think that means a lot. I’m humbled to have that kind of a margin,” Wendel said.

Wendel will now serve the final year of the current term of the office for County Executive and will have campaign all over again next year, as he’s already stated that he wants to serve a full term as the county’s top executive.

GOODELL LOCKS UP 6TH TERM IN ASSEMBLY

In the race for the 150th State Assembly District, Goodell also had an insurmountable lead over his Democratic opponent, Christina Cardinale of Jamestown. Goodell received 34,627 votes on election night to Cardinale’s 12,514.

Andy Goodell

“I’m very thankful that the residents of the Chautauqua County have given me the opportunity to represent our county in the State Legislature and I’m also very thankful that my Assembly colleagues give me the opportunity to serve as the floor leader on the floor of the Assembly,” Goodell said. “That gives me the opportunity to make sure the voices, concerns and issues that are important to us here in Chautauqua County are front and center in all of our legislative proceedings. I’m excited to go back, but I’m also very mindful that there is a tremendous amount of work to do and it will take everybody’s help and cooperation as we move forward to address these serious issues.”

The win secures Goodell a 6th term in Albany after first being elected to the office in November 2010.

BORELLO WINS FIRST FULL TERM IN STATE SENATE

George Borrello will also continue representing the three southwestern-most counties of the state in the State Senate as he easily won a full two years to represent the 57th District in Albany.

George Borrello

Borrello defeated Frank Puglisi (D-Cattaraugus County) with an election night final of 78,047 to 24,940.  Borello was first elected to the Senate in a special election last year to finish the final year for the current term after former Sen. Cathy Young resigned from her post in early 2019 to take a job in the private sector.  Last year, he defeated Democrat Austin Morgan by 42,563 to 17,270.

“I am honored and grateful for the trust that the hardworking people of our region have again placed in me to represent the 57th District,” Borrello said in a statement released Tuesday night. “Over the past year, we’ve faced the unimaginable challenges of a global health emergency and a devastating economic crisis…. The COVID-19 challenge has exacerbated many existing issues and failures of our state government, which has further energized the need for change. That will be the starting point for our efforts. We must now set aside the politics and work to face the tough road ahead. I vow to continue working to advance our recovery and fight against the extreme, politically self-serving agendas that undermine our security, ignore our shared values, and prevent us from realizing our fullest potential.”

REED DEFEATS MITRANO IN REMATCH OF 2018 RACE

Tom Reed

In the race for the 23rd Congressional district, Republican incumbent Tom Reed defeated Democratic Challenger Tracy Mitrano (Penn Yan) with an election night total o 160,131 to 90,959. It’s not known how many absentee ballots remain to be counted throughout the district but it is likely that there are not enough outstanding to give Mitrano an opportunity for a come-from-behind victory.

It was the second time in as many elections that Reed squared off against and defeated Mitrano.

GREENAN WINS SUPREME COURT RACE

There was also a race for State Supreme Court for the eight counties making up the Eight Judicial District. In that race, Republican candidate Gerald Greenan III defeated Democrat Amy Martoche 246,688 to 181,674. Again, the total number of absentees that remain to be counted are not available at this time, but the Greenan has a likely insurmountable lead over Martoche.

The final vote totals for each race won’t be known until later this month after all absentee ballots are opened and counted and then the canvasing of all votes takes place to provide an official, final result.

George Borrello (left) and Andy Goodell

ALBANY – Senator George Borrello and Assemblyman Andy Goodell released a complement plan to the “Restarting New York” regional plan that was put out last week. The two put out a schedule for reopening business sectors based on their inherent risk levels and the ability to mitigate those risks.

The plan provides a breakdown of lower and higher risk business sectors, through analysis of the workplace setting and occupational characteristics and the ease of adapting safety protocols to these environments and activities.

“As New York State enters its sixth week of New York on PAUSE, we are encouraged at the decreases in COVID-19 infection rates and hospitalizations that are occurring. These improvements have been achieved through the vigilance and great sacrifice of New Yorkers from one end of our state to the other. Together, we are preparing to face the next challenge of this chapter, which is reopening our economy safely and sustainably through a strategy that balances regional readiness with business sector risk,” said Senator Borrello. “We have had positive conversations with Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul about our strategy and stand ready to offer any assistance as she leads reopening efforts.”

The plan stresses that regional and individual business plans should include all safety measures to reduce the risk as much as possible.

While expressing support for the Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Un-PAUSE NY plan, they recommend two changes to the 12-point system for evaluating when a region should restart. The changes include:

• Adjusting the recommendation regarding hospital rates, which under the Governor’s plan must show a 14-day decline. Senator Borrello and Assemblyman Goodell suggest that hospital rates could be “stable or declining” for 14 days without compromising safety or hospital capacity.
• Modifying the contact tracing capacity from the current “30 tracers for every 100,000 residents” to “30 tracers per 100,000 residents or at least two contact tracers for every confirmed active case,” whichever is less. They note that under the current guideline, a county the size of Rockland with 311,000 residents and with 11,453 confirmed cases would have just one tracer for every 123 cases, yet the same formula in Chautauqua County, with four active cases, would result in 7.5 tracers for every active case.

They have forwarded the plan to Lt. Gov. Hochul – who is leading reopening efforts in Western New York.

Under the budget, all funds spending is estimated to total approximately $177 billion and state operating spending is authorized up to $105.8 billion. However in the absence of additional federal assistance or a faster than anticipated economic recovery, spending will initially total $95.8 billion.

Due to the challenges from the COVID-19 health crisis, support for schools will remain nearly flat for a total of $27.9 billion in school aid.

According to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office, the budget is balanced, includes no new taxes, continues to phase in tax cuts for the middle class, enacts the strongest Paid Sick Leave program in the nation, and advances other numerous progressive priorities including the legalization of gestational surrogacy, permanently banning hydrofracking, and closing a loophole to prohibit individuals who commit serious offenses in other states from obtaining a gun license in New York.

The Budget also includes health reform, including the ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and caps insulin co-payments at $100 per month. And it prohibits gender-based pricing discrimination by eliminating the “pink tax.”

George Borrello

Local State Sen. George Borrello (R-Irving, 57th District), who joined the State Senate at the start of this year, said on Thursday he voted against the budget due to its inclusion of numerous policy initiatives.

“Prior to coming here and working on the budget I had talked about why we should, in light of the COVID-19 crisis, pass a clean budget – one that doesn’t include policy issues with that lack of transparency that is so often involved by trying to include policy when you are supposed to be talking about finances. Unfortunately the majority has disappointed us at the expense of every New Yorker,” Borrello said.

Borrello added that he felt many of the proposals in the budget while hurt rather the people he represents across the 57th district.

“It’s going to hurt our farmers. It’s going to attack our constitutional rights. It’s going to increase taxes, costs and regulations, all while America is focused on COVID-19,” Borrello said. “Under the cover of the fear and addressing this pandemic the best way we can, we have a legislature – that should be right now united and apolitical – acting as egregiously political as they ever have.”

While Borrello said the budget will hurt farmers, the New York State Farm Bureau released a statement saying final budget deal is about as good as it could expect during the current health and economic crisis facing the state and country. Specifically, the group said there are much needed updates to the farm labor law that focuses on the fixes the Farm Bureau was seeking, including clarification for family and salaried employees.

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli also weighed on the budget, saying, “The economic and budgetary impact from the coronavirus public health emergency presents our state with unprecedented risks.  Unanticipated healthcare costs, dramatically increased unemployment and depressed business activity affects all state and local government finances.  Moving forward, the Comptroller’s office will continue our role of monitoring revenues, spending, debt and cash flow trends.”

According to the Albany Times-Union, the legislation specifies that passengers 16 and older wear a seat belt when riding in any seat of a vehicle.   Current state law currently requires front-seat passengers to wear a seat belt, but exempts people 16 and older from wearing a seat belt while riding in the back seat.

According to recent data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, almost half of the 37,133 people killed in car crashes in 2017 were not wearing a seat belt.

The bill will now go before Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his signature.

Assemblyman William Barclay (R-Oswego, 120th District) will likely be the new minority leader of the Assembly after Assemblyman Brian Kolb stepped down from the position on Jan. 3, 2020 following a DWI arrest on New Year’s Eve.

ALBANY — The state Assembly’s longtime Republican minority leader announced Friday afternoon that he is stepping down from his leadership position in the wake of his arrest this week for driving while intoxicated. As a result, Republican Lawmakers will have to appoint a new leader when they caucus on Tuesday afternoon.

Assemblyman and former minority leader Brian Kolb was arrested by Ontario County sheriff’s deputies after he crashed his state-owned SUV in front of his residence on New Year’s Eve. His arrest came a week after he had published an op-ed in the Daily Messenger of Canandaigua urging motorists to avoid driving after drinking. Kolb was elected to the Assembly in 2000 and has been minority leader for the past decade.

Assemblyman Andrew Goodell (R-Ellicott, 150th District), who’s represented Chautauqua County since 2011 in the lower chamber, is currently serving as temporary leader of the Assembly’s GOP caucus because of his title as minority leader pro tempore. Despite starting the year as second in command for the Assembly Republicans, he told WRFA on Monday morning that he is not seeking the leadership position. Instead, he said the caucus will select Assemblyman William Barclay (R-Oswego, 120 District) as its new minority leader.

Barclay’s district includes Oswego and portions of Onondaga, Jefferson and Oswego counties. He was first elected to the Assembly in 2002 and is currently the ranking Republican on the Assembly Ways and Means committee.

Goodell tells WRFA that when Kolb first announced he was stepping down from the leadership position there was more than one member of the caucus who expressed an interest in taking over as minority leader. But he says it soon became apparent the majority of the support would go to Barclay.

The Assembly GOP caucus will meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday to vote on Barclay as the new minority leader. Meanwhile, both the Assembly and State Senate are scheduled to return to Albany on Wednesday for the start of the 2020 session.

Goodell tells WRFA that in addition to awaiting the roll-out of the executive budget later this month, lawmakers are also hoping to see legislative action early in the session that will focus on amending parts of the bail and discovery reform laws that went into effect at the beginning of this year.

“It makes a ton of sense,” said Chautauqua County Board of Elections Democratic Election Commissioner Norman P. Green. “Young adults getting a driver’s license learners permit at 16 or 17 will now be able to register to vote.”

“The Board of Elections already pre-registers 17-year olds who turn 18 on or before Election Day,” added Republican Election Commissioner Brian C. Abram.  “So the system is already in place to handle the pre-registration of voters.   Before the young adults are added to the election rolls, we mail a non-forward able voter acknowledgment post card to their voting address to make sure they are still residing at the address where they pre-registered to vote in the county.”

Green and Abram also announced that the Board of Elections would no longer visit schools to register young voters due to the law change and a recent push back of these visits by some school districts.

• ALSO AVAILABLE AT THE WRFA SOUNDCLOUD PAGE

WRFA’s Jason Sample talks with Chautauqua County District Attorney Patrick Swanson and Chautauqua County Sheriff James Quattrone about the impact the recent Criminal Justice Reform measures enacted by the State Legislature will have the local criminal justice system and their respective offices.  According to Swanson and Quattrone, the state’s bail reform efforts as well as reform measures relating to the discovery phase of a criminal investigation could have a negative impact on public safety unless each office is provided with additional resources.

(Originally airing Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019)

Patrick Swanson (left) and James Quattrone

Non metal knives that are undetectable, like this one made by Lansky, will soon be illegal to own in New York State

ALBANY – Governor Andrew Cuomo Tuesday signed legislation approved earlier this year by the state legislature that prohibits the manufacture, transport, shipment, and possession of knives that are undetectable by a metal detector. Possession of such weapons will now be considered a Class A misdemeanor and is punishable by up to a year in jail.

“Undetectable knives are meant to be used by trained members of our police and military forces for covert operations — not regular civilians attempting to sneak weapons past metal detectors,” Governor Cuomo said. “By signing this measure into law, we will keep these deadly knives out of dangerous hands and help ensure our airports, courtrooms and other public buildings are safe.” 

Recent technological developments, such as laser cutting machines, have led to the fabrication of knives using materials that are undetectable by metal detectors. According to the governor’s office, these knives pose a serious threat to public safety and risk the health and well-being of all New Yorkers. This measure helps protect New Yorkers by making it illegal for any person to knowingly possess, manufacture, sell or transport such knives in New York State.

“Undetectable knives made with composite and ceramic blades are difficult or impossible to detect with current security equipment, according to security experts and knife manufacturers. Such knives, sold openly and legally in retail stores, through mail-order catalogs and on the Internet, expose a major loophole, presenting a severe security risk to any building that utilizes a metal detector for the prevention of violence or possible terrorist acts. I thank my legislative colleagues for supporting this bill and applaud Governor Cuomo for signing this into law,” said Senator Diane Savino.

Members of the military and police officers may continue to carry these weapons for official use.

The law goes into effect on November 1, 2019.

• MOBILE APP USERS: LISTEN HERE

Originally airing Thursday, June 27, 2019

WRFA’s Jason Sample talks with New York State Assemblyman Andy Goodell (R-Ellicott, 150th District) to get his thoughts about the 2019 legislative session, which ended June 20.

Andy Goodell