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Tag: bruce blakeman

  • Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik ends bid for New York governor, says she won’t seek reelection

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    Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik said Friday she is suspending her campaign for governor of New York and will not seek reelection to Congress. 

    In a statement, Stefanik — who had just entered the race about seven weeks ago — said in a social media post that “while we would have overwhelmingly won this primary, it is not an effective use of our time or your generous resources to spend the first half of next year in an unnecessary and protracted Republican primary, especially in a challenging state like New York.”

    Stefanik also indicated that the decision was made with her family in mind. 

    “While many know me as Congresswoman, my most important title is Mom,” she added. “I believe that being a parent is life’s greatest gift and greatest responsibility. I have thought deeply about this and I know that as a mother, I will feel profound regret if I don’t further focus on my young son’s safety, growth, and happiness – particularly at his tender age.”

    Stefanik has been a frequent critic of Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who will be running for reelection. 

    Ryan Radulovacki, a spokesperson for Hochul, told CBS News New York in a statement that Stefanik had “finally acknowledged reality: If you run against Governor Kathy Hochul, you are going to lose.”   

    Hochul had previously called Stefanik President Trump’s “number one cheerleader in Congress and his right-hand woman in his war on New York.”  

    State GOP chair pivots to Bruce Blakeman

    The bombshell announcement comes less than two weeks after fellow Republican and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said he intended to challenge Stefanik in the upcoming gubernatorial primary. 

    At the time, a spokesperson for Stefanik blasted Blakeman for entering the race. 

    “Bruce Blakeman is an early Christmas present to Kathy Hochul as he works to blow Republicans’ best chance to win,” the spokesperson said. 

    Now, the state Republican party chair is pivoting to support Blakeman’s bid. 

    “Elise Stefanik will remain a leader in our party and a powerful voice for our principles. We respect her decision and thank her for her efforts,” New York GOP chair Ed Cox said in a statement. “Bruce Blakeman has my endorsement and I urge our State Committee and party leaders to join me.”

    In a statement Friday, Blakeman thanked Stefanik for her “outstanding service” to the people of New York and to all Americans.

    “Throughout her time in public office, Congresswoman Stefanik has been a strong voice for common-sense values, national security, and economic opportunity, and her leadership has earned the respect of people across our state and our country,” the statement said, in part. “I wish Congresswoman Stefanik nothing but success as she pursues her priorities and continues her service to our nation.”

    Stefanik had initially launched her campaign for governor in early November with an army of support, including 34 Assemblymember endorsements, 12 state senators, and former Gov. George Pataki. 

    Stefanik receives message of support from Trump

    Mr. Trump expressed his support for Stefanik after her announcement, writing on Truth Social that she is “a fantastic person.”

    “Elise is a tremendous talent, regardless of what she does,” Mr. Trump wrote. “She will have GREAT success, and I am with her all the way!”  

    In 2014, Stefanik became the youngest woman elected to Congress at the age of 30. She represents New York’s 21st Congressional District upstate and has been reelected five times.   

    In November 2024, Mr. Trump nominated Stefanik to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, but withdrew her nomination two months later, saying he wanted her to remain in Congress.

    “Elise Stefanik has been an incredible advocate for the people of her district in Upstate New York, and she will always be a true friend to President Trump,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also wrote on social media. “On a personal note, Elise is my former boss. She is a great leader, and an even better person. We love you.”

    Outgoing Rep. Majorie Taylor-Greene also issued a message of support. 

    “You are making the most wonderful decision. Mom is the best job title there is! Way to go Elise!”, Taylor-Greene posted. 

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  • Liebman: The political calculus behind Bruce Blakeman’s exploratory run for governor | Long Island Business News

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    In Brief:
    • is exploring a run for , drawing attention from business and political communities.
    • He focuses on economy and community safety while touring upstate GOP meetings to build recognition.
    • Blakeman faces potential primary competition from Congresswoman and the influence of NYS GOP leadership.
    • and alliances with President Trump could shape voter engagement and campaign momentum.
    • Long Island GOP county leaders may play a crucial role in the state convention and nomination process.

    There is not a gathering of business leaders this season where the question is not quietly posed: “What do you think of Bruce Blakeman’s chances of becoming governor?”

    The potential of a Long Islander assuming the highest executive office in the State of New York is not an idle scenario and for the business community there needs to be an appreciation that such a victory would have the potential of strategically altering the economic climate of New York at a time when progressive socialism has come into vogue.

    County Executive Blakeman has likely looked at previous campaigns for the purpose of determining what works and what doesn’t. Over the decades, others from the bi-county region have sought to achieve statewide office over the years with mixed results. Tom DiNapoli, with his political roots in Great Neck, remains the much-respected state comptroller. Alfonse D’Amato of Island Park served three terms in the U.S. Senate, winning on the Republican line in what remains a state with far higher Democratic enrollment.

    A political veteran, one suspects that Blakeman is aware and wary of the political odds but Senator D’Amato was supposed to be easily beaten in a by then incumbent Jacob Javits. He wasn’t. And pundits then guaranteed that D’Amato would lose in November of 1980 to his Democratic opponent, Liz Holtzman. He wasn’t. Accordingly, every candidate looks at the D’Amato odds and calculates their own.

    Blakeman is no stranger to New York north of the Harlem River. He has sought statewide office before. Then what makes his exploratory campaign unique? And how would he overcome NYS GOP Chairman Ed Cox who insists he wants upstate Congresswoman Elise Stefanik as the party’s candidate to face Governor Hochul.

    For starters, the traditional political landscape is literally unrecognizable. There is fierce polarization that is nothing less than historic. New York City’s stunning turn to Zohran Mamdani will become a lightning rod in any 2026 campaign. Within these realities Blakeman has engaged in an exploratory road show throughout , recognizing that many upstate Republicans know Stefanik but don’t know him. As he tours, he is addressing the economy and community safety, issues that resonate anywhere within the Empire State.

    Blakeman is also a close and public ally of President Trump as is Blakeman’s potential primary opponent. However, the president recently publicly chastised Stefanik following a comment she made regarding Mamdani so his endorsement in a primary, while crucial, remains a mystery.

    Social media has emerged as a powerful political force in identifying a political base of support. It is capable of energizing supporters to be vocal and engaged, turning these online primary voters into advocates and influencers.  It hasn’t been lost on Blakeman who has been posting daily as he visits upstate GOP meetings.

    Meanwhile, Long Island remains a Republican bastion with county chairmen, Joseph Cairo in Nassau and Jesse Garcia in Suffolk, masters of their realm. Together, they have the means to create a voting block at the New York State Republican convention that will be crucial for the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee. If Cox is seeking a coronation of Congresswoman Stefanik, he will have some interesting conversations with these two gentlemen.

    In the end, the odds of County Executive Blakeman becoming the Republican nominee for governor is dependent on so many variables, it is impossible to make book, but his presence is making for fascinating political dynamics in a state that has repeatedly proven the pundits wrong.

     

    Josh Liebman is partner in the law firm Rosenberg Calica Birney Liebman & Ross, LLP in Garden City.


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  • Leaders push against proposed corporate tax hike in NYS | Long Island Business News

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    THE BLUEPRINT:

    • officials unite to challenge a in New York State.

    • The plan could raise the corporate rate from 7.25% to 11.5%, matching New Jersey.

    • Leaders warn it could drive businesses and jobs out of New York.

    Long Island leaders have formed a business and political coalition to fight a proposed corporate tax increase in New York State that would raise the rate from 7.25 percent to 11.5 percent. The hike would harm the metropolitan region and beyond, local business leaders and elected officials said Monday.

    “This is bad for , this is bad for Long Island, this is bad for the metropolitan region, and this is bad for New York State,” , the Nassau County executive, told reporters at a news conference in Mineola on Monday. “We are going to fight very hard against it.

    “This tax increase on corporations will be passed along to consumers, and many businesses will say they’ve had enough in New York State,” Blakeman said. “They’ll leave, and they’ll take their jobs with them.”

    The coalition was formed just days after , the New York City-mayor elect met with , the New York State governor, according to Politico. Mamdani ran on a platform to ease cost-of-living strains in the city and included no-cost daycare centers, publicly owned supermarkets and free city-bus service.

    To do that, the mayor-elect suggested raising income taxes on the top 1 percent of New Yorkers, as well as raising the corporate tax rate to 11.5 percent, which would put New York on par with New Jersey, according to published reports. The corporate tax hike, officials say, is under consideration by Hochul.

    Hochul said Monday that any tax increase would depend on what happens in Washington, D.C. in the coming months.

    The suggested corporate tax increase comes at a time when other states are ranked higher in terms of . North Carolina, Texas, Florida, Virgina and Ohio were ranked as some of the top states in the nation for business, according to a July report from CNBC. That study put New York at 23, and New Jersey at 30.

    At the current rate, a $5 million-revenue business pays $362,500 in New York and $805,000 in New York City, Nassau officials said. Under the proposal, corporations would pay $575,000 outside New York City and more than $1 million in the city – an increase that Nassau officials warn would drive businesses out of New York.

    “The business community here has been stressed, has been punched in the gut numerous times, and here’s another” proposed tax hike, said Matt Cohen, president and CEO of Long Island Association, the region’s largest business group.

    “We have an affordability crisis in this country, but nowhere is it more acute than here on Long Island,” Cohen said. “And when you’re driving out businesses, when you’re driving out jobs, that’ going to make it worse, not better.”

    Cohen said this path makes for a “less-friendly business environment,” adding that it wasn’t a Republican or a Democratic issue.

    “When you’re talking about increasing taxes, that’s the opposite of smart , planning, smart business growth, and we need to band together because we all share the same objective,” Cohen said. “We want a strong economy. We want to create jobs, we want a more affordable place to live, but we can’t do that if we keep sending a message to the business community that they’re not welcome here.”

    Kyle Strober, executive director of the Association for a Better Long Island, said that the “proposed tax increase is potentially devastating to our region’s economy.

    “Long Island, whose economy is closely aligned with New York City, is already confronting multiple challenges,” he said. “Recent demographic trends reveal that such a tax increase extension will only serve to drive away additional businesses and high-income earners, who pay the majority of the state’s tax revenue.  When this occurs, the tax burden will be shifted to Long Island’s hard working middle class.  This tax proposal will mock any effort to make New York more affordable for our middle class, a long-stated goal of Albany leadership.”

    On Monday, Hochul pointed out at a press conference that her budget director has said that “things are better than we expected at this point because New York City businesses are doing well, and that is the generator of most of our revenues.”

    Still, she said, “we don’t have a clear line of sight to know what our challenges are going to be or are the challenges not as great as anticipated.”

    She added, “I don’t know what Washington is going to do. Are they going to try and jam us up for another $3 billion in Medicaid costs? This is the uncertainty which makes it challenging to do what we’re doing.”

    Hochul said her response about corporate taxes at this moment is vague “because we don’t have all the information.”

    Meanwhile, Blakeman said that if corporations leave the region because of rate hike, it would hurt local small businesses – the coffee shops, diners and others that serve these organizations.

    Blakeman said that lowering the corporate tax rate to 5 percent “would make us much more competitive throughout the United States.”


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    Adina Genn

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  • Why Kevin McCarthy Can’t Lose George Santos

    Why Kevin McCarthy Can’t Lose George Santos

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    The Republican Party has had no better friend than Nassau County in the past few years.

    Of America’s largest counties, few have turned more sharply toward the GOP than New York City’s neighbor to the east. This collection of Long Island suburbs swept Democrats out of local office in 2021, and last fall, Nassau County voted resoundingly Republican in New York’s gubernatorial race. Most important for the national GOP, the county helped elect three Republicans to Congress, including two candidates who flipped Democratic seats in districts that President Joe Biden had carried in 2020.

    Representative George Santos was one of those recent winners, and now Nassau County Republicans are worried that his abrupt fall from grace will cost the GOP far more than the seat that his lies helped the party pick up in November. They want Santos to step down, even though that means his seat would be vacant until a special election later this year, which the Democrats would aggressively contest. Local Republicans are flummoxed that national party leaders, starting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, haven’t joined their united call for Santos to resign. And they see McCarthy’s continued tolerance of Santos as an attempt to hold on to a Republican vote in the near term without enough consideration for whether he’d lose it—and cause Republicans to lose many others—in the longer term.

    Tom Nichols: Amazingly, George Santos is a member of Congress

    “It’s the right thing to do morally, ethically, and politically,” former Representative Peter King, a Long Island Republican who represented the district next to Santos’s in the House for 28 years, told me about trying to oust Santos. “If you want to keep controlling the Congress, you can’t just have the short-sighted view that you need his vote next week or next month. You’re gonna lose all the votes in two years when you’re no longer in the majority.”

    With 2024 in mind, and as the list of Santos’s biographical fabrications grows (seemingly by the day), Nassau County’s GOP machine has treated the congressman-for-now as a boil to be lanced.

    “As far as I’m concerned, he’s nonexistent. I will not deal with him. I will not deal with his office,” Bruce Blakeman, the Republican who was elected Nassau County executive in 2021, told me. Last week, Blakeman joined a group of local GOP leaders, including county Republican Party Chairman Joseph Cairo and Representative Anthony Garbarino, in demanding that Santos resign.

    Yet for the moment, the political imperatives of Long Island Republicans no longer align with those of McCarthy, who plainly cannot afford to lose Santos’s vote with such a narrow margin in the House. Santos backed McCarthy in all 15 ballots for speaker earlier this month, and McCarthy’s allies rewarded him with a pair of committee assignments earlier this week. The new speaker said that Santos has “a long way to go to earn trust” but has made no move to sanction him.

    “The voters of his district have elected him. He is seated. He is part of the Republican conference,” McCarthy told reporters last week.

    Democrats have already filed a complaint about Santos with the House Ethics Committee, and he is under investigation by federal and local prosecutors in New York who are reportedly looking into whether he committed financial crimes or violated federal campaign-disclosure laws.

    Santos has defied calls to resign, and McCarthy might need his vote even more should another House Republican, Representative Greg Steube of Florida, miss an extended period of time after he sustained serious injuries from a 25-foot fall off a ladder earlier this week.

    McCarthy’s office did not respond to requests for comment. The National Republican Congressional Committee, which traditionally backs GOP incumbents, echoed McCarthy’s ambivalence toward Santos. “Voters in New York will have the final say on who represents them,” NRCC spokesperson Jack Pandol told me by email. “Rep. Santos will have to earn back their trust as he serves them in Congress.”

    Steve Israel: How a perfectly normal New York suburb elected a con man

    King and others in Nassau County are trying to impress upon McCarthy that the longer he stands by Santos, the more damage he will do to a Republican brand that has been on the rise. “The only reason Kevin McCarthy has the majority is because of the very close marginal seats that Republicans won in New York,” King said. “We can lose all of them in the next election.”

    Even if McCarthy wanted to force Santos out, however, there’s not much he can do. He could try to expel him, but that would take the support of two-thirds of the House, and members of both parties might be leery of setting precedent by kicking out a member who has not been charged, much less convicted, of a crime. King suggested that McCarthy insist on an expedited investigation by the Ethics Committee—the panel’s probes tend to drag on for months—but there’s little history of that either.

    Election to the House “is an unshakable contract for two years,” Doug Heye, a former House GOP leadership aide who has advised lawmakers ensnarled in ethics investigations, told me. “Unless two-thirds of the House say, ‘Get out of here,’ or you give it up yourself, nothing happens.”

    Santos has almost no incentive to leave of his own accord anytime soon, especially now that Long Island Republicans have all but foreclosed the possibility of his winning renomination to his seat. “He’s not going to have a career. He’s not going to have a public life, and he’s going to be ostracized in his own community,” Blakeman told me. Santos was wealthy enough to lend his campaign $700,000. But his present personal finances are, like so much else about his life, a mystery, so he may need the paychecks that come with a $174,000 annual salary. And his seat could be a crucial bit of leverage in potential negotiations with prosecutors, Heye noted; resigning his seat, in that scenario, could help him avoid other penalties, including prison time.

    As his struggle just to get the speakership demonstrated, McCarthy doesn’t exactly have an ironclad grip on his conference. The Republicans from Nassau County seem to realize that the new speaker has limited sway over Santos. But McCarthy’s decision to protect and even validate Santos’s standing inside Congress is at odds with a party clinging both to its House majority and to its precarious stronghold on Long Island. “I’ve dealt with people with all sorts of issues,” Blakeman told me,” and enabling them is not a good thing.”

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    Russell Berman

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  • Leaders talk next-gen jobs | Long Island Business News

    Leaders talk next-gen jobs | Long Island Business News

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    Clean energy and water. High-tech innovation. Next-generation jobs, thanks to investments in science and technology.

    These are some of the big priorities elected officials and leaders presented to the business community during Long Island Association’s 2023 State of the Region on Friday. Held at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, the event drew more than 1,100 people.

    The region is benefitting from federal, state and local dollars, officials said.

    “Long Island is going to be the capital for offshore wind, not just in New York but the whole country,” U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer told the crowd.

    The Senate majority leader said innovations such as offshore wind would fuel new companies and “new frontier jobs,” and that federal bills provided money for training  for these jobs.

    “Once we have these windmills installed, the price [for energy] isn’t going to go up and down the way we have suffered through in the last few years, and the way it has been through our history,” he said.

    He also said that the CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in August, “is the largest down payment in a long time” in technology and innovation.

    And with the region’s high tech research centers, including Cold Spring Harbor Lab and Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University and others, “Long Island can be a center of chip-related research and production,” with the centers in the region already “cutting edge in the world,” and poised for growth.

    He said the same levels of opportunities were present in medical science, including at Northwell Health.

    In Suffolk County, the Midway Crossing Ronkonkoma – accessible by highway, rail and air – would fuel innovation, with Northwell Health and Applied DNA already committed to building there, said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said,

    Right now, there is a “unique, once in a generation” level of “cooperation and coordination that I’ve never seen in a project of this significance,” Bellone said, referring to efforts by labor, business, academia and elected officials. “They’re putting politics aside. They made the decision that Long Island’s future is more important.

    And he said, protecting the environment and water quality is a “bipartisan commitment” that has public support, he said.

    Schumer said there was money to provide “real sewage systems in places that don’t have them” and that would prevent aquifer contamination and protect surrounding bays and waters, including Long Island Sound.

    “What happens on the federal, state, and local levels of government impact us here on Long Island, and that’s why the LIA will continue to play its role as a primary advocate for our region’s economic advancement and successful business community,” said LIA President and CEO Matt Cohen.

    Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, addressed the group by video. He was unable to attend the State of the Region breakfast “due to a family obligation” that was scheduled earlier last week, “but due to airline cancellations had to be postponed and couldn’t be changed,” Cohen said.

    In the video, he said would present a plan for the redevelopment of the Nassau County Hub.

    Schumer said the region has to do more about housing, allowing the private sector to more affordably build “a lot more housing.”

    Cohen said the LIA would pursue “economic development opportunities to address challenges like our high cost of living, developing more affordable housing options, expanding our commercial tax base through helping grow businesses, and retaining young professionals to keep Long Island vibrant and sustainable.”

    Cohen pointed out that the LIA has long-supported fostering “a clean energy economy. He said that “South Fork Wind is projected to power Long Island homes by the end of this year and other are in the pipeline to serve our region.”

    What’s more, New York State has allocated $350 million to “new state economic development funds being invested in our region, some of which has already been awarded to Northwell’s Feinstein Institutes, Long Island University, Farmingdale State College, and Stony Brook University with Brookhaven National Lab.”

    But, he said, that “we also need to ensure the Long Island region gets an equitable share of funding and attention from all levels of government. We have sent much more to DC and Albany every year than we get back and it’s time we change that.”

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    Adina Genn

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