They came, they saw, they squabbled.
The first Republican gubernatorial debate was fastpaced and fiery, but too much of the heat was aimed in the wrong direction. Granted, it’s a primary, but the intramural fighting left little time or energy for taking aim at the Democrats.
As a result, it was impossible to detect if any one of the four candidates — Rob Astorino, Andrew Giuliani, Harry Wilson and Lee Zeldin — has the right stuff to be the next governor.
And that’s a pity. A red wave is forming nationally because of the disastrous performance of Joe Biden and the Dem-controlled congress.
New York should be a part of that wave because Albany is a one-party town and the left’s disastrous policies are turning the state into a basket case. It has fallen way behind dynamic, fast-growing, business friendly states like Florida and Texas and shows no signs of closing the gap.
Quite the opposite. Under the disgraced former governor, Andrew Cuomo, and now Kathy Hochul, Albany specializes in passing sky-high taxes and reams of regulations, which have led to anemic population and job growth. Even this year, when the state was swimming in federal pandemic dollars, there was little talk and no action toward making the state safer and more hospitable to families and job creators.
As a result, the frightening rates of crime and an astronomical cost of living are creating an out-migration of historic proportions.
That overarching reality is what I assumed the GOP candidates would zero in on. At times they did, but not nearly often enough to make a credible case for themselves and against Dems.
Instead, they focused too much on each other. The flow of attacks from Rob Astorino and Harry Wilson tell you Lee Zeldin is presumed to be the front-runner.
Wilson, spending some of his personal fortune, even bought advertising time to attack the Long Island congressman immediately before and after the debate on WCBS/Channel 2.
Zeldin, who seemed animated and focused, came ready to hit back, calling Astorino “Rolex Rob” and Wilson “Never Trumper.”
That tag shows the former president, who lost New York in both of his White House races, remains popular among state Republicans. Trump got 3.2 million votes in 2020, an increase of 400,000 over 2016.
Giuliani, the son of the former mayor, was banished to a nearby studio because he remains unvaccinated. The remote location might have helped him because he was the least combative toward his opponents and the most focused on what he would do as governor. He alone made the point that high crime isn’t just a problem in New York City, but has spread across the state to all urban areas.
At least they agree on the DA
Although Hochul got too few mentions, the one Democrat they all took a bite out of was Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. His early promise to decriminalize many violations and reduce some felonies to misdemeanors has made him a symbol of criminal coddling, and all four promised to fire him if elected.
They were also unanimous in committing to reverse Cuomo’s ban on fracking for natural gas, and said they opposed the stalled congestion pricing plan for the city, calling it a tax on workers and non-Manhattanites.
The likelihood that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade led to a moderator’s question of whether each would pledge to keep New York’s extensive abortion protections in place. All but Wilson identified themselves as pro-life and said they found the existing state law extreme in that it allowed abortion almost to the moment of birth, and vowed to try to change that provision and others.
Wilson, who has said elsewhere he favors abortion rights, said he was not running on a “social agenda” platform and would not try to change the existing law.
Similarly, Astorino, Giuliani and Zeldin said they had age-appropriate concerns regarding the issue of teaching public-school students about the history of the LGBTQ movement, but Wilson declined to respond directly, saying again he was not focused on social issues.
It’s a novel approach, reflecting the fact that Wilson knows his views are out of step with the majority of state GOP voters. Zeldin realizes as much, and twice in their back-and-forths, he accused Wilson of being in the wrong debate, saying, “You should be in the Democratic debates.”
That was the most successful attack line of the night and could seriously damage Wilson’s hope of winning the nomination.
