June 21, 2019
Statement From Senator Tom O’Mara:
State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C,I-Big Flats) today criticized New York State government under one-party, Democrat control for failing to cut taxes, eliminate overregulation, roll back unfunded state mandates, or take any other actions that prioritize the need to strengthen the statewide economy and create jobs.
O’Mara said, “I said late last year, even before this session began, that New York State was about to get turned upside down, at breakneck speed, by a government under one-party, downstate, Democrat control. Even I didn’t imagine what we’ve just witnessed over the past six months when this radically progressive, far-left state government has started New York down an irresponsible, high-taxing, big-spending, law-breaking road to ruin. Many of my constituents have quipped, Can it really get any worse in New York? Yes it can, and yes it has.”
Among others, O’Mara criticized Governor Andrew Cuomo and Legislature’s Democrat leaders for the following actions throughout the just-concluded 2019 legislative session:
Ø Failure to provide adequate state funding for local road and bridges;
Ø Providing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants under the so-called “Green Light” law;
Ø Providing college tuition assistance for illegal immigrants under the so-called “DREAM Act”;
Ø Decisions by the State Parole Board to release cop killers and cold-blooded murderers from prison;
Ø Enacting the “Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act” that many farm advocates, including the New York Farm Bureau, fear could devastate family farms;
Ø Moving forward on an aggressive and far-reaching “climate protection” agenda that many fear will exponentially drive up New York’s already high cost of energy for consumers, businesses, senior citizens;
Ø Numerous criminal justice reforms that favor criminals over crime victims; and
Ø Taking decision-making powers and responsibilities away from the Legislature by creating numerous unelected, unaccountable boards and commissions to decide controversial issues including, among others, the Farm Wage Board and commissions on Commuter Tax/Congestion Pricing, Taxpayer Financed Campaigns, and Climate Change.
“This government has simply turned its back on common sense, and law and order,” O’Mara said. “It has wiped its hands clean of concern for farmers, local property taxpayers, hard-working families, the families of crime victims, small business owners, manufacturers, and so many others. It has belligerently and without hesitation begun implementing a far-left, Democratic-Socialist, radically progressive, New York City-centric experiment in government in New York State, and the rest of us are going to pay for it. In my opinion, it’s already a failed experiment and we need to stand up against it.”
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