For Immediate Release April 26, 2021 Contact: Shaun Marie 518-356-7882 www.cpnys.org @cpnys
Statement by New York State Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar on Losing a Congressional Seat
Brooklyn, NY — “New York’s loss of yet another congressional seat shows what more than a half century of unbridled liberalism, with few bright spots, will do to a former political and economic powerhouse. And progressives in Albany, under single-party rule, are only getting started — if common-sense New Yorkers don’t stop them first.
“In 1951, boasting 45 representatives in Congress and an economy that was the envy of the nation, ‘The Empire State’ nickname was confidently affixed to all New York license plates for the first time. How should our license plates read now that we’re down to 26 — ‘The Dwindling State?’ ‘The Dopey State?’ It’s a legitimate question.
“New York’s continuing loss of political representation — clout — in Washington doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It has serious consequences for struggling New York families. Is it any wonder, for example, that New York finds itself the largest donor state to Washington in 2021, with a negative balance of nearly $23 billion? Is it any wonder we’ve had to beg Washington for infrastructure loans as our roads and bridges crumble? This is what happens when a state doesn’t matter as much as it once did because its people and jobs have been chased away.
“This loss is the direct result of seventy years of mostly bad policy making in Albany, shortsighted policies that have sent countless families and businesses to other parts of the country. More than a million New Yorkers have left the state under Governor Andrew Cuomo’s tenure alone. Meanwhile, other states such as Florida and Texas, which have enacted conservative economic policies, continue to prosper politically and economically.
“The New York State Conservative Party has been unwavering in its advocacy for smarter policy making since 1962. We continue to remind New Yorkers that they have a choice to make: Keep doing the same things and watch our state continue to atrophy, or get back in the game with new, forward-looking, common sense leaders in Albany. The choice is clear. What we have now simply isn’t working.”
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