CAMPAIGN 2006 Faso heads Republican Party race for Governor

Less than 24 hours after John Faso received the Republican Party’s endorsement for New York State Governor, he was back on the campaign trail sharing his vision for the state and answering questions from members of the Queens Chamber of Commerce at a morning breakfast on Friday, June 2.
One day earlier, somewhat unexpectedly, Faso received the backing of the Republican Party by a margin of 61 percent to 39 percent over former Massachusetts Governor and early-favorite Bill Weld.
After receiving pressure from party bosses, on Tuesday, June 6, Weld announced that he would drop out of the race in favor of party unity.
During Faso’s more-than-hour-long sit-down at the Chamber, Faso discussed a number of key issues including healthcare, education, tax cuts, and employment. Faso also vowed to look into and improve Medicaid, which currently accounts for $45 billion of the New York State budget.
“New York spends more than Texas and California combined,” Faso said. “Anyway you look at it, it’s out of control.”
With the well-publicized struggle for state funding for city schools taking place earlier this year, Faso criticized the current process.
“The school aid process is not transparent,” Faso continued. “[We need to] streamline the school aid formula.”
Faso claimed that the legislature would not sign off on a city-only solution, but he said that more resources should be put into high-need school districts over a number of years, with accountability measures put in place ensuring that the money is being utilized effectively.
“Money is not the only answer to education,” he said.
Faso also said he was adamantly against adding more taxation on employment in the state and made known the importance of small businesses saying that the city was the “economic engine” for the state.
Faso, who graduated from Archbishop Molloy High School and served in the Assembly for 14 years representing Columbia County in upstate New York, also called out his Democratic opponent and favorite for governor, Eliot Spitzer. He said that Spitzer has already made billions of dollars worth of promises that he cannot pay for so he’ll have to raise taxes in order to keep his word.