Dear Editor:
Over the last 12 months, the New York State Economic Development Corporation (with the permission and direction of Gov. Andrew Cuomo) has spent over $160 million in taxpayers dollars for a series of feel good ads. The commercials ran in heavy rotation several times per hour on television stations. They have a catchy beat reminiscent of Bobby McFarren’s “Don’t worry, Be Happy.”
The Cuomo for Governor campaign spent over $45 million. Challenger Rob Astorino spent over $5 million. Most of the Cuomo dollars were raised from the usual Albany State Street Pay for Play crowd. The average Cuomo “donation” was in the thousands. Cuomo transferred millions more from his own campaign account to the New York State Democratic Party campaign committee. They served as Cuomo’s designated hit squad, spending millions in ads attempting to smear Astorino as an “extreme conservative, antiwomen, pro gun nut.”
Cuomo had an army consisting of thousands of volunteers from every Democratic Party clubhouse and most labor unions going door to door in a get out the vote effort. This was supplemented by phone banks staffed by the same people collectively making several hundred thousand phone calls.
But when you add up all the voters who either cast ballots for Republican/Conservative Party Astorino (1,442,397), Green Party Hawkins (173,510) or other minor party candidates along with those who decided to stay home (2,143,960), the real winner was None of the Above with 3,506,057 votes.
Cuomo’s win was due to apathy.
Larry Penner
Great Neck
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