Astorino’s Additional Ballot Line is Meant to Trick Voters
As reported in the Yorktown News on Aug. 27, Rob Astorino has filed for an additional ballot line in his campaign for the state Senate, in a disingenuous move to appear “bipartisan.”
Astorino will be running on his Rebuild Our State ballot line, while simultaneously running on the Republican and Conservative ballot lines. However, Rebuild Our State has no membership and no platform, and it serves only to try to get unsuspecting unaffiliated voters to support him.
This is not the first time that Astorino has used this shameful tactic, and unfortunately it is not unique to him. Nationwide, local Republican candidates are attempting to minimize widespread disapproval of Trump policies with empty shell ballot lines.
On Feb. 17, 2015, Astorino created the Reform Party. At that time, the Conservative Party of New York State complained about that move. The Reform Party sounded like a progressive movement. For voters it was another empty shell.
Traditional Republicans should also be dismayed by this attempt by Astorino to distance himself from the GOP. Astorino must feel that he won’t get enough support from his own party because he is acting as if he was never a part of the Trump sphere. In fact, he was a member of Trump’s 2020 Re-election Advisory Council. And, Astorino has been a paid CNN contributor who has appeared defending the President’s policies.
As a career Republican official, it would be more appropriate if he demonstrated some integrity by standing up and running solely on the Republican line, as the representative of a party whose values of rejecting climate change, the impact of COVID-19, women’s rights, social justice and expanded economic opportunities clearly are most aligned with his own.
In contrast, incumbent state Sen. Pete Harckham has a real record of bipartisan bills that were passed in support of clean drinking water, law enforcement, women’s rights and lower taxes. And, he is helping to lead a bipartisan task force that is charged with combating New York’s opioid epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sen. Harckham doesn’t have to hide from his record. He’s proud of his accomplishments for the people of the Hudson Valley.
Francine DiBernardo
Yorktown Heights
