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WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2004. By John F. Bailey. November 1, 2004: Adam Bradley, incumbent Assemblyman for the 89th Assembly District that includes White Plains and points North: Lewisboro, New Castle, Bedford, and Robert Castelli, his challenger debated for the final time Wednesday evening at a League of Women Voters forum at the New Castle Town Hall in Chappaqua, before an indifferent audience.
ADAM BRADLEY, left, and ROBERT CASTELLI, right in District 89 Contest, in New Castle Town Hall, Wednesday evening. Photo by WPCNR News.
There were no outbursts of spontaneous applause, few tough questions, a couple of self-centered, personal issues questions asked adlib and obviously unscreened by the League of Women Voters moderator. The attendance of approximately 100 persons appeared lukewarm to both candidates, there was no milling around Mr. Bradley or Mr.Castelli after the debate was over, just when it was warming up, after about one hour.
The debate between the two crystallized around the question of whether Mr. Bradley is a reformer, and is bipartisan or he isn’t. How is a voter to decide when claims and counterclaims are made involving numerically coded bills and specific claims which the average listener has no idea of the ramifications?
In Mr. Bradley’s 2-minute opening speech, he emphasized his role in a “bipartisan effort” to overturn over 100 vetoes of Governor Pataki, which restored funding to hospitals, restored school aid, tuition aid, over the governor’s wishes. Mr. Bradley in addition said he supported the budget reform packed passed by the State Senate and State Assembly.
Castelli, in his opening statement presented his credentials as a self-made and created person who has spent a lifetime serving the public in decision-making positions, from being a Vietnam war combat soldier, to being a career state trooper, and now as a Professor with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan. Castelli closed his opening statement saying that Bradley talks about being a reformer, but voted against 17 “meaningful reform proposals” before voting for the budget reform package that still awaits forwarding to Governor George Pataki. Later in the debate, Castelli pointed out the reform package takes away considerable power from the Executive Branch.
Bradley responded to Castelli’s statement, touting his endorsement by The Journal-News, and the advantages of the budget reform package he supports, which includes, setting up an independent revenue forecasting agency, locking in a two-year education budget, contingency budgets that automatically kick-in, and moving up by one-month the date when the state budget is due to be passed.
On a question of whether either candidate supports the death penalty, Bradley said he was against the death penalty, because it was irreversible. Castelli, in law enforcement all his life, and who has seen five fellow officer friends killed in the line of duty, supports the death penalty with discretion, saying he’d “agree with that kind of examination” of the nature of the crime committed. He pointed out that the death penalty most certainly would have been wanted to be meted out to the terrorists who destroyed the Word Trade Center, and if you had no death penalty in New York you could not do that.
A question was asked about what powers the Independent Budget Office proposed by the joint houses of the legislature would have and what it would exactly do. Bradley said it would analyze what revenues the state actually had, instead of the two houses of the legislature and the governor’s office having three different estimates of what revenues the state had to work with. “You can’t have partisanhip” in estimating the revenues, Bradley maintained. Mr. Castelli said he supported an independent budget office, but questioned the budget package Bradley supports, “because it is onerous. It takes power away from the Chief Executive.” The budget reform would lock in the state to contingency budgets, allowing programs to continue instead of the process of stopgap budgets when the budget is late. These stopgap measures now are being passed with the governor’s approval.
Bradley said he favored the Senate-Assembly budget reform package.
Castelli took this opportunity to chide Mr. Bradley for voting over 95% of the time with the Assembly leadership position of Sheldon Silver, and not voting on Republican reform resolutions, saying Bradley supported the Democratic leadership, and not seeking a solution, that he voted the party line. Bradley said that over 96% of Assembly Democrat members voted with Silver anyway, saying Castelli’s criticism ignored the realities of the way the assembly works, that he (Bradley) acted in a bipartisan manner in working towards meaningful reform. Bradley said the Republican proposals he voted against were “pure politics.”
On the subject of the state court battle over funding education that the Governor has challenged in the courts, Castelli, an educator himself, said that there was a need to “establish standards” by which aid was distributed and this should include funding “alternative means of education,” rather than block grants to even up funding for city schools. Bradley pointed to his record of voting to restore school aid that the Governor cut, as well as tuition aid.
On the subject of health insurance, Bradley said he supported making the insurance companies pay more of the burden, saying “I take a lot of heat from these types, we have to get past the special interests stuff.”
Castelli stressed that in looking at the health insurance problem, part of the solution had to involve “meaningful tort reform.”
Returning to education again, Bradley said he supported an “opt-out” option from State Assessment Tests for top performing school districts in the state, such as Scarsdale. Bradley said the state tests “were so objective in their forms that it (teaching to the test) is being forced on them (the better school districts).” Castelli did not voice an opinion on opt-outs from Assessment Testing, but stated instead he was “opposed to unfunded mandates.”
On the subject of Indian Point, Mr. Bradley said he felt Indian Point should be closed, but before it could be closed, he wanted to assure the region could replace the power Indian Point generates and how it would be replaced.
Mr. Castelli agreed alternative energy sources had to be explored, but pointed out that closing Indian Point would not eliminate the security risk posed by the remaining storage of spent fuel rods on the site. Castelli, an expert on security, said that Indian Point first had to be made secure by being better protected with a no-fly zone, for example.
In conclusion, Castelli said “ Mr. Bradley was not a bad man, but there are fundamental differences in the way I believe we should govern.” He said he would govern by principle, and was a better choice to work for the reforms Albany needs.
Bradley said he made it a practice to work in “a bipartisanship manner always,” pointing out many of his proposals were endorsed by Republicans.
Both Castelli and Bradley said, in previous debates, and on White Plains Week, that they would support the White Plains 1/2% Sales Tax renewal which comes up again in 2005.
Battle for Independents.
As the election is held tomorrow, the key to whether Mr. Bradley retains his seat, will be Mr. Castelli’s ability to win over Independent Voters in the 89th District, of which there are 17,000, as opposed to 27,000 Republicans and 28,000 Democrats. You know Bradley has White Plains 13,000 Democratic voters. And the Republican Party in White Plains has about 5 people in it. (I am being faceticous.)
The Republican Party in White Plains has not supported Mr. Castelli’s bid at all in public.
The Republican Mayor Joseph Delfino of White Plains has not publicly endorsed Mr. Castelli, or campaigned with him, or had pictures taken with Mr. Castelli for his campaign literature. Frank Cantatori, the City Republican Party Chairman has been out of town the last week, and Republican election monitoring apparatus in White Plains, as a result, is in a shambles, according to party insiders. This, in a city where a Republican was denied his seat (Larry Delgado), due to a jammed election machine. If any Republicans vote in White Plains, it will not be because of any effort by the Republican Party leadership to get them out to vote for Mr. Castelli.
Up district is the key to the election. Should Castelli galvanize enough Republicans in Katonah, Lewisboro, Pound Ridge and Bedford, to vote for him and appeal to the Independent voters, he will be competitive.
Mr. Bradley and Mr. Castelli are probably the two most qualified and intelligent candidates running in any race in the area.
The choice is between a politician, Mr. Bradley, with a history of achievement in two years in the Assembly He is opposed by a man dedicated to public service with a history of achievement in his field: law enforcement and criminal justice, raising the issue of the ability to be independent on issues.
You could see Mr. Bradley and Mr. Castelli working very well together because unlike a lot of politicians they are intelligent, reasonable men. It is a pity you could not elect them both.
We need intelligence in Albany.
