Guilderland Town Board member Warren Redlich announced at a press conference in the Legislative Office Building, on Monday, Feb.1 that he will be running for the New York State Governor’s Office.
Earlier in the month, Redlich told The Spotlight that he was considering a run for the office after friends in the libertarian party approached him with the idea. On Jan. 22, Redlich made the next step in his discernment process by forming a campaign committee called Redlich.
It wasn’t until Monday, Feb. 1 until Redlich officially made the decision to run for the office.
`The thing that was holding me up was that I was meeting with a group of libertarian’s in Manhattan,` said Redlich. He said that he has received positive feedback from the group and that solidified his decision to run for the office.
Eric Sundwall, campaign manager for Redlich and leader of the effort to draft him to run for governor, introduced Redlich at the press conference.
He said his original intention was to draft Redlich to run for the New York State Attorney General’s office.
`During the course of Christmas, I threw the idea out that Warren should run for governor on the libertarian line,` said Sundwall.
Redlich would eventually answer Sundwall’s call for him to run for the office.
`I’ve always had this theme that we need to stop wasting money,` said Redlich.
`When you’re inside the bubble in Albany, the answer is to tax people,` he said. He went on to say `instead of talking about controlling spending, we’re talking about cutting spending.`
Redlich mentioned the specifics of his proposals that include the elimination of a number of state departments, including Economic Development, the Thruway Authority, and the Office for Technology. He also mentioned a proposal to cap state employee pay at $100 thousand, and a proposal to cap state government pensions at $75 thousand.
`It sounds extreme, but when you’re talking about taxing soda, nothings extreme,` he said.
Redlich plans to run on the libertarian line, and also to challenge former congressman Rick Lazio for the republican nomination.
He sad he believes he will appeal to supporters that are part of the tea-party movement. A movement that, according to Redlich, was born out of government’s decision to bail-out banks, and allow banks receiving bail-out money to grant bonuses.
`I don’t see how Rick Lazio appeals to that constituency,` he said. Over the course the month of January Redlich had repeatedly referred to Lazio as a `bailed-out banker, with a bonus.`
`We don’t need someone who participated in bailouts and bonuses,` he said.
Redlich said it is unlikely that he will seek any endorsements in addition to the republican and libertarian lines.
`The Working Families party does not fight for families, it fights for unions,` he said.
He also said he believes he will make a better candidate than current Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, often cited as a potential democratic challenger to Governor David A. Paterson.
Redlich said that Cuomo, in his capacity as Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development under Clinton, pushed for proliferation of sub-prime mortgages, a factor that contributed to the current recession.
`Do you want someone who helped crash the economy, or someone who said no don’t do that,` he said.
`We need somebody outside the Albany bubblehe’s [Cuomo] been inside the bubble his whole life,` said Redlich.
Fellow republican Town Board member Mark Grimm was on hand to see Redlich’s announcement however, he did not explicitly voice his support for Redlich. `It’s way too early for an endorsement, but the more voices the better,` said Grimm.
Grimm said he is reserving his endorsement until he sees which other candidates enter the race.
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