by Mike Lawler
My name is Mike Lawler. I’m a lifelong resident of Rockland County and a graduate of Suffern High School and Manhattan College, where I earned my degree in Accounting and Finance.
My wife Doina and I live in Pearl River, where I currently serve as Deputy Town Supervisor of the Town of Orangetown. In addition, I’m a small business owner and have been involved politically and governmentally for well over a decade.
I’m running for the New York State Assembly because we need a new voice for Rockland County–someone who will fight for the change we need in Albany.
Unfortunately, Rockland County and New York State have become unaffordable for working families, seniors, and young people just starting out. It’s why 1.1 million New Yorkers have left our state over the last decade.
Rockland County taxpayers pay the second-highest property taxes in America. It’s unacceptable.
We need to make Rockland more affordable by cutting taxes and business regulations, to make our state economically competitive, grow our economy, and create jobs.
We need to reduce our property tax burden by making the state fully fund and run our broken Medicaid system. We are the only state left in the nation that forces counties to pick up 25% of the costs of the program. It’s outrageous.
We need to fix the broken state school aid formula, which shortchanges our children and increases our property taxes. Our labor costs are treated like Poughkeepsie and upstate NY, as opposed to Long Island and New York City–costing us millions in state aid. It needs to stop.
And we need to get our fair share of state aid for infrastructure, energy and transportation. Sadly, we’ve seen reductions in rail service and the passage of congestion pricing, hurting Rockland County commuters. We should not be paying $40 million more in taxes to the MTA than services we receive.
And with respect to public safety, it is the number one role and responsibility of government. We need to repeal the disastrous cashless bail law that my opponent co-sponsored and championed in order to restore public safety in communities all across NY.
We need to work with law enforcement to keep our communities safe and make sure they have the resources they need to ensure equality and justice for all New Yorkers.
I will be that Assemblyman. I will work with elected officials from both parties, community leaders, and our residents to ensure that Rockland County has the representation we deserve in Albany, and to make sure that our community’s needs and interests are put first.
I’m honored to be endorsed by the Laborer’s Local 754, IBEW Local 363, the Rockland County Building and Construction Trades, Operating Engineers Local 825, Rockland County PBA, NYC PBA, NYC SBA, NYS FOP, MTA PBA, State Association of PBAs, Hudson Valley 10-13 Association and a host of other unions that represent local members here in Rockland County.
Those are the people I will represent–the hard-working men and women of our community who deserve a voice in the Assembly that will work for them, not the radical politicians in New York City.
As your Assemblyman, I will make sure that I am available and responsive to the needs of our towns and villages. I will attend at least one to two board meetings a year for each municipality, providing updates on what is going on in Albany and engaging with our local elected leaders and our residents on important issues and how we can work together to address them. That’s something my opponent has consistently failed to do.
If you’re interested in learning more about my campaign, please head over to lawler4ny.com and join us. On November 3rd, I hope to earn your vote.
Together, we will restore balance and common sense to state government.
Thank you.
