Group Sides with Bramson on Astorino Campaign Ads

Written by Tom Auchterlonie.

An elections oversight group has ruled that five claims made by Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino against challenger Noam Bramson were "unfair."

The Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee announced its findings after meeting Wednesday to listen to arguments from spokespeople on behalf of the candidates.

The committee looked at five claims included in TV and radio ads, along with a mailer. It ruled that claims of Bramson, who is the Democratic mayor of New Rochelle, had benefits including a free car and lifetime healthcare were false because while they were available he did not use them. The committee also declared unfair statements about the sales tax, sewer tax and library tax in New Rochelle going up, noting that the sales tax rose by a state-mandated amount of 1/8 of one percent, and that the city government does not control library or sewer taxes.

Weighing in on the ruling, Bramson's campaign blasted Astorino, a Mount Pleasant Republican.

"Republican Rob Astorino just got caught with his pants on fire," Barry Caro, Bramson's campaign spokesman said in a press release. “Lying once in a thirty-second advertisement is bad enough, but lying five times makes clear that this was a deliberate attempt to mislead voters about taxes. Westchester deserves better than a County Executive who just makes up facts and figures to pad an attack ad.”

Caro also called on Astorino to remove the ads, calling it credibility into question if he doesn't.

Astorino's campaign, however, stands by a TV ad's veracity and will not remove it.

Jessica Proud, a spokeswoman for Friends of Rob Astorino, gave the following statement: "We want to thank Mr. Bramson for highlighting our TV ad about his actions as the part-time mayor of New Rochelle. Westchester voters deserve to know that Mr. Bramson raised his part-time salary 40-percent—to almost $90,000 ($88,971)—accepted healthcare for life as a part-time New Rochelle employee, and raised property taxes 109-percent to pay for those perks. The library tax, sewer tax, and garbage fee also went up dramatically under his watch, but evidently he knows nothing about them. The TV ad is accurate and it will remain running. We welcome further discussion about Mr. Bramson's record in office."