Republican State Senator Marty Golden is too busy carrying President Trump's water to care about the "life and death" of his constituents, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Monday.
The governor, on hand in Dyker Heights to campaign for Golden's Democratic rival Andrew Gounardes, said the Republican incumbent's speed camera betrayal remains fresh on his mind. As Cuomo sees it, Golden and his colleagues are so beholden the Trump's nationalist agenda that they'd forgotten how to govern.
"It doesn't really matter what Marty Golden thinks," Cuomo said outside the campaign rally. "He couldn't even get the speed camera bill voted on — which wasn't even a controversial bill and was a difference between life and death."
The senator reneged on his professed support for speed cameras in July when he and his Senate Republican colleagues allowed the 140-school camera program to expire, leaving the lives of thousands of NYC schoolchildren hanging in the balance. Fortunately, legal maneuvers by the governor and the mayor gave the city council power to reauthorize the cameras — without the support of the Republican-controlled legislature.
"I know him ... but it's not about him," Cuomo told reporters about Golden. "They are just following a script. They are carrying Donald Trump's message."
Since their introduction in 2014, speed cameras have reduced dangerous speeding by 63 percent at locations and times where they are in effect, according to city data.
For years, Golden was the primary target of Families for Safe Streets and their allies, who hoped that the support of the city's highest ranking state senator could cajole the rest of the Republican caucus to pass a bill that would reauthorize and expand the camera program. In May, he said he supported the legislation, but did next-to-nothing to get that legislation passed.
At one point, Golden and his Republican colleagues even put forward their own legislation — which would have killed the camera program after a six-month extension in favor of more traffic lights, which are known to increase speeding.
Meanwhile, Golden picked up a reputation as one of the city's worst speed camera recidivists. Cameras have caught him speeding no less than 14 times since 2014. The senator meekly apologized for his dangerous driving, but continues to point fingers on his inaction on speed cameras.
"He failed to deliver the bill that he promised he would," said Gounardes. "Year after year after year he has failed to deliver because he doesn't actually support speed cameras."
Cuomo might want to watch the Trump bashing in the 22nd Senate District; in 2016, Trump won the district with 48.81 percent of the vote compared to 48.13 percent for Hillary Clinton. Golden has staked out territory similar to Trump in wrongly criticizing Arab-Americans, taking anti-immigrant positions, and denying climate change.
Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 6. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. To find your polling place, visit the NYC Board of Elections site here.
