I just had one of the most incredible experiences of my life- and I want to share it with you.
For weeks I had been promised that I would be allowed to speak as a candidate for Governor at the New York State Republican Convention in New York City.
When I arrived at the convention I learned that the Republican leadership had slipped in a convention rule that said candidates for Governor would be allowed to speak after the voting to select the Republican candidate and only those candidates who received 25% would be allowed to speak!
Have you ever heard of anything so backwards and undemocratic?
This so typical of the New York political situation where both parties have contributed to the dysfunction in Albany.
After a motion to move candidate speeches before the voting failed, and some quick thinking by Erie County Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy who was my convention floor manager, I was given a proxy so I could address the convention- by nominating myself! I had ten minutes to lay out our agenda for radical reform in Albany.
I never expected to be the choice of the Republican party bosses who have so much invested in the current system in Albany. I have always vowed to take my fight to the voters in the Republican Party primary. I know I will win the Republican Primary against former liberal Republican Congressman Rick Lazio whose days in Washington were marked by his strong support for the big-government style, sub-prime mortgage program push by Andrew Cuomo when he was the Secretary of Housing. Together Lazio and Cuomo cost US taxpayers $2.4 Billion in failed mortgages.
I have no illusions- just getting my name on the ballot will take a super-human effort to collect more than the 15,000 valid Republican voter signatures- which could cost our campaign more than $500,000. I have no choice.
If you want to volunteer to collect valid Republican voter signatures in your community please contact me by clicking here. Unless we press our people's campaign to clean up Albany- I am convinced that nothing will change under political insiders Rick Lazio or Andrew Cuomo. When I see the lobbyists and other special interests shoveling money into Cuomo and covering their bet with token contributions to Lazio you can see they are both members of the political elite that are destroying this state.
The political establishment will stop at nothing to stop real reform that erodes their power and riches.
That's why I need your help.
New York is literally choking on high taxes. Special interests protect outrageous wasteful spending, the state is $60 billion in debt, our schools are failing and the state is hemorrhaging jobs. Corrupt politicians are stealing us blind. Only you and I can change this.
That's why I am running for Governor, to drive the political hacks running our state from office and bring real reform to Albany. Won't you join us by making a contribution to this vital effort today?
This campaign isn't about me. I am merely a spokesman for the people- and the people are mad as hell and they aren't going to take it anymore. I am just a businessman who never aspired to public office. I even supported candidates of both parties in the hope that some politician would actually do what they said they would do in the campaign.
You see, I refuse to believe this is the way it has to be.
I looked for a candidate for Governor with the independence, judgment and courage to take on the entrenched special interests and Albany's political insiders to change all of this. Last year I became active in the Tea Party movement to demand a return to fiscal common sense by government.
When I reached the conclusion that none of the candidates for Governor would bring any real significant change, I decided to run myself.
As a businessman I have the management skills to turn New York around. As a lawyer, I know all the tricks the lawyers in Albany use to maintain the status quo. As a Tea Party Activist I know the answer to our economic crisis is cutting taxes, cutting regulation and slashing spending - all to create jobs.
I built a $150 million dollar real estate development and management business from scratch. I'm a businessman not a politician. I know how to operate on budget. I know how to meet a payroll. I have created hundreds of good paying jobs. I put a high premium on telling the truth.
That is why I need your help today.
I have pledged $10 Million dollars of my own money to a reform campaign for Governor which will challenge the liberal political establishment that has given us the highest income and property taxes in the country, $60 Billion worth of debt and wasteful spending almost beyond imagination.
Won't you join our crusade to save New York? Won't you help me take on the liberal special interests that are destroying our state by sending a contribution today?
Public employee union bosses have more control over the state spending than the people do. Rich compensation and pension deals agreed to by career politicians in return for campaign contributions are bankrupting our state.
This has to stop and only you and I can stop it!
I plan to serve one 4-year term as governor without regard to politics, popularity or re-election. I will make government smaller, more effective and more efficient. I will return control of government to the people. I will carefully review every department, agency and authority of government and every government program for effectiveness, efficiency, productivity and need.
I have a very specific and comprehensive plan to revive New York's economy to:
- cut taxes 10%.
- cut spending by 20% by eliminating waste, fraud and government programs that aren't working.
- cancel pension benefits and free health care for state legislators.
- impose 8 year term limits for all state elected offices including the legislature.
- institute a one-year residency requirement before anyone can receive welfare payments.
- re-negotiate the fat public employee pension deals that have literally driven us to the brink of bankruptcy.
- appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute corruption in the State Legislature and give him the subpoena power to get at the facts.
I can't do it alone. Democrat Andrew Cuomo has $20 Million dollars in special interest campaign contributions filling his war chest. Observers expect him to raise another $30 Million from the lobbyist, bankers, investment houses, Wall Street insiders, law firms, insurance companies and all those interested in maintaining the status quo in Albany.
While I have pledged to spend up to $10 Million of my own money, it will take far more if we are going to defeat the entrenched liberal special interests who have a stranglehold on our government.
That's why I am asking you to make a contribution to Paladino For the People today. I wish I could do it alone and while I have been blessed by my success in business, I cannot compete with the multi-Billion dollar special interests and public employees unions who like dysfunctional New York government just the way it is.
Together you and I can rally those New Yorkers who are fed-up and ready for radical reform. My campaign must raise an additional $200,000 in the next two weeks to keep our campaign plan on schedule.
Won't you send a contribution today?
I did not expect to be a candidate of the Republican Party bosses when they meet at their convention the first week of June. As I said, I intend to take my case directly to the Republican primary voters by collecting the 30,000 signatures that would ensure that my name appears on the September Republican Primary ballot. This effort alone could cost my campaign as much as $500,000.
If you want to help my campaign gather valid voter signatures as a volunteer please e-mail me by clicking here.
Because the New York State Conservative Party has also been co-opted by deal making, patronage hungry career politicians, I will also petition my way onto the November ballot on a Tea Party-oriented line. I believe this will create a vehicle to attract the votes of conservative Democrats and Independents who agree with us on the issues but are not comfortable voting Republican.
I'm doing my part, will you do yours? Will you help me save New York State?
You can use your Visa or Mastercard to make a contribution now. Won't you send $200, $100, $75 or $50? Even a contribution of $25 would be a big help.
Together we can defeat the bosses of the Republican establishment in their attempt to saddle our party with a weak nominee and defeat Andrew Cuomo and the liberal special interests who hope to make him Governor.
I would not be running and spending my own money if I didn't think I could win- but I cannot do it alone. Please help our campaign with a contribution today.
I will be checking for your response online. Thank you. Please let me hear from you today.
Carl P. Paladino
Candidate for Governor
PS - Don't let the attacks on me by the liberal media and political insiders distract you. The real obscenity is Albany and what they are doing with our money, not to mention the succession of corrupt politicians representing us. It seems like a new one is arrested every day. We can turn Albany upside down and take out the trash. Please go to https://www.paladinoforthepeople.com/donate.php and rush me your answer today.
PSS- If you want to volunteer to circulate petitions in your neighborhood to get my name on the ballot go to http://paladinoforthepeople.com/petition. Our campaign is a people's campaign and we need your help. If you want a Paladino for the people yard sign go to http://paladinoforthepeople.com/volunteer"
Anonymous troll, care to explain why, or do you simply make it a habit to be a tool?
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