Kathy Hochul

Since a property tax cap was imposed on local governments in 2011, New York taxpayers have saved $25 billion in additional taxes, said Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday during an appearance at Genesee Community College.

"I think people like that," Hochul said. "I think if you're a resident or a business owner, you like that."

Hochul is visiting communities throughout Western New York to drum up support for making the tax cap permanent and end periodic efforts to undo one of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's landmark accomplishments.

Keeping the tax cap is important to attracting new business to the state, Hochul said.

"Any business can go anywhere they want in the nation and we're working had to bring them to Upstate New York," Hochul said. "If you're going to lure them from low-tax states, we need to be able to say to them, 'you can count on what your tax rate is going to be because it's permanently locked in at this number.' "

Hochul, herself once a town board member in Hamburg, acknowledged that living within a 2-percent cap on the property tax levy is a challenge for local governments but she thinks it's worth the effort.

"We had a reputation for being a high tax-and-spend state and the governor on the first day he took office, he said we deserve that reputation," Hochul said. "That's been our legacy for the past 40 years."

Cuomo, Hochul said, has been focused on helping Upstate New York recover from decades of neglect and has directed $44 billion in economic development to Upstate, for things like roads and airports and railroads, and industrial and agricultural parks.

The effort is paying off, Hochul said, as the evidence in Batavia shows, where downtown is being revitalized and another $10 million is being invested in additional improvements downtown.

As part of her tax justice talk, Hochul also discussed the elimination of deductions of state and federal taxes. Reinstating the deductions is a matter of tax fairness, she said, because people wouldn't be taxed twice on the same income.

The elimination of the deductions is costing New York taxpayers $15 billion a year.

Submitted photo.

When Kathy Hochul campaigned for reelection in 2012 to the NY-27 congressional seat, which she eventually lost to Chris Collins, Hochul sought and obtained the support of the National Rifle Association.

The NRA PAC donated $7,000 to Hochul's campaign and only $1,000 to Collins.

Times have changed. In 2018, Hochul, now lieutenant governor in New York, seems to be rooting for the NRA's demise.

On Friday, using her personal Twitter account, Hochul retweeted a statement by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was also using his personal account, celebrating New York's apparent success in driving the NRA to the brink of financial ruin. Hochul's response? "good riddance!"

Asked about the tweet, Hochul released this statement:

“The NRA actively worked against my last campaign in 2014, because I’ve been a consistent supporter of common sense gun laws, including Governor Cuomo’s SAFE Act, some of the toughest gun laws in the nation. Simply put, the NRA’s extremist and unlawful actions are promoting violence and threatening the lives of people in New York and across the country. The Governor and I continue to fight for common sense gun safety measures to prevent violence and save lives.”

Campaigning in Genesee County in 2012, Hochul told SCOPE members, "When a bill comes up that affects your Second Amendment rights, I’m on your side."

Shortly after the meeting, Hochul, based on a year in Congress, received an A rating from the NRA.

"Some of you may say I have a 'D' after my name and I can't vote for you," Hochul said that night during the meeting at Calvary Baptist Church on Galloway Road in the Town of Batavia. "Well, fine, but I still represent you. I am independent and I look at each and every issue as what's best for the people of Western New York. Sometimes the Democrats are right and sometimes they're really wrong. Sometimes the Republicans are right and sometimes they are really wrong."

After receiving Hochul's statement, The Batavian emailed her staff and asked for clarification since her statement referenced the 2014 campaign and she was endorsed by the NRA in the 2012 campaign.

A spokesman called The Batavian and said he wasn't authorized to speak for Hochul for attribution but stressed Hochul still supports Second Amendment rights but that her views of the NRA have changed. He said it wouldn't be appropriate for him to try to speak for her to explain why. She wasn't available for further comment.

A lot has changed in the world of gun politics since 2012. In December of that year, 20 children were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. There have been several other mass shootings, including in San Bernardino, Orlando, Las Vegas, and Parkland in the years since.  The nation is perhaps more deeply divided over gun laws than ever before.

Since then, the NRA has opposed banning bump stocks, raising the age on gun purchases, and has sent mixed signals about its position on so-called "red flag" laws, while NRA members and representatives have belittled survivors of Parkland, threatened other gun control supporters, and even advocated violence against journalists.

Bill Fox, president of Genesee County SCOPE, remembers the night Hochul spoke to local gun owners. She was passionate about her advocacy for gun rights. Now, he says, "she's not a friend of the Second Amendment."

Where Hochul called for "common sense" gun laws, Fox said he doesn't even know what that means.

"What is common sense?" Fox said. "There are thousands of gun control laws on the books already. What does common sense mean? If you're a criminal, you're still going to get a gun."

Fox said he's also a proud NRA member and he's disappointed in Hochul's support of the SAFE Act.

"She stood there and told us how her family hunts and how she supports gun rights and now she supports the SAFE Act," Fox said.

Fox thinks Cuomo's true aim isn't gun control but gun removal.

The financial difficulties faced by the NRA stem from efforts by New York to stop the NRA from selling insurance to conceal carry permit holders called "Carry Guard." 

New York officials contend the insurance is illegal because it provides financial assistance to people who engaged in "intentional wrongdoing." 

The bottom tier insurance plan provides $250,000 in civil liability coverage to a person who discharges a firearm and $50,000 for criminal defense, but according to the NRA website, the policy will only pay out a defense claim if the policyholder is acquitted. There is no coverage if a person fires a gun, is arrested, and is convicted of a crime.

Some gun control advocates support requiring mandatory insurance policies for gun owners.

New York's efforts to stymie the insurance program seem to have far-ranging effects, causing financial difficulties for the NRA with insurance carriers and financial institutions. The NRA has warned in a lawsuit filed against New York that it is facing insolvency because of the state's regulatory actions.

Hochul is engaged in a tough primary campaign to retain her lieutenant governor post against a Downstate progressive challenger Jumaane Williams. Hochul has a slim lead, according to a recent poll.

Press release:

Today, Governor Cuomo told a gathered crowd that Kathy Hochul would give Democrats the best chance to take away the 27th Congressional District from Chris Collins. He referenced Nancy Pelosi, implying that she expressed a similar sentiment.

Democratic Congressional Candidate Nate McMurray is disappointed by the statement.

“Clearly I'm not part of the Washington/Albany insider game. But you know what? I want no part of that mess. This is a new era. It’s an era where the people again decide what’s best, not a group of political elites."

McMurray continued, "The Governor is not out there with me in the 27th District. He does not see the energy and enthusiasm we see, not from big donors but from regular people.”

“I respect the Governor," McMurray said. "I think he has done a lot of important things. If the Governor is reelected, I look forward to working with him.

"And if Kathy Hochul wins her reelection bid for Lieutenant Governor, I especially look forward to working with her. I’m proud of her representation of our region. I wish the Governor would join me on a trip to Batavia or Warsaw or Lockport and see the support we're feeling in those rooms.

“Sooner or later Albany and D.C. will realize, ‘Don’t underestimate Nate.’ I’m no pawn on a board. No one owns me. No one owns the people of NY 27.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is pursuing ethics reform that would bar state legislators from holding jobs or owning businesses and would establish the expectation -- though not necessarily the pay -- that they are full-time elected officials.

It's the kind of reform that could potentially force Assemblyman Steve Hawley and State Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer to either quit the Legislature or give up their outside business interests.

During her visit to Batavia yesterday, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul said the proposal isn't specifically directed at any current elected officials, including Hawley and Ranzenhofer, but she supports the reform.

When elected officials earn income from sources other than their government jobs, it creates an inherent conflict of interest, she said.

"If you want to serve the people of your state, and this is the highest privilege there is no matter what your level of elective office, you need to respect it and not try to serve two masters," Hochul said. 

"We want legislators focused on them (their constituents) and not their outside income," Hochul added.

These proposals have come along before, Hawley said, and he thinks the idea of a full-time legislature misses the advantages of elected officials living a life outside of politics.

He said one of the problems in this country is we've gotten away from the idea of citizen legislators.

"When a representative's only source of income is being an elected official they lose touch with the reality of everyday life and what real people go through," Hawley said. "No outside income diminishes their grasp on reality.

"When being an elected official is your only source of income, you look at it as an occupation and not an avocation," Hawley said. "That means more conflicts of interest and you need to keep your jobs no matter the legislation and the conflict is greater 100 times over because when that's all you do and it's your only source of income, you will say or do anything to keep that job."

Ranzenhofer, an attorney, agreed with Hawley's main objection to the proposed reform.

"Having outside business interests, whether it's insurance, or being an attorney, or a doctor, or whatever, brings a much more diverse Legislature," Ranzenhofer said. "It means people with real-world experience are serving. I cannot imagine a world where every single member of the legislature is a professional legislator, where that's all they did is legislation and politics."

Hochul said the reform isn't aimed specifically at Hawley or Ranzenhofer, and perhaps for existing members of the Legislature, there could be some sort of grandfather clause that would allow current members to continue to serve.

"I'm not talking about them individually," Hochul said. "I'm talking about the system as a whole. The people of the state deserve to have full-time (legislators)."

Ranzenhofer served on the Senate's judiciary committee and he said his up-to-date, real-work experience working in courts helps inform the debates.

"It's helpful to have people who are engaged in these issues in the real world so we can advise people on how legislation could affect people," Ranzenhofer said.

Hawley has been both an elected official and an insurance company owner, going back to his days on the County Legislature, for 39 years. He said he has consistently handled potential conflicts this way for four decades: he seeks the advice of legal counsel for the elected body.

"There have been a number of occasions where I've asked legal counsel about something we were voting on, whether there was an issue," Hawley said. "There has never been any finding of a conflict that has come to the fore."

If the insurance industry has ever thought they had it in the bag with Hawley, that simply hasn't been the case, he said. He has on several occasions, he said, voted against the lobbying requests of the insurance industry. One example he raised was legislation that would have required agents to disclose to new clients that they were earning a commission from the sale of a policy. The agents' association opposed the legislation and Hawley voted in favor of the reform.

"I think probably 99 percent of the people understand that, but even if just 1 percent don't understand it, then I don't have a problem (with the disclosure)," Hawley said.

Though he keeps busy with attending public events and meeting with constituents, Hawley said he isn't convinced there is enough work in Albany to sustain a full-time Legislature.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul was in Batavia at Genesee Community College today to review Gov. Andrew Cuomo's State of the State speech.

After cheering the Buffalo Bills and talking a bit about how well Batavia and Genesee County are doing, Hochul highlighted key elements of the speech, which outlines some of the issues the governor's office will take on in 2018.

These issues include: stepping in and filling the gap, like many other states, left by the Trump Administration's announced withdrawal from the Paris Accord on Climate Change; expanding high-speed broadband in rural parts of the state; continuing to address the opiate addiction crisis; improving the lives of children through improved access to nutritious meals, through addressing lead exposure, and expanding after-school programs; ending the state's practice of suspending professional licenses for people who default on student loans; addressing workplace sexual harassment, including among elected officials; bail reform; improving ballot access; and ethics reform for the Legislature.

Hochul also praised the efforts of Cuomo to improve the business climate in New York.

She said under Cuomo's leadership, the state has controlled spending and lowered taxes. The corporate tax rate is the lowest it's been since 1968, she said, and the middle-class rate is the lowest it's been since 1947.

"Keep these numbers in your head," Hochul said. "When you walk around and here people say taxes are too high, they’ve come down dramatically under this governor."

She pointed to the state's investment in infrastructure as another factor in the state's improved economic outlook, noting, too that there are now 8.1 million jobs in the state and the unemployment rate has dropped dramatically during Cuomo's tenure.

The Cuomo Administration has also pushed for paid family leave, tuition-free college for qualifying students, and Raise the Age, a reform that will allow 16- and 17-year-olds accused of some crimes who would have been prosecuted as adults in the past to be moved to Family Court.

Hochul said that while she represents all of New York, Batavia is always a special place to visit. This was her 31st trip to Batavia since becoming lieutenant governor. 

She is excited by the progress she's seeing, from the Downtown Revitalization award to the entry of HP Hood into the former Muller Quaker plant, and the promise of high-tech jobs in Alabama.

"Just talk about the STAMP project," Hochul said. "Yes, it's taking a little longer than we want, I understand that, but there has been $50 million from the State for Ludlow Construction for the infrastructure they've put in at the site during the summertime. That's going to be transformative. That's going to be a magnet."

Speaking with the press after the event, Hochul attacked the GOP tax plan passed in December by the House and the Senate and signed by President Trump just before Christmas. She said it was bad for the working people of New York.

"This one came down to calling on our entire congressional delegation to stand with New Yorkers and four did not, which is appalling to me," Hochul said. "Four individuals broke from their colleagues in the same party in New York and said, 'we don't care.' Now we've got a fight on our hands."

That fight could include dropping the state's income tax and switching to a payroll tax. Such a change, in theory, would not change the take-home pay for workers. Their employers would pay the same amount of tax they currently deduct from paychecks, but it would be pre-tax (federal tax) money. Workers would then not be double taxed (which is the case if they can't deduct the money they pay in taxes to the state on their federal returns).

"Everything is on the table," Hochul said. "We're looking at what other states have done. We're looking at what we can do legally. We believe it is unconstitutional to have double taxation. It's something our Founding Fathers discussed. It's talking about states rights and how not to trample on them. It's amazing to me how people in Washington will pick and choose which states rights they want to protect."

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul and her husband, Bill, visited Batavia last night so they could attend a Batavia Muckdogs game together. Kathy threw out the first pitch and met with players from the Marlins in the Oakfield-Alabama Little League.

Catching Kathy's first pitch was Harrison White, from Laguna Beach, Calif., and a graduate of Yale University. He's a 2017 Miami Marlin's draft pick.

To open the YWCA's Third Annual Women of Distinction Awards ceremony at Genesee Community College yesterday afternoon, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Hochul shared how the issue of domestic violence and public service through the Y helped shape her life.

Hochul's grandmother was a victim of domestic violence, and Hochul's mother was an advocate for changing laws and changing attitudes around domestic violence, even testifying for the Legislature in Albany. She helped change the way police officers respond to domestic violence cases.

"She testified in hearings trying to get law enforcement to treat is as the crime it is," Hochul said. "At the time when someone would call for help, someone would call and the police would show up at the door and the husband responded and said, 'Oh, don't worry, we're OK here.' They had no obligation. They could leave. That went on for far too long." 

When her mother turned 70, she said she wanted to do something in her mother's name, so they established the Kathleen Mary House, a safe place for women who have been victimized.

Before Hochul ever ran for public office, she thought she might like to get involved in politics, perhaps as a campaign manager, so she took classes are her local YWCA to learn how to be a campaign manager. That, it turned out, inspired her to run for a seat on the Town of Hamburg Board.

Hochul noted that women are taking a bigger and bigger role in public life, but that there is more progress to be made.

"To the young women in the audience, have confidence in yourselves, know that you, too, have a role to play in changing the world," Hochul said. "There is no time like the present. You don't have to wait until middle age to be engaged. Step up. We need you. Your society needs you. Your country needs you. And your community here in Genesee County needs you."

The award recipients were:

• Rev. Roula Alkhouri, the Racial Justice Award
• WNY Tech Academy, the Economic Empowerment Award
• Dee Quinn Miller, the Military/Veteran Award
• Zonta Club of Batavia-Genesee County, the Peace Award
• Krysten Schmidt, owner of Ladies First, the Advocacy/Civic Engagement Award
• Lewis Tree Service, the Corporate Social Responsibility Award
• Georgann Corrubba, TenCar Inc., the Exceptional Entrepreneur Award

For more on the winners, click here.

Georgann Corrubba

Rev. Roula Alkhouri

Dee Quinn Miller

Gail Fenton and Ruth Riner, of Zonta Club.

Michlen Robinson, representing Lewis Tree Service.

Press release:

Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will make a stop at YWCA’s Women of Distinction Awards Gala tonight to address the audience and say a few words about the event and YWCA’s mission. The awards ceremony is at 5:30 p.m. in Stuart Steiner Theatre, 1 College Road.

“We are very honored to host Lt. Hochul for a visit at this year’s Women of Distinction Awards Gala,” YWCA Executive Director Jeanne Walton said.

“She will add yet another layer to our prestigious lineup of representatives from the offices of Assemblyman Stephen Hawley, Senator Michael Ranzenhofer, Congressman Chris Collins and Genesee County Legislature.”

The event includes award presentations to Krysten Schmidt of Ladies First, Dee Quinn Miller, Western New York Tech Academy, Zonta Club, the Rev. Roula Alkhouri, Lewis Tree Service and Georgann Carrubba of TenCar Inc. An appetizer reception and basket and live auction will follow at 6:30 p.m. in The Forum.

Tickets are $40 each or $350 for a table of 10. For tickets or more information, call (585) 343-5808.

It might be nice to think that some bit of magic could just make the county share of Medicaid expense disappear, but somebody has to pay one way or another, said Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul during an interview with The Batavian yesterday about the Collins' Amendment to the GOP's health care coverage reform bill.

"It’s not a free gift," Hochul said. "You can’t say, 'oh, this is going to be great,' and have it work out. They have not thought through the ramifications for this."

Rep. Chris Collins convinced the House GOP leadership to allow his amendment to the American Health Care Act, ostensibly a replacement for the Affordable Health Care Act, pushed through Congress by the Obama Administration in 2010. The amendment affects only New York and blocks the state from taking county money to provide Medicaid coverage to residents.

County leaders have long complained that this unfunded mandate is crippling local budgets and forcing counties to cut other services.

"Year after year, Albany’s leadership relies on counties to foot the bill for New York State’s out-of-control Medicaid costs. Enough is enough," Collins said in a statement released when he announced the amendment. "This amendment will stop Albany from forcing its unfunded mandate down the throats of taxpayers, and help counties lower the property tax burden on hardworking families."

The cost shift won't lead to cuts in property taxes, Hochul predicted, but there would be other ramifications for New York's taxpayers. Those ramifications could include either the poor and middle-class families who rely on Medicaid having $2.3 billion in services cut or counties losing their share of sales tax collections.

"Here's what is going happen, and the counties need to be aware of this, there are going to be tough choices to compensate for the Collins' scam and one of them is to re-examine the assistance we give to counties now," Hochul said.

According to Hochul, when Medicaid was created, the condition set up by the state was that counties would pay for 25 percent of Medicaid coverage and to compensate counties for the cost, counties could keep a portion of sales tax revenue.

County Manager Jay Gsell isn't sure that is exactly the history of sales tax in New York and said he's researching it. The threat to take money away from the counties if the amendment goes through is in line with Gsell's prediction in a story we published yesterday about the amendment.

"The state is not going to go quietly into the night," Gsell said.

We had trouble getting in touch with Hochul or staff members before yesterday's story, so yesterday Hochul had her staff reach out to The Batavian to arrange an interview so she could address local residents directly about her concerns with the Collins' amendment.

"I want people to have a full perspective that if you take out the county’s share, there are still going to be consequences," Hochul said. "Either we cut services $2.3 billion or we raise taxes, and it just comes from another pocket in the State of New York to the tune of $2.3 billion."

Hochul has long positioned herself as an advocate for local communities, and she said she is, but it's also her job as lieutenant governor now to look out for all the people of New York and the Collins Amendment, she said, will be devastating for the state.

"The governor and I are very much aware of this cost on counties and that’s why the governor cut that share down to 13 percent and so now NY state counties are paying less per person than they did back in the year 2000," Hochul said. "In addition, we did two more things: we capped the escalation of these costs, so the state is picking up any increases in the Medicaid costs. That has been in place the last five years and the governor also in 2011 created the Medicaid redesign team to squeeze out saving out of this program; $34 billion has been saved overall, and a large part of that was savings for the counties."

There is some dispute over the history of how we got in a position where county taxpayers are helping to foot the bill for a program that is billed as a "state and federal" benefit for people who can't otherwise afford healthcare. New York is one of only 16 states that pass some of the cost onto county taxpayers and New York's county share is the highest in the nation.

"What they’re proposing is the unraveling of a deal that was put in place in the 1960s when, at the time, counties were picking up 44 percent of their residents' health care costs," Hochul said. "Then when Medicaid and Medicare were in enacted in 1965 there was the thought we could reduce that down for the counties to 25 percent and also allow them -- again, allow them -- to collect some sales tax to offset that cost."

Gsell's version includes 1960 with the Kerr-Mills Act, which created a program called Medical Assistance for the Aged. It gave states the ability to create a medical coverage program and decide on the criteria for eligibility. The Federal government provided matching funds to cover the costs. The act was a precursor to Medicaid.

The prior 1950s program, Gsell said, provided matching funds for state payment to medical providers on behalf of people on public assistance.

"Nowhere did I find that NYS counties were voluntary partners in these pre-Medicaid funding programs," Gsell said. "The Hochul quote about counties paying pre-Medicaid, pre-1965, 44 percent of elderly indigent care, which NYS reduced our 'burden' to 25 percent, maybe 'accurate' in regards to then cost sharing, but this 1965 to 2017 Medicaid program is not the same in terms of benefits, entitlement, number of recipients, with counties having no say in size, eligibility and an open-ended entitlement as back 52-plus years ago."

The Cuomo Administration has been in full attack mode the past few days over the Collins Amendment. Yesterday, The Batavian received at least a half-dozen press releases from the governor's office about the amendment, plus statements funneled through the governor's press release database from hospitals in the region attacking the amendment.

"The radical conservative ideology in Washington has declared war on New York with legislation that will devastate hospitals across the state and hurt New Yorkers," Cuomo is quoted as saying in one press release. "These massive cuts will cripple our hospitals and ravage the health care services on which New Yorkers rely."

The other bit of history that came out in news reports yesterday over the Medicaid spat is that Andrew Cuomo's father, Mario, when he was governor pushed for years for the state to pick up the county's share of the Medicaid tab.

Both Andrew Cuomo and Hochul have accused Collins of political pandering to try and secure more Upstate congressional votes for the AHCA, which is far from guaranteed passage. The reform, pushed as part of President Donald Trump's promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, would scuttle direct subsidies to people who purchase insurance through health care exchanges, as well as end the individual mandate to buy health insurance, and replace it with a refundable tax credit for all qualifying Americans.

Critics contend the bill would drive up the cost of health insurance while conservatives argue the bill doesn't actually repeal Obamacare.

A poll commissioned by The Economist shows strong opposition to the AHCA in several rural Upstate districts, including the NY-24 (33 percent support / 51 percent oppose), NY-23 (38/45), NY-22 (38/45), NY-21 (37/45), as examples.

In the NY-19, the district of John Faso, the cosponsor of the Collins' Amendment, 35 percent support and 48 percent oppose. The bill has a little stronger support in Collins' own district, the NY-27, with a split of 40/42.

"The reason that Representative Collins proposed this is to literally offer a bribe to on-the-fence Upstate Republicans who were starting to hear from constituents that decimating and destroying the Affordable Care Act, which benefits seven million New Yorkers now, is not something their constituents really want," Hochul said.

Cuomo has characterized the Collins Amendment as putting politics before people, and we asked Hochul about that statement, noting that really any decision about budgets, taxes, and spending is about people. For Genesee County, a cost savings of $9.4 million might not lead to much, or any, savings to taxpayers, but it could save critical programs.

This past year, the County Legislature went through a contentious budget debate that had some members of the Legislature even floating the idea of eliminating deputies from road patrols. The county will also likely be forced by the state to build a new jail in a few years, plus the county needs at least $15 million in road and bridge repairs. 

Meanwhile, New York's menu of Medicaid options is the most generous in the nation and the program leaves the perception of operating on an open checkbook. (Gsell provided this chart that shows county share of Medicaid expense across the nation and New York's is far and away the highest rate.)

"I disagree with your assessment that it’s an open checkbook," Hochul said. "The fact (is) that we shaved $34 billion off of it just in the last few years and the governor continues to have a Medicaid redesign team in place to make sure we’re cutting costs."

Hochul said if the ACA is repealed, it's just going to drive up costs for all New York taxpayers because the uninsured will be more likely to use emergency rooms for routine medical needs.

"They’re going to the ER and the cost is going to be dramatically higher," Hochul said. "Those costs are being picked up by taxpayers. People have to realize this is a united system and we’re going to continue as a state to cut those costs."

She said New York's costs are higher because we have a larger elderly, middle- and working-class population and our industrial past means we have higher rates of cancer. She recalled seeing as a child the pollution spewed by steel plants, for example, in Buffalo area.

"That is largely a way to explain why we have higher costs, not that we’re just throwing good money after bad," Hochul said. "We have a governor who is very tight-fisted with the state’s taxpayers' dollars. He’s very conscientious. That’s why we’ve cut middle-class taxes. We’ve cut business taxes. We continue to focus on creating jobs to put more money back into the local economy, more sales tax for the counties, more property tax revenue for house sales. It all works together. You can’t just pull out one piece of the puzzle and have that collapse and have the other part be picked up by everybody else."

She called the Collins' amendment a betrayal of the people of New York.

"The number one rule for doctors is 'first do no harm,' " Hochul said. "I think that should also apply to members of Congress. What Chris Collins is proposing will inflict harm and pain on the people of the State of New York and we have to get pressure on him to take this back and put it on the sidelines and realize this is a horrible mistake."

Late yesterday, Collins, who won the NY-27 seat from Hochul three years ago, put out a press release that characterized the Cuomo Administration's response to his proposed amendment as "a complete meltdown."

“Governor Cuomo and his sidekick are using doomsday predictions to scare everyday New Yorkers into allowing Albany to continue taxing them to death," Collins said. "It’s absolutely disgusting the governor would threaten the middle class with a tax increase while holding a $14 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund in his back pocket. As I have said before, if this Governor can’t find 1.5 percent to save in his budget, I am more than willing to find it for him.”

A proposal to block New York from using county taxpayer money to pay for Medicaid sounds good on paper, but as always, the devil is in the details, says County Manager Jay Gsell.

Gsell's biggest fear is that even if the proposal is passed by Congress, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office would just find a way to shift other expenses to the counties.

"My sense of the reaction from the governor and the lieutenant governor over the last week is that it is very likely how they would respond," Gsell said. "They’re still putting a state budget together. Things could change on a dime."

The proposal comes from Rep. Chris Collins, who is having it added as an amendment to the House GOP's health care bill aimed at replacing the Affordable Healthcare Act.

From a Collins press release put out earlier today:

The Medicaid Local Share Limitation, which was proposed by Congressmen Chris Collins and John Faso, would bar federal reimbursements for New York State Medicaid funds raised from local governments. The proposal would only apply to the $2.3 billion being raised from counties outside of New York City. New York State currently raises $7 billion from its local governments to fund its $27 billion Medicaid liability, which is the largest amount in the nation.

“This is a huge win for our constituents,” Congressman Collins said. “I want to thank President Trump, House leadership, Congressman Faso, and the rest of my fellow New Yorkers for getting this key provision included. Year after year, Albany’s leadership relies on counties to foot the bill for New York State’s out-of-control Medicaid costs. Enough is enough.

"This amendment will stop Albany from forcing its unfunded mandate down the throats of taxpayers, and help counties lower the property tax burden on hardworking families. We understand the devastating impact New York’s reckless spending is having on everyday New Yorkers, and I’m proud to join with members of our delegation to bring vital tax relief to our constituents.”

In a tweet today, Collins said his amendment to the bill, called "Ryancare" by some, and "Trumpcare" by others, would save Genesee County taxpayers $9.4 million that the county currently pays as a local share of Medicaid expense.

Gsell said it's more than $9.6 million of an overall $68 million expense, with the Federal government and state government picking up the balance of the cost. 

The proposal from Collins has brought forth blistering attacks from Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Last week, Hochul said in a statement:

"What’s worse, a New York Republican Congressman, Chris Collins, is offering an amendment that would wreak havoc on the state. While I understand that the Democrats in Washington are attacking Collins on ethics issues and are having a heated political fight, they shouldn’t be played out at the expense of everyday New Yorkers.

“Here are the facts: The overall Medicaid plan would cost the state billions of dollars of lost federal funds and jeopardize hospital stability."

She said the Collins proposal would amount to a $4.7 billion tax increase on the people of New York.

According to a report in the Democrat and Chronicle, Cuomo ripped the bill as a "death trap" that would devastate hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Upstate New York.

"My greatest fear from last year’s election has actually come true, which is you have a rabid, conservative ideology in Washington that would tell New York to drop dead, and that is exactly what is going on," Cuomo said.

At $60 billion per year, New York is topped only by California (at $85 billion) in total Medicaid spending. In New York, counties cover $7 billion of the state's share of the Medicaid expense, by far the highest share of any state in the union.

This for a program that is defined by the Feds as a "Federal and state" (not county) medical coverage benefit for people with limited income.

In her statement last week, Hochul offered up a history of how counties came to help pay for Medicaid, saying the counties agreed to take on this expense, but Gsell said that's not his understanding of the history.

Gsell said the counties got roped in against their will in the 1960s when Congress created a long-term care program and ordered states to help pay for it and New York turned around and told counties they would share in the expense. Then when Medicaid was created a few years later, New York told the counties they would pick up 25 percent of the tab, though at the time, the program was a lot less expensive than it is today.

"I saw some comments by Ms. Hochul last week that said, ‘oh, the counties have nothing to be grousing about -- they've been funding Medicaid forever,' " Gsell said. "She alluded to this one- or two-year-old piece of Federal legislation from the early '60s and says, ‘yeah, the counties volunteered to do it.’ No, even then, the state told the counties, 'you will fund this program.' "

New York's Medicaid bill is so high, Gsell said, because the state covers the full smorgasbord of coverage. Whereas the Federal government has only about 15 services that are mandated, New York offers the full slate of available options, more than 30 altogether.

At no time, Gsell said, have states been given any opportunity to have a say in who is covered, how they are covered or what is offered. Everything is mandated by the Federal government or the state.

When Gsell became county manager 23 years ago, the county share of coverage was about $4 million, but the expense started increasing at 5 to 10 percent per year until the county share was capped a few years ago.

The Collins amendment is designed, in part, to help secure support from New York's congressional delegation. That overt political maneuver prompted another statement from Hochul today:

"Mr. Collins has perpetuated a political scam on New York. As Mr. Trump’s bag man he has had to buy votes to pass the Affordable Care Act and did it by promising counties relief from their share of Medicaid. He now wants New York State to pay his $2.3 billion political IOU.

"The state cannot and should not. If Mr. Collins wants to buy votes let the federal government pick up the share rather that the people of New York. Local county taxes or state taxes New Yorkers still pay. One way or another, it is still coming out of New York taxpayers’ pockets. Let Mr. Collins help New York State and his district by having the federal government pay – that is why he is in Washington.

"He could easily help pay by reducing the $150 billion tax cut to the richest 1 percent of Americans or buying one less tank from Trump’s record defense budget. Why make the people of his district pay for his politics. We do know Mr. Collins is adept at corrupt financial schemes but this is the ultimate insider trading scam."

Ryancare/Trumpcare is by no means assured of passing. It will obviously receive Democratic opposition, but a number of House conservatives also oppose it. It will also face a tough fight in the Senate.

Still, if it does pass, Gsell is far from certain it will lift the burden from Genesee County for unfunded mandates. He believes, based on the stern opposition to the cost shift from Cuomo and Hochul, that Albany will just pull the purse strings tighter on other programs with county-state cost shares, such as indigent defense, Safety-Net, Pre-K early intervention and probation assistance. The state share of a total of nine state-mandated programs exceeds the potential $9.6 million in cost savings offered by Collins amendment.

"The money that the state has to start absorbing could turn on our budgets in these other areas with less state aid," Gsell said. "The state is not going to go quietly into the night."

Michael McAdams, a spokesman for Collins, rejected this contention outright.

"That's an unfounded hypothetical," McAdams said. "There's no basis for thinking that would actually occur."

The ironic piece of this fight between Collins and Hochul (who lost the congressional seat to Collins after one term) is Hochul has long been a strong proponent of local communities, making a point to shop local every holiday, for example, even stopping in Batavia stores.

Through the governor's press office and on Twitter, we reached out to Hochul to ask her to address the seeming contradiction of supporting local communities while backing an unfunded mandate, but we haven't received a response.

Gsell thinks Hochul's position may not be entirely her own.

"It struck me as she was being instructed," Gsell said. "This didn’t sound like a Kathy Hochul thing. It mirrored very much what the governor’s thing is, which is, ‘counties, shut up. You’ve got your Medicaid cap. We’ve given you pension reform with Tier 6. You’ve gotten enough. Go away. We’re not going to cost shift from counties to the state.' ’’

Press release from Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat:

“Our Founding Fathers warned us this day would come. Partisan politics would overtake good government for the people. The Medicaid changes being proposed in Washington would cut taxes for wealthy special interests while devastating New York State’s finances and all but eliminating health care for the most vulnerable New Yorkers.

“What’s worse, a New York Republican Congressman, Chris Collins, is offering an amendment that would wreak havoc on the state. While I understand that the Democrats in Washington are attacking Collins on ethics issues and are having a heated political fight, they shouldn’t be played out at the expense of everyday New Yorkers.

“Here are the facts: The overall Medicaid plan would cost the state billions of dollars of lost federal funds and jeopardize hospital stability. As if that were not enough, Rep. Collins would have the state assume the counties’ share of Medicaid expenses outside of New York City. The current breakdown is 13 percent county, 36 percent state, and 51 percent federal. This ill-conceived plan would cost his home state approximately $2.3 billion. Unbelievably, that’s on top of the cost of the Republican Affordable Care Act repeal plan – another $2.4 billion.

“Translation: Rep. Collins is proposing a tax increase on New Yorkers to the tune of $4.7 billion. This one-two punch would destroy all the hard work the Governor and Legislature have accomplished in the last six years to lower taxes across the board and achieve the lowest spending increases in recorded history. New Yorkers will be at risk of losing their healthcare, hospitals will be forced to lay off workers, and our vulnerable elderly will find it much harder to afford nursing home care.

“On the merits, the counties have no right to claim this is an undue burden. They paid a percentage of health care costs even before Medicaid – and in fact, currently have a more favorable agreement than in decades.

“In 1960 – well before New York State and most counties had any sales tax revenue to pay for it – Congress passed the Kerr-Mills Act, which created a national role in funding health care for the elderly. Under this program, the counties in New York paid approximately 44 percent of the cost of care, the state paid about 38 percent, and the federal government paid around 18 percent. 

“In 1965, Medicaid replaced that program and the counties paid 25 percent. That same year, the state began giving counties the option of collecting sales tax on their behalf. Every county in New York has subsequently agreed to this option. Many counties in the nation don’t get sales tax, and most of those receive less than our counties. Moreover, the state recently agreed to give the counties additional help – after hearing the counties’ complaints of the growing Medicaid costs, the state has held them harmless for any increases since 2011. 

“As a result, the counties’ share for Medicaid is down from 25 percent to 13 percent, and the state assumed this cost while still living within the 2 percent spending cap, and all while cutting taxes. The state is not asking the counties to do anything more than we have done ourselves. In fact, the state has done far more. If the Collins amendment passed, the state would need to raise income taxes or the counties would have to forego their share of sales tax in exchange for the state picking up the additional Medicaid costs.

“In short, Rep. Collins’ amendment and the Affordable Care Act repeal would transfer $4.7 billion in costs to the state which would translate into a new tax for New Yorkers. I know firsthand that the people of the 27th Congressional District face enough challenges in their lives – they don’t need to worry about increasing health care costs or new taxes. 

“Rep. Collins should stop prioritizing his wealthy friends and start helping his home state by protecting the most vulnerable from losing their healthcare and not putting the state budget at risk. Remember, as my mentor Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan used to always point out, New York is a donor state – we pay more in federal taxes than we receive back.

“Mr. Collins, try practicing good government rather than partisan politics.” 

Through a spokesman, Collins responded in a story in the Buffalo News.

It's been five years since Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul first came to Batavia for part of her Christmas shopping and she noted today while standing outside Valle Jewelers how much things have changed.

For the better.

"Five years ago you would see one person, maybe two, in a store and you would feel kind of bad because I know hard it was when my mom had a little business and nobody walked through the door," Hochul said. "It’s a lonely feeling and I know how hard these people work."

Hochul owned a small shop in a WNY village at a time when most people were predicting decline for the area, but she stuck with it and that's one reason Hochul believes so strongly in supporting locally owned businesses.

"My connection with these people is that I feel that same entrepreneurial spirit (as her mother), true believers, people who never gave up in places like Batavia," Hochul said. "I come out and thank them for staying with it during the tough times and hopefully they’re very successful now as people are starting to rediscover downtowns."

There are new retail shops in Downtown Batavia and in addition to visiting her favorites, Adam Miller Toy and Bicycle, Charles Men's Shop and Valle Jewelers, Hochul also stopped in at The Hidden Door/Pollyanna & Dot and Foxprowl Collectables.

Hochul remarked on the great diversity of businesses helping to anchor downtown as a more vibrant shopping destination and that's good for all the businesses.

"The downtown has really come alive again and it’s satisfying for me to see," Hochul said.

Hochul was accompanied on her walk through downtown by City Manager Jason Molino, who shared information about the projects completed and underway that are transforming downtown, such as the planned brewery and restaurant incubator going into the former Newberry's building. Projects like those, and the new shoe store, a joint effort between Charles Men's Shop and p.w. minor, will only help draw more people to Batavia and to downtown, she said.

Hochul promised that the governor's office will continue to support programs that assist in local economic development, such as those that assisted in bringing new apartment units downtown and is helping with brownfield redevelopment and projects that will hopefully help the whole county's economy grow, such as STAMP -- Science and Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park.

"There’s a direct correlation between a governor who has been paying attention to Upstate New York, and myself knowing it so well in the past five years, to where I really think we've made a difference," Hochul said.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul attended a joint meeting this morning of leaders from three area community colleges, Genesee, Monroe and Finger Lakes, and encouraged them to find ways to work together cooperatively to help better prepare students to enter the modern workforce.

"I want to up the game," Hochul said. "I want to take it to a different level, and I cannot do it without all of you representing faculty, administration and students to say, 'you know what, we're buying into this vision.' It's going to force us to look beyond our own boundaries, just as the REDCs (regional economic development councils) forced us to say what's good for the other counties, what's good for the region, as opposed to just what's good for my little place on Earth here. That will be transformative. That is a whole new way of approaching community colleges."

The region is growing, Hochul said, new businesses are starting and coming in and they need a workforce trained for today's jobs. She encouraged the colleges to work with employers to develop curriculum and certification programs to get students job-ready, and rather do it in a competitive way, do it in a cooperative way.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s visit to Batavia on Tuesday included some hands-on education.

Hochul met for about a half hour with officials at Genesee Community College, who discussed the college’s workforce development initiatives and STEM — or Science, Technology, Engineering and Math — career path training.

A subsequent campus tour included the third-floor science laboratories, where Assistant Professor Karen Huffman-Kelly was teaching a Cellular Biology class.

The lab is equipped with a luminometer, a hand-held swab unit that uses bioluminescence technology to test bacteria levels on food-processing equipment.

Hochul — under the guidance of Greg Sharpe, instructor for the college’s Food Processing Technology program, pictured above — used the device to test the cleanliness of a student’s cell phone.

“We’ll see whether I want to keep holding your cell phone,” Hochul told the student.

The verdict?

After a quick swab and a 15-second countdown, the device yielded a score of 136.

“Not too bad,” Sharpe said.

“Cell phones on average (score) around a 300,” he explained. “In the food industry, typically anything over a 30 we make them re-clean it.”

GCC launched its Food Processing Technology degree program last year. It was designed to meet the demand for skilled workers in the food manufacturing field.

The program already has an international reach, as Hochul learned by chance on Tuesday.

She was introduced to Arsenio Ferreira, 22, who is in his second year of the FPT program.

Ferreira hails from the southeast Asian island nation of Timor-Leste, which became independent in 2002. He told Hochul he will bring new skills back to Timor-Leste, to help with its economic and social development.

Hochul called New York’s community colleges the creative engines of the SUNY System, with the flexibility to meet changing economic needs.

“I think we’re very lucky because we have a strong reputation as far as the academic quality of this institution,” said GCC President James Sunser, Ph.D.

The Food Processing Technology program, he noted, was developed in cooperation with Cornell University.

“Their willingness to work with us — and to accept our students in transfer — is in large part because of our strong academic reputation.”

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, right, speaks Tuesday at Genesee Community College with Arsenio Ferreira, an international student from Timor-Leste who is studying Food Processing Technology.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul visited Batavia's Farmer's Market at Batavia Downs today and purchased some fresh produce following a short chat with Dean Norton, president of the New York Farm Bureau.

Earlier, Hochul visited the Holland Land Office Museum to help draw attention to this weekend's celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Holland Land Office. There is a rededication ceremony planned for 11 a.m., Saturday.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul made a pair of stops in Genesee County today, including a tour of p.w. minor led by owners Andrew Young and Peter Zeliff. 

The shoe manufacturing company recently received a boost from the governor's office to help move 100 jobs from China back to Batavia.

Hochul also spoke this morning at Genesee County Criminal Justice Day at Genesee Community College.

Photos submitted by p.w. minor.

Kathy Hochul, former congressional rep for Genesee County and current candidate for lieutenant governor of New York, stopped by the Gensee Valley Agri-Business Park this morning and met with Steve Hyde, CEO of GCEDC, for an update on economic development efforts locally.  Hochul said once in office economic development will be one of her priorities.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former Genesee County congressional representative Kathy Hochul have been declared the winners of the Democratic Primary race.

They also were the top choice of local Democrats.

According to Genesee County unofficial results, Cuomo beat Zephyr Teachout 427-187, with Randy A. Credico receiving 45 votes.

Hochul topped Tim Wu 505 to 156.

In the Republican Primary for supervisor in Bethany, Carl L. Hyde Jr. beat Edward F. Pietrzykowski Jr. 74 to 26.

In the primary for Independence Party delegates to the 8th Judicial District convention of the 139 Assembly District, Debra M. Buck-Leaton beat Carol A. Sheehan 14-7.

Jim Owen and Kathy Hochul at Saturday's Batavia Muckdog's game at Dwyer Stadium. 

Owen was one of Hochul's teachers in high school. Hochul is the former congressional representative for Genesee County and a current candidate for lieutenenant governor.

Photo provided by Hochul's campaign staff.

UPDATE: Kathy Hochul at Picnic in the Park later in the day with Wayne Fuller. Photo sent to us by a third party, but originated with a member of Hochul's staff.

NOTE: You may be wondering why there are no pictures to go with Kathy Hochul's stop at the farmer's market. My camera was still set up for multiple exposures from last night's fireworks at the Muckdogs game. A fact I didn't discover until I got home. This also left me with no usable pictures from the Kiwanis 5K to benefit autism research.  

Genesee County's former congressional representative, Kathy Hochul, now running for Lieutenant Governor, said she's been craving some brownie-stuffed cookies from the Batavia Downs Farmer's Market, so Hochul said she decided to get an early start on her campaign day and drive out to Batavia.

Hochul also bought strawberries and hand-crafted chocolate.

"It's a big state and I've got to go to all four corners, but I love Genesee County and I'll be out here as often as I can," Hochul said.

After terms as Erie County County Clerk and in the House of Representatives, Hochul worked for about 18 months for M&T Bank. It was a job she said she loved and still got her out into the community, but when Gov. Andrew Cuomo called and asked her to replace Robert Duffy on the election ticket, Hochul said she was tugged by the lure of representing people in New York again.

"I realized when the call came, there was a little bit of an emptiness, that I really wanted to get back and serve people in a more direct way, so I could not have been more thrilled than to have received the call and accept this honor and start running," Hochul said.

This, she said, is what she was meant to do.

"It's not something I pushed for at all," Hochul said. "When I think it about it, it just feels right, to be back out there meeting people all over this amazing state. I love my congressional district and I love representing Upstate New York, but the opportunity to go all over the state and meet new people and see them in their environments and businesses, I just feel like this is a calling. I've always thought public service is a calling. I'm so delighted to be back in the game."

As a candidate for reelection to Congress, Hochul had won over pretty much all of the gun rights groups, campaigning as a strong advocate for the Second Amendment. Now she's working for a man who has become the most reviled politician in New York by gun rights advocates. Hochul said she doesn't believe there is a contradiction in her position then or now.

Here's her full response to that question:

I believe there is a middle ground. I know many, many gun owners. I have family members who are marksmen and who are hunters and this is part of a culture up here and people need to understand that. There's no effort to remove guns from legitimate gun owners. I think there is sometimes a hysteria that's created, but people have to understand we respect the Second Amendment, but also there are many people who understand the need for background checks. As a county clerk, I like the fact that there are background checks performed, because there are people you don't want to have guns in their hands. They could do harm to fellow citizens. I believe there is an accommodation and I believe there is a reasonable approach. The extremes on one side or the other aren't going to agree with that, but that's how I've been my entire life in public service. There's a pragmatic middle ground and if people are willing to listen to each other, we'll get to the right answer. That's where I stand.

The stop at a farmer's market reminded her a lot of her term in Congress, she said, especially representing farmers.

"It reminds me so many tours of the farms and the struggles they face, when the weather's bad and there's a flood or a drought or there's army worms," Hochul said. "They're such resilient people and to know that I'll be in a position to promote their work in a new capacity as Lieutenant Governor working with Gov. Cuomo, it's going to be great."