Westchester Insider: 2024 Campaign Trail: Gina Arena GOP Candidate for New York State Senate 40th District: Congestion Pricing: Harckham Owes Apology; Blew Half a Billion Bucks Against Constituent Wishes.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONGESTION PRICING CHAMPION PETE HARCKHAM OWES CONSTITUENTS APOLOGY FOR WORKING AGAINST THEIR INTERESTS, WASTING HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF TAX DOLLARS.

 

Hudson Valley - June 6…Congestion Pricing Tax champion Pete Harckham, who has promoted the controversial tax on vehicles despite the express opposition of his constituents, owes Hudson Valley families an apology for the extraordinary waste in taxpayer funds spent on the project. More than half a billion dollars has been spent on license plate readers and other technologies that will likely never be used, the campaign of State Senate candidate Gina Arena today charged.

 

Governor Kathy Hochul halted New York’s controversial Congestion Pricing Tax plan on Wednesday after meeting with intense opposition to the Harckham plan statewide. 

 

“With congestion pricing, Mr. Harckham worked directly against the interests of his Westchester, Putnam, and Rockland constituents, and he blew a half billion of our tax dollars in the process,” Ms. Arena said. “That’s money we could have used for tax relief, road repairs, education, senior services, and for New Yorkers most in need. At an absolute minimum, Mr. Harkham must issue an apology for this historic and monumental blunder. Mr. Harkham’s congestion tax may be the most expensive and wasteful fiasco in modern New York history.”

 

Ms. Arena, a life-long Westchester County resident and a mother of eight, noted several other bills championed by Mr. Harckham that are widely opposed by his constituents — and routinely omitted from Mr. Harckham’s taxpayer-paid constituent newsletters. Those measures include or have included:

 

• Socialized medicine in New York State that would ban private health insurance and increase personal income tax rates from 6.65 percent to 18.3 percent for those earning $150,000 per year or more;
• 
  
• Increased taxes on payrolls, dividends, and other income;
• 
  
• The abolishment of local zoning laws in exchange for large, government-mandated multi-family apartment buildings in single-family residential neighborhoods;
• 
  
• Defunding any public school whose mascot could be deemed offensive;
• 
  
• The banning of natural gas use in new homes;
• 
  
• The abolition of gas-powered cars by 2035;
• 
  
• Cashless bail, which has spurred the biggest crime wave in New York in decades;
• 
  
• Publicly funded college tuition for convicts;
• 
  
• “Free” healthcare for foreigners living in the U.S.;  
• 
  
• Making New York a “Sanctuary State”;
• 
  
• Renaming the historic Hudson River span from the Tappan Zee Bridge to the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, and
• 
  
• Legalizing recreational marijuana in New York without safeguards, leading to illegal and dangerous marijuana shops across New York State.

 

“Every public poll shows that New Yorkers see their state moving in the wrong direction, and radical legislators like Pete Harkham are the reason why,” Ms. Arena continued. “Families are struggling to put food on the table, and all Mr. Harkham seems to care about is higher taxes, massive new state government spending, and never-ending virtue signaling. It’s time for him to go.”  

 

Ms. Arena is challenging Mr. Harkham for New York’s 40th State Senate district seat, which includes parts of Westchester, Putnam, and Rockland counties.