KEN LOVETT

New York Republicans will start taking on Gov. Cuomo on Monday with an ad attacking the incumbent for claiming New York is experiencing an economic renaissance.

The first GOP attack ad of the campaign, called “Cuomo’s New York,” will strike back at the governor’s months-long, multimillion-dollar “Start Up NY”


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/ny-gop-air-attack-ad-campaign-gov-cuomo-blog-entry-1.1831002#ixzz34oGboVaf

KEN LOVETT

Already flush with campaign cash, Gov. Cuomo can raise even more if liberal activist and Fordham law professor Zephyr Teachout manages to get on the Democratic primary ballot.

With no primary challenger, Cuomo can raise a maximum $41,100 from individuals. But with a primary, people can give him an additional $19,700 each.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/democratic-primary-challenge-gov-cuomo-raise-money-blog-entry-1.1831015#ixzz34oHNW2fi

Jimmy Vielkind

ALBANY—Governor Andrew Cuomo killed two birds with one stone at Wednesday's Stanley Cup hockey game, raising campaign cash from donors while watching the Rangers defeat the Los Angeles Kings, 2-1, at Madison Square Garden.

According to campaign officials, four donors paid top dollar to sit with the governor, his girlfriend, Sandra Lee, and one of his daughters in the M.S.G. box owned by Cushman & Wakefield, a major real estate firm. Cuomo's campaign paid the firm $720 for each of the seven tickets, according to campaign spokesman Peter Kauffmann. He said that represented “fair market value.”

It's not uncommon for elected officials to hold political fund-raisers at sporting events. But Cushman & Wakefield was not aware Cuomo was raising money, according to company spokeswoman Celine Clarke.

“It was a Cushman & Wakefield client entertainment event,” she said.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/06/8547199/cuomo-raised-campaign-cash-while-watching-stanley-cup?top-featured-1

Nick Reisman

For Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the town assessor is the one who knocks.

That’s according to Republican gubernatorial hopeful Rob Astorino, who in an online video released Monday morning slammed Cuomo for the ongoing kerfuffle over whether the home the governor shares with Food Network star Sandra Lee has been properly assessed.

Astorino, the Westchester County executive, has been seizing on a series of stories from The Journal News, which reported the home owned by Lee has undergone renovations, but an assessor wasn’t allowed inside to view the changes.

http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2014/06/astorino-slams-cuomo-on-assessment/

blasting Cuomo for a property and house he doesn't own or have an interest in legally. No where does one have to let the assessor inside. But coming from him Westchester has the highest property tax rate in the nation.

http://www.zillow.com/blog/highest-and-lowest-property-taxes-149303/

The residents of Westchester County in New York pay more in property taxes than the typical resident of any other major American county. The average property tax bill for a single family home in Westchester County comes to $14,829 a year.

http://www.westchestermagazine.com/Westchester-Magazine/June-2010/Why-Are-Our-Taxes-So-High/

By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press

DUANESBURG, N.Y. -- New York's landmark gun control law opened a political fissure that's still visible Upstate.

Polls have shown majority support for the Safe Act spearheaded by Gov. Andrew Cuomo after the 2012 school shooting rampage in neighboring Connecticut, but it is intensely disliked in parts of Upstate New York with strong hunting and gun cultures.

Anti-Safe Act signs are a common sight on rural lawns, and anti-Safe Act rallies are being held this year from the shadow of the state Capitol to one scheduled this month in a Rochester park. Hundreds packed a firehouse near Troy weeks ago for a rally featuring a full slate of local politicians. More than a year after the law's passage, resentments linger.

"Another unreasonable government intrusion into our lives for no purpose other than political gain," said Richard Murray, sipping a morning coffee at a diner an hour west of the Capitol in rural Duanesburg.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/06/upstate_ny_opponents_of_safe_act_very_motivated_to_make_cuomo_pay_political_pric.html#incart_river_default