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wchvpp114part2_2024-01-14-12-29-14

Welcome back to Power and Politics. My guest now is State Senator Rob Raison. The Republican represents the 39th senate district senator first. What was your overall takeaway from the governor's state of the state address? I think, you know, a little bit different than last year, uh, last year. A little more bold with some of the initiatives, uh, you know, facing head on the housing crisis really coming out and, and, and saying, you know, we've got a, we've got to reform bail reform and that's a priority. And, you know, some of the other things that she, you certainly wanted to make a AAA priority for the last, uh, legislative session. And, you know, certainly, uh, some of those things were somewhat accomplished or not accomplished at all is that, um, more measured? I, I think, uh, this time around, uh, understanding the challenges, uh, are a bit more challenging, I would say, um, maybe not talking about all of them, but certainly, uh, I think that she, uh, you know, she, she wanted to, uh, to, you know, to come across as someone that wants to work together and, you know, saying things like you know, we gotta get back to basics. I remember was, uh, a term that she used. And, um, yeah, we do. We do, but that's not just flipping a light switch back to basics. Are you surprised that the governor did not address the migrant crisis? People across the aisle, you know, from different parts of the region. Uh, saying, yeah, I'm kind of surprised it, it didn't come up, I think she should have touched on it. Of course, uh it didn't have to necessarily get into, you know, specifics because as we've seen, there hasn't been a lot of specifics, you know, it's a crisis at the southern border. This administration in Washington is choosing to ignore it or saying things uh completely different than what the reality is. And yet you look at what the impacts are in many communities throughout the country, especially in New York City costing billions and billions of dollars. And then this morning you wake up and you hear about uh the, the, the tent, um shelters at uh Floyd Bennett field having to be evacuated and they're going into a high school and then the high school couldn't function today. And those are just these by products of, of the situation which is, you know, clearly, uh has not really been handled in a comprehensive way she could have touched on it for sure. I don't, I don't, I don't know why she didn't because I don't think she would have been criticized for bringing it up. What are your thoughts on how the state can address the need for more housing? We know that last year when she came out and essentially said, you know, we're gonna do what we're gonna do if you don't do what you're gonna do. And that was met with just resistance and people, you know, just so upset by that sort of, you know, we're gonna tell you what to do and you're gonna like it because we're the state and we know where that went. It didn't go anywhere. Um, I, I, and she brought it up again and obviously she, she wants to help advanced housing. We all, we all do. Uh, so, you know, I was thinking, you know, yesterday afternoon as I'm, I'm listening to this and, uh, just talk about state facilities and I know, you know, possibly former prisons being considered in, in different areas and there's gonna be push back, uh, to that as well in certain places, you know, but what about taking sort of the tactic, let's work with communities that want to establish additional housing actually seeking them out versus telling we're gonna go find you on our own. You know, in other words, you know, a community Sally Poughkeepsie use Poughkeepsie as an advance or the city of Newburg, you know, which are looking to advance and, and are advancing, uh, housing options and saying, ok, well, how do we help out as the state. What can we do? Especially I know she's spoken about and brought it up again about the infrastructure aspects of creating additional housing units, which certainly is a concern but because not every community has infrastructure to support uh you know, additional housing. So, um maybe, you know, just being more open about it with other communities to say we want to help you versus any sort of kind of where we're gonna do this because it's the right thing to do. Another highlight of the speech was tackling retail crime, like shoplifting. Do you believe that this is how public safety should be addressed? I have a couple of observations on that, you know, you know, um the general feeling of the public which people will tell us that. Well, they don't really know the data and they're not really right about this is that they feel unsafe and you can ignore that. And I don't think she is. I think others are uh wi within the legislature in, in other places that they don't, they don't really think that that that is the case statistically. Yeah, shootings are down, murders are down great but other crimes are up. Uh This organized mass retail theft, major problem, uh billions of dollars of losses, stores, closing customers, not wanting to go into these stores for fear of, you know, being bomb rushed by, by groups of individuals, you know, ransacking or even just, just going into a store and just see people, you know, coming up and just stealing stuff and walking out the door. It leads to this like what is going on with our world? Why is this happening? But you know, she announced this retail crime task force, right? Uh, run by the state police. Ok, that's fine. Um, but these are non bail eligible offenses and these are individuals who are just with impunity coming into stores and stealing and then maybe they, if they get collared up, they get an appearance ticket, right? But you can see the multiple arrests that some of these, you know, these individuals have. So until you start to say to folks, there really are consequences to what you're doing. Large bad crimes, you know, violent personal injury type crimes along with the quality of life offenses. Until you say, you know what you're going to go in, uh, on bail. Maybe the person has multiple bench warrants. Most, most of these folks are not showing up in court either. So, I mean, I listen, iii I get it from a, you know, a public standpoint, you're gonna create a task force, but until you actually hold people accountable, I, I don't know how many task force you're gonna need because they're not going in and as long as they're out, they're gonna continue to do what they're doing because that's what's happening in our society today. And it's really sad. The governor talked a lot about climate change. What is an environmental concern in your district this year? One of the, the big uh topics for our district is always the protection of the Hudson River. Uh And uh you know, being a former mayor and uh you know, being part of a group called the Hudson Seven, which are seven Hudson Valley communities that get their drinking water from the Hudson River. We know how important it is to protect water at the source. Uh And obviously the whole tech uh radioactive water discharge, which I was, you know, the first Republican cosponsor of with, with my uh colleagues down in Westchester. Um you know, demonstrating our commitment to keeping the Hudson safe. And uh she didn't really get to that in, in general. Uh But obviously, we've seen the effects of climate change in, in, in our watershed areas uh with sea level rise and that is certainly an important and, and, and topic uh that needs to be addressed because we know we the, the tendency to settle by the water and the fact that we've got our, our Hudson line Metro North running right next to the water's edge. I mean, that, that worries me. Uh And what are the long term uh plans uh for that? Let's take a break and then we'll get your final thoughts. We will be right back.

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wchvpp114part3_2024-01-14-12-29-37

Welcome back to power and politics. We are wrapping up our look at Governor Cathy Hole's 2024 state of the state address. Republican State Senator Rob Raison, wrapping up with me, Senator, anything else stand out to you, you know, this rush to get stuff done. And we, we, we love to say in New York is that we're leading the nation. We're first at this and first at that, you know, that's all great. But at the same time, you know, let's not rush to be the first when what we're also seeing and not to be flip about this is a rush to the exits. I mean, we're leading outward migration, you know, from there, this great state, you know, there was a time Jonathan and I heard, you know, uh people that I work with like I'm gonna get my pension and I'm moving south. I used to take that personally. Right. I just thought that uh you know, but now I hear more and more of it and I really am starting, you know, to, to, to, to get that. So I just feel that we need to slow down. Let's collaborate. Let's let every voice be heard. You know, one of the, one of the uh the things that uh several terms that she, she used uh was common purpose, common sense for the common good. I am all for that. But I think those initiatives and, and those, those ideas which I totally agree with need to be done collaboratively with both sides of the aisle. And, and, you know, one other thing I was thinking too is that we didn't hear a whole bunch about, I think, you know, one of the biggest crisis is that this state has, is the fent law crisis. Uh And that individuals right now who are dealing in death essentially are getting a free pass. Uh That uh it is treated uh less than serious as far as the law is concerned. Uh I introduced a bill uh late the middle of the fall when we had an incident in the city of Poughkeepsie where a city of Gipsy police officer was overcome by fentaNYL had to self administer Narcan uh and almost died and then was hit with Narcan again uh in the hospital. Um So here's a common sense uh penal law uh law that, that I think would go a long way to protecting our first responders and corrections officers. We need to protect the people that are protecting us that we're sending out there to do this job and are coming in contact with dangerous substance like fentaNYL uh that we know, can, can prove to be deadly. What issues are you looking to address this session? Well, certainly the fentaNYL bill, uh fentaNYL bill is very important to me, but also, you know, a for the district challenges, right? Uh And in and in my committees, uh the the two committees that I'm ranking on is, you know, crime, crime victims and corrections. Uh So obviously working with uh crime victims and, and the individuals who help them uh in strengthening crime victim reimbursement and also to, you know, try to make sure that they are held. Uh I think sometimes they feel that, you know, the defendants are, are, are valued more than they are. And, and that's unfortunate and, and quite frankly, it's heartbreaking and also in the area of childcare and, and making sure that, you know, uh funding for, for, for, you know, daycare providers and things because if you can't get to work because you can't get your kid to daycare, that's a challenge. And then also, you know, the initiative that we were able to get over the uh over the finish line here in the Senate last year was Melanie's law which uh strengthen orders of protection for individuals uh in domestic violence and other violence cases, uh which did not make it through the assembly. So I know that I know the sponsors of uh of that bill, uh, Senator Ban and Cunningham were gonna work hard uh to see that uh you know, come over, uh, and, you know, and have the governor to sign it. Of course, uh, which I think she probably would. Senator. Thank you again for joining me. Once again, I'm Jonathan Gordon and this is power and politics on news 12. We're local matters, more news, weather and your hyperlocal headlines coming up after the break.

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News 12’s Jonathan Gordon spoke with Assembly Member Maryjane Shimsky and state Sen. Rob Rolison for their perspective on her speech. 

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