Bruce Levine For NY Assembly 2022: Patch Candidate Profile

RAMAPO, NY — In 2022's general election, residents of the Hudson Valley will be voting for state and local officials. In anticipation, Patch asked candidates in the contested races to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as election day draws near.

Saying that his positions and his experience at getting things done while being fiscally responsible give voters in this district in Orange and Rockland counties a clear choice, Democrat Bruce M. Levine is challenging incumbent Assemblyman Karl Brabenec in New York's 98th Assembly District.

A Ramapo resident, Levine has a long history of public service. He was a Rockland County legislator 1986-95 and 2001, spending one year as Chairman of the Legislature in 1993. He has been appointed to numerous positions, including Assistant County Attorney - Family Court Unit, Assistant Town Attorney in Ramapo, Village Attorney of Spring Valley, and Commissioner's Hearing Officer In NY State Department of Correctional and Community Services. He also served on the Rockland County Task Force on Water Issues.

He is 66.

Why are you seeking this office?

Vital to provide real choice to voters, have the experience and motivation to serve. I believe that the point of elective office is to make the lives of the people one represents (in the widest sense) better. People in elected office are limited by time. I intend to work on child care, housing issues in their wildest sense, the reform of utility regulation in New York State — which fails to properly protect consumers or to efficiently promote the purposes of providing the best service to the public in all its various forms at the least cost.

What are the major differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

My opponent is anti-choice, I am pro-choice. My opponent is against gun control and is supported by the NRA. I am for gun control and applaud the Governor for her efforts in this area - largely passed without my opponent's support. I intend to actually fulfill my promises, my priorities, and have a long record of having done so. My opponent also voted no on the state's primary Climate Law, I support even more efforts to fight climate change. His record on other environmental issues is abysmal. Mine the opposite.

If you are challenging an incumbent, in what way has the current officeholder failed the community?

He is a nice man but has not achieved very much. He does not know how to lead by the power of his ideas in an Albany where getting things done can be difficult for a member of the minority party. I have known such members and they always found ways to be effective.

What other issues do you intend to address during your campaign?

Any issue of interest to the voters. My experience has given me the ability to develop achievable policies that will help address a wide variety of issues, even those that I might not be aware of today, and to pass them into law or budgets and implement them.

I have specific ideas for helping Rockland and Orange County better fund their public schools based on my knowledge of local and state financing systems and the legislation required to implement them. I serve on the Board of a child care center that has a significant waitlist and serves only children in poverty. It needs to expand and yet has no financial capacity to do so.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I created Rockland County's first financial disclosure law. I have individually and as a County Legislator fought for aver 25 years to keep cost low and improve and make more efficient electricity, gas and water services regulated but the state. I actually help create true affordable housing and have fought housing discrimination at every turn. Years ago, I obtained $6 million a year for Rockland County mass transportation and, due to my specific quick intervention before a state fiscal crisis, managed to get millions of state funding to widen and improve the intersection of Airmont Road over the Thruway. I created a means tested Youth Employment program that received bi-partisan support in the County Legislature and that continues to serve power young people every year. I estimate that about 3,000 young people have received their first job to date.

I fought with all of my power the waste that brought Rockland County to the brink of financial insolvency and I fought with all of my power to resolve the problems before the county would need to implement higher taxes. In both cases the fault was not merely the result of actions and inactions of one party's leaders. It took a bi-partisan neglect of duty and a refusal to deal with reality to cause these near defaults. I will fight for whatever I know to be right, regardless of political consequences.

I know full well how high taxes, especially property taxes, are in our localities in the state and in the Hudson Valley region and what's more, I know why. This gives me a chance to try to institute tax reforms that are fair and equitable and achieve all the desired results, providing necessary revenues in a fair and equitable manner and keeping the total amount raised by taxes as low as possible.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

That the art of government is to do what is practically possible at this time. Meaning that there are always limits on both the willingness of those in power to support or even pay attention to all the issues and needs of those they represent, and it is vital to focus on achievable results. Also at any moment, there will always be limits on the particular policies, programs that would benefit the public and there are only certain times where the political and financial context makes reasonable spending on these programs politically practical.

Is there anything else you would like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I am willing and ready to serve the people of Rockland and Orange Counties and hope for the opportunity to serve them as a State Assembly Member.