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News 12 Staff

LIPP215Bcm_2026-02-15-14-20-03

When it comes to President Donald J. Trump. I will always have his back. Welcome back to Power in Politics. Nassau County Executive Bruce Lakeman has long been a friend and political ally to President Trump, but how will that alliance factor into the governor's race? My conversation with the Republican nominee continues. In midterm election years, uh, often the results don't go the way of the incumbent in the White House. You're well aware of that. President Trump, uh, you may see some congressional candidates run from him in some of those swing districts. You have said you will always have the president's. You just said it downstairs. Do you expect to have the president on the campaign trail with you here in New York? Of course I want the support of the president. First of all, I think he's doing a very, very good job. I don't think he gets enough credit for what he's been able to accomplish in such a short period of time. And you know people can spot a phony a mile away, uh, politicians who one day are on this side, another day they're on that side. I've supported President Trump. He's a friend of mine, but Kathy Hochel is going to want to talk about President Trump. She's gonna want to talk about anything but her record. I'm running with my record on the line of success where I have the lowest. Poverty rate in the state in Nassau County, that we are a prosperous county and that we're the safest county in America. I'm going to run against her record of 4 years of high taxes, less safe communities, and misery for people throughout the state. Governor Hochul this week met with law enforcement officials. She is touting what she's calling the local cops Local Crimes Act. This proposal that would ban local municipalities from having formal agreements with ICE. Nassau County, of course, has a formal agreement with ICE. We know you don't support the governor's suggestion, but my question for you is, would you propose a law that would mandate municipalities to work with ICE? No, I think each municipality has to make their own decisions, but Uh, when I become governor, one of the first things I'm going to do is we will no longer be a sanctuary state. We're not going to spend billions of dollars on people who've just arrived here who haven't earned a thing. That's taxpayer dollars. Your tax dollars should be spent on New Yorkers, not on people from other places. I think that's wrong. I'll stop it. And with respect to ICE, just in one year. We have removed 2000 criminals who are illegal migrants, not just from Nassau County, but from the whole metropolitan area. There are 2000 less criminals because of the agreement that we have with ICE, and I think Kathy Hochel is a pro-criminal governor. She's the most pro-criminal governor in the United States. When we talk about the governor, you mentioned it, affordability. She is touting a middle class tax cut that's taking effect this year. You have pointed to other places where taxes have gone up substantially. What would you do to make New York more affordable? Well, the first thing I would do is I would cut your energy costs in half because almost 2/3. Of your energy bill are taxes, taxes on taxes, and there are also delivery fees that are exorbitant, and there are mandates, green energy scam mandates that she has put into place and we're sitting on one of the largest natural gas reserves in the world. We're not using that natural gas to bring down energy costs and to create prosperity in the southern tier of our state and throughout our state. And that would be like Saudi Arabia saying we're out of the oil business, we're going to sell pencils now. It's a lack of common sense. It's wrong thinking. And who's making money from this green energy scam? It's her political contributors. That's why she's doing it. It hasn't made energy costs cheaper. It hasn't produced more energy. It's a scam, and I will end that scam on day one as governor. In terms of home prices, you have seen in Nassau County, home prices have skyrocketed. The same in Suffolk County and much of the rest of the state. How do you create opportunities for young people to be able to afford a home in New York State? Well, first of all, I, I am not ashamed that we have one of the highest home prices in the United States in Nassau County. It means that we're doing well, that we're prosperous, and if you bought a house in Nassau County for $600,000.04 years ago, your house is now worth $850,000. You've made $250,000 in wealth for your family. I want to bring prosperity to this state, but for affordability we've got to bring taxes down, we've got to bring energy costs down, and we've got to build smart housing. We need smart growth like transportation oriented housing, like repopulating some of the cities in the state such as Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Utica, Rome, Binghamton, communities and inner cities that have been decimated by the lack of attention. In state government on making their cities prosperous again and vibrant, I want to have a very comprehensive plan, but I will promise you this any housing program I have will be subject to local control and approval. I'm not going to be the governor who's going to tell local government where the housing can go. Each local government has to decide for themselves what they want their character to be in their communities. Congestion pricing, you've said if elected on day. It's gone. Is it that simple? It's gone. It's gone. If she's doing it here in New York City, it's coming to a community near you. If you're watching this program right now and there's a congested roadway in your community, she'll put in congestion pricing, and you will have to pay for the privilege of using a public road that you already paid for in your taxes. It's wrongheaded. It doesn't make sense. It's another tax, and quite frankly, I will end it on day one. It's been a cash cow for the MTA. How would you fund the MTA if you removed congestion pricing? First of all, make people start paying fares. They just walk through the aisles. There's no consequences for not paying your fare. We've got to make people start paying those fares, number 1. Number 2, there's so much fraud and waste in the MTA. It's just ridiculous. I'm going to go in there with a group of cost cutters, and we're going to go in there and make cuts on silly things, but she eliminated things like. Conductors on a subway train, I'm in favor of that because one of the reasons why revenues are down in our subway system in New York City is because people feel less safe. The subways are less safe and they're not as clean as they need to be and they're an unpleasant situation for people. We've got to make it a pleasant situation for people like other great cities around the world have subway systems where they're clean and they're safe. We should have that in New York City. Still to come, how would a Governor Blakeman work with a Mayor Mamdani. This special edition of Power in Politics continues right after this.

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LIPP215Ccm_2026-02-15-14-20-45

Welcome back to Power in Politics. Bruce Blakeman has been an outspoken critic of New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani. A Blakeman victory in November would set up an interesting dynamic between the new governor and the mayor. You mentioned New York City, so I'll ask you the question. Can you work with a mayor, Zoran Mamdani? That depends on him. That depends completely on him. If he tries to destroy the economy of the greatest financial capital in the world, the home of capitalism, I won't let him do that as governor. I'm going to protect the economy of New York. If he makes it unsafe in New York by not supporting law enforcement, by not upholding the rule of law, I will make. Sure that that happens. I will make sure that we have safe communities in New York City. If he acts appropriately, I can work with him. If he doesn't, and so far he's done some things that are just mind boggling to me. They are antithetical to American values and principles, and I think he's made a mess of the city in his first few weeks in office. The garbage is everywhere. The snow removal has been dismal, and people aren't happy in New York City. They're very unhappy. With Zoran Mandami, so I think people are very unhappy with his lack of leadership. But again, I will work with anybody if we have common goals to make New York City better, to make New York City more prosperous, and to make New York City safer. Lastly, to our viewers across the state who maybe only now are coming around to the governor's race and may not be familiar with you until they watch this today, what do you want them most to know about you and your candidacy? I care about every child. In this state I care about every family in this state. I want everybody to have prosperity. I want everybody to be safe in their communities. I want New York State to be a place where you can raise your children. You don't have to go out of state to visit your grandchildren, where people have good jobs with good benefits and where we have respect for the rule of law and that uh we have a safe state so people don't have to worry about being safe in their communities and secure in their communities. My goal as governor is to make people happy again by putting New Yorkers first. My goal is to let people know that you'll have a governor that cares about you no matter what part of the state you are, no matter what race, religion, ethnic group, what abilities you have, what lifestyle you live. I will be a governor for all New Yorkers and I will make you happy again because I am a governor who will care about you and your families and put them first and not other people's interests. Bruce, thank you for the time I appreciate it thank you. That's all the time we have this week. Thanks for watching Power in Politics. I'm Rich Barrabe.

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Rich Barrabi asked the county executive how his close alliance with President Donald Trump will impact the race for governor.

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