Bruce Blakeman boosts natural gas and rails on clean energy in appearance with former NY Gov. George Pataki

So good morning everybody. It's great to be here in Washington Heights, a great community here in Manhattan. This is the highest point in Manhattan. It's a beautiful area and it has a great community, but what I'm concerned about is a few things. Number one, we want to keep this a safe community and that's an issue I hear about everywhere I go So when I travel around the state, even here in Washington Heights, people are concerned about safety and security, and they're concerned about affordability. We're the highest taxed state in America. That's why when I become governor, I will submit a bill that your first $100,000, no matter what your tax bracket is, is a joint file, your first $50,000, no state income tax. average family between $2,000 and $7,000. We've got to put more money back in people's pockets. And our utility bills are 70% higher than the national average. Just a short ways from here in the Bronx, I was having lunch with some Hispanic and Latino community leaders. And the owner of the diner saw me. He recognized me. He went back to his office. He got his electric bill. he wanted to show me. It was $16,000. I said to him, how many hamburgers you have to sell a month just to pay the utility bill? He has to sell 1,000 hamburgers per month just to pay his utility bill. And then we looked at his utility bill, and I showed him, I pointed out to him, 30%, only 30% of his payment was going for energy. The rest was taxes, yes, Kathy Hochul taxes your energy bills, excessive delivery costs that's how you mass rate hikes and by the way Kathy Hochul increased our utility rates 48 times in four years that's once a month and the other third goes for investments in green energy that don't produce very much energy at all like wind turbines 60 stories high in the middle of the ocean what could be more expensive than than building in the middle of the ocean, or solar farms that are under snow three months out of the year in upstate New York. Now look, I'm not against renewable energy. The gentleman I'm going to introduce in a minute, when he was governor, he had a goal of 25% renewable energy. I think that's a good, good point that he made and a good target. But Kathy Hochul wants to go 100% in green energy, renewable energy. We're not going to be able to supply our energy for this state going 100% with wind turbines and solar farms. It's got to be a balanced approach to energy. We're sitting on one of the largest natural gas reserves in the world here in New York State. Yet Kathy Hochul won't let us extract that natural gas. In Pennsylvania, with a Democrat governor, Josh Shapiro, their utility bills are half ours because he allows for the extraction of natural gas. We should have an all-of-the-above attitude towards energy. People are really suffering. As I walk down the street here, people are telling me wherever I go how expensive their utility bills are. We've got to get back to common sense and running our government and having an energy policy that works for people. Now, when Governor Pataki was governor, we went through an unprecedented years of prosperity, years of job creation. People were happy under Governor. Governor Pataki. They're miserable under Kathy Hochul. Governor Pataki is somebody that I've known for the years, not only a good friend, but he's a mentor, somebody I look up to. He brought ethics and integrity to the office of governor. He was a governor in every community, no matter where people were with concerns, he was there. Governor Pataki was somebody who felt comfortable in every community. And Governor Pataki, his budget made sense. Kathy Hochul's budgets, average rate of inflation since Governor Pataki was governor is about 1.8 to 2%. Kathy Hochul's budgets have gone up by 4.6 to 5% per year. It's not sustainable. Everywhere I go, people are telling me they're getting choked by taxes. They're getting choked by utility bills and they don't feel safe in our communities. So I am so honored that Governor Pataki has joined with me today and I can tell you this much when I become governor he's somebody I'm going to rely upon each and every day for advice and guidance because he has the experience, he has the know-how, and he has the drive to want to make New York a place again where it's affordable and safe for every New Yorker and he's a a great New Yorker, probably the greatest governor we've ever had, but certainly the greatest governor we've had in the last 50 years. Ladies and gentlemen, Governor George Pataki. Pleasure it is to be in Heights. This is a community that I love, and since I've been governor, my wife Libby and I have been back going to restaurants and enjoying a great time here. I had an office a little bit up the block on Dyckman Street when I was governor, and it's just such a pleasure to be back, particularly on a day like this when the sun is shining. The sun is not shining in Albany. When I look at what's happening there, I see that Albany works for the politicians and their friends, but not for the people. And we need to change Albany and put it back. Bruce Blakeman is going to put the people party for his friends. taxes, raise your taxes, raise your electric bill and make our streets less less safe than they used to be. That has gotten to change and Bruce Blakeman is the person to do it. Bruce has been not just in New York but in America. He's held the line on taxes. He has gotten criminals off the streets. In fact today, Nassau County that Bruce Blakeman is the executive of is the safest county in the United States of America. That commitment exactly why Bruce Blake, another one, to believe that that candidate is needed to make New York a better place. Albany has to change. We can't continue doing more of the same. Just this week, I read where Mondami is proposing a nine billion dollar a year new program and Albany Governor Hochul saying this is a good idea. Where's the money kind of come from it's going to come from your pockets it's going to come from what you need to take care of your families and pay your bills not from some pie in the sky that simply doesn't exist so i'm proud to endorse not just endorse proud to be with my friend bruce blakeman he's been a great executive here in nassau county he will be a great executive for me that's some It's a pleasure to be with my friend Bruce Blakeman here in Washington Heights. I like this neighborhood a lot. When I was governor, I used to come a few blocks in this direction. I'm for Mr. Blakeman because I know that he is the leader. This is our state of necessity. Albany works only for politicians and their friends and not for the people. We have to have a New York and New York work only primarily for the people. Your electricity bills are too expensive and our streets are not as safe as we need them to be. Thank you very much, Governor Pataki, it's an honor to have you on the show, and I hope Pataki. It's an honor to have you as an advisor and mentor to me and you are again a great New Yorker and we love you and I also want to introduce my running mate, the controller. I'm very proud of the ticket we put together. We have Saritha Kamaduretti who is South Asian. Her parents emigrated from India and her father is a doctor and And Saritha was a very, very experienced prosecutor who's going to make a great Attorney General. And then we have the Comptroller Candidate, Joe Hernandez. He's an immigrant, came from Cuba. His family came here with virtually nothing. He built a big business, and now he wants to get back to New York. So without further ado, let's hear it from our Comptroller Candidate, Joe Hernandez, for a few words. Thank you for governing the Spanish Federal Republic. So I'm going to switch to Spanish for my Hispanic friends hay que controlares y necesitamos un gobernador que tenga un récord de limpiar esas cosas y Bruce Blaymire se es va a ser el gobernador de los hispanos necesitamos que los hispanos se van a votar I think they've misused them When we created it, the idea was to have zero impact on the consumer. the revenue that was raised by the major emitters of greenhouse gases would be rebated back to the people in the form of lower bills that hasn't happened and so what they have done with it is used as a slush fund in Albany and that is the wrong thing to do so the concept is right but the way it's being done is Albany for New York to the government Mr. Blaymire so You've said that your approach to reducing energy costs would involve fracking, but some people think that would take many years to get up and running. So what is your plan to reduce yeah so uh first of all uh i met with those same individuals and companies that are doing the extraction of natural gas in Pennsylvania they told me they could be up and running in 60 days so uh if Albany has the will to reduce people's utility bills and give us energy security and create prosperity in our state uh then we can get it done in 60 days number one number two So, Kathy Hochul's own state energy research board has said that her policies will increase our utility bills by $4,000 in the next five years That's another $4,000 on top of the $4,000 annually that's gone up since she's become governor. And that our gasoline prices under Kathy Hochul will go up in the next five years by $2.25 You've got to stop Kathy Hochul's policies they are creating a situation where we don't have energy security and it's made it less affordable for every New Yorker and it will actually bankrupt most New Yorkers if we allow it to continue for the next 40 years. Mr. Blinkman, do you have any reaction to the ongoing manhunt for the man who murdered someone in a Midtown subway over the weekend? I have a lot of confidence in Jessica Tisch as Commissioner of the NYPD and the men and women of the NYPD. I believe they will solve that murder very shortly but But again, it just illustrates seven murders in our subways. It's up almost 100% under Zohran Mamdani and Kathy Hochul. Stop telling New Yorkers that it's safe. You've made it less safe. Nobody feels safer. I will make you safe. Thank you. Are you talking to me? Oh. First, let me apologize for the Spanish. If the show started talking, I got it. What was I thinking? But it was fun trying anyway. So, Governor, under your leadership, state buildings, you require that state buildings get at least 20% of energy from renewable sources. If you were governor today, is that different than what Governor Hochul is doing right now? What's happening today is a disaster. I mean, you cannot hook up natural gas to apartment houses and buildings in New York City today. natural gas is the cheapest effective way that people can heat their homes or generate electricity and we're not being allowed to do that and that is simply wrong i'm all for as Bruce Blakeman said we're all for renewable energy but it's got to be part of a package that doesn't drive up costs through the roof it can't be something that is based on ideology as opposed to the practicality of what the people need and it's not right and then county executive um when it comes to uh the nuclear projects um here even at um indian point for example um do you think that uh president trump should be relighting some of these nuclear projects and would you like to see some interviews Well, Kathy Hochul and her party closed Indian Point, I think that we have to look at the economics of reopening it. I spoke to Michael Waller about that. He's very, very bullish on reopening Indian Point, and I trust his judgment. So I think we can open Indian Point, which produced about 23% of our energy needs. I think it was pure folly to close it, and now we'll look at the economics of reopening it. But again, Mike Waller is a very experienced, competent and sober member of Congress and if he thinks that that's a practical solution to our issues, you know, I will greatly lean on his advice and he will be the point person in Washington to get the regulatory agencies to approve reopening Indian Point. So we'll work together on that. And then one more question for you. The governor's budget director sent a letter and said that AI could have a huge impact, especially on jobs, hearing this and hearing just some of the concern about jobs tied to AI. Would you as governor maybe rethink maybe a moratorium for AI? Under Kathy Hochul, our state is number 50 in economic outlook. Kathy Hochul hasn't figured out how to create jobs. All she's figured out is how to drive jobs out of our state. Just in the last year, Hundreds of thousands of jobs have left our state, and she doesn't have the expertise, she doesn't have the right approach to job creation. You create jobs by lowering taxes, lowering energy costs, and actually making business feel like they're a partner rather than an enemy. he has treated business as an enemy in this state with AI it's the future we all know it's the future so what I said is let's all sit down and work out all the issues around AI and these data centers and look every revolution the technology revolution the industrial revolution everyone has created uncertainty in the past you just have to look at history but if you have a leader who's willing to figure out a way how do we make this work for the people how do we make this work to create more jobs and create more prosperity in our state that's the approach that I will take by just putting your head in the sand and saying no no no to the fastest-growing industry in the world and the once great Empire State is the reason we're number 50 in economic output okay one more question there's an article in the New York Focus Do you think there's conflict of interest She said she's going to keep the money. Should she return it? Well, let me just say this I'm glad you brought up the state liquor authority because just a couple of months ago, I was having a slice of pizza, and this couple came up to me. They recognized me, and they said, we just opened the liquor store down the block I said, really? It was closed for a year. What happened? I used to go there. And they said, well, we bought it a year ago but it took a year to open this store because of the regulations of the State Liquor Authority when it was the same location, the same everything. They just changed the owners All the State Liquor Authority needed to do was do a background check on these people. That wouldn't have taken more than two weeks. They had to pay the rent. They had to pay the utilities They had to pay the taxes in a non-performing asset So, my advice to that individual from Kathy Hochul's State Liquor Authority Department is as follows. Pay less attention to politics and start working for the people and get those liquor licenses approved quicker so people can open businesses and create jobs and prosperity. Thank you, sir.