1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

Senator Harckham, I am a lifelong Democrat. Born and raised in New York. I have voted Democrat in every election for decades. I say that so you know exactly who is writing this not a Republican, not someone who wants government gutted. Someone who actually believes in what this party is supposed to stand for. And right now, I am shocked, disgusted, and horrified. Governor Hochul bent the knee to Zohran Mamdani and signed off on a tax increase that will hurt working New Yorkers and push more people and businesses out of this state. And I need to know where you stood. Because the answer from Albany is always the same raise taxes. Tax the rich. Tax businesses. Tax your way out of every problem. Here’s what nobody up there seems willing to say out loud: the problem is not revenue. The problem is spending. We opened government grocery stores at three times the cost of any private operator. We covered childcare for city workers at double the going rate. These aren’t investments they’re embarrassments. They’re what happens when no one in government answers to a bottom line and no one has the spine to say no. Every dollar wasted on these disasters comes out of the pocket of a working family in your district. And the response is to make them pay more? I expect better. Get the spending under control. That is the job.