Radio Head
Back and Forth: Rob Astorino
Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:41:00
Rob Astorino knows how to communicate.
The radio host and sports enthusiast has just delivered an unequivocal message to incumbents everywhere: Beware the wrath of the voters.
Astorino was propelled to the Westchester county executive’s office earlier this month by a wave of voter frustration, defeating three-term incumbent Andy Spano in their rematch by close to 15 percentage points. The last Republican to hold the office was Andrew O’Rourke—who, notably, was the GOP’s gubernatorial candidate in 1986.
Astorino built his career in radio while serving part-time as a town council member and county legislator in Westchester. He helped found ESPN Radio in New York, where he produced The Michael Kay Show, among other programs. He hosted a show on the Catholic Channel with Cardinal Edward Egan and is currently program director at Sirius Radio.
Astorino’s talent for communicating will be put to the test in the next four years, as he tackles an ever-rising property tax bill in Westchester and tries to cut through the tangles of bureaucracy that have driven up costs in the county.
He took a moment out of his job at Sirius to discuss those challenges as well as the transition from radio to government.
What follows is an edited tran scri pt.
The Capitol: How much longer will you be working at Sirius Radio?
Rob Astorino: I’ll be here a day or two a week for the next several weeks.
TC: You built your career in broadcast. Will it be difficult not having radio in your life?
RA: It will be, although I’ll have it in my life in a different way, in that I’ll be interviewed. And I like that. I think that’s an important tool for me to use to communicate directly with the residents of Westchester. I won’t be using spokesmen as much as the current county executive has. I think it’s important for people to hear directly from me about how I feel about issues and why I’m doing what I’m doing. But I love doing TV, I love doing radio, I love talking to the press, and I think I’m comfortable doing that, and it’s important for our message to get out.
TC: Mayor Bloomberg does a weekly radio show in New York City. You could do something like that.
RA: I know. I would love that, if there were that specific outlet. There are smaller stations, but I would even love if a New York City station allowed me to do that, even on a monthly basis or something.
TC: How have radio and politics intersected in your career?
RA: They’ve always been dual tracks, because politics—public service—was always part-time, whether as a town board member or county board. So at one point they intersected and I had to decide whether I wanted to do it full-time or stay in my broadcasting career. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, whether it’s being with the Pope for a papal visit or being on the field after the Yankees win the World Series.
TC: Did you specifically go into broadcasting to cover sports?
RA: I started a public access television show when I was 15, a high school sports show, and then I was announcing football games and basketball games on cable. And from there I took it to Fordham, when I was on WFUV, and then got my job.
TC: So now you are going from interviewer to interviewee.
RA: It was kind of surreal, the day after the election, to step outside my house and see this bank of television cameras, reporters from New York City who wanted to hear what I had to say.
TC: What is the takeaway from your victory? Are there implications beyond Westchester?
RA: This is the first opportunity for voters to scream very loudly at all elected officials who are in office. The voters have had it. They expect a lot more from their leaders. In many ways it was a throw-the-bums-out movement. But they were looking for people they connected with, and I think I did that, because I represent what most people are going through. We’re all just struggling and just keeping our heads above water right now, because of the economy and these runaway taxes, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult for people to stay in Westchester.
TC: Have you felt the consequences of the economy and rising property taxes personally?
RA: My taxes on my house, which we bought five years ago, have doubled. In five years. And people in our neighborhood and throughout Westchester, for the most part, cannot keep up with that, especially if you have a family, and you’ve got bills, and you’re not set for life. Like everyone else, I get up early in the morning, go out to the car, drive to the train station, and head into Manhattan, work a long day, come home and, if I’m lucky, I get to see the kids before they go to bed and tuck them in. And I think a lot of people do that and then they realize that these long hours are just to stay the same. It’s sort of like a gerbil on a wheel. It’s very frustrating.
TC: Property taxes are only partially controlled by the county. You can keep the county’s share of taxes down, but state taxes will continue to rise as local schools and municipalities grow, and require more aid from the state. What can you do to reverse that trend?
RA: I can really scale back the size and scope of county government, which I can control, which is not going to cut a property tax bill in half. But you know what? It’ll set the example. And if the county portion of the property tax bill doesn’t go up, then that’s a good thing, that’s a good first step. The other thing is to use the bully pulpit as effectively as we can. I heard from a lot of legislators that they took this loudly and clearly. Will they go back to their same old habit of taxing and spending and letting them be controlled by special interests? Or will they actually try to make some fundamental differences in the budget process?
TC: Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi suffered at the polls despite cutting the county’s share of property taxes and chairing the state’s property tax reform commission. How can you be sure, if taxes continue to rise, that voters will not hold it against you four years from now?
RA: Everyone has their own little fiefdom and they don’t want to give it up. One of the first things I did when I first got elected councilman in 1992 was to do a study to see if we could merge the town police department in Mount Pleasant with the Village of Pleasantville police department, which was in the town. It showed that we would save a lot of money, but it wasn’t accepted by the village. At the end of the day, people have to decide what they really want.
TC: Local political systems thrive on patronage. And no one wants to give up their local police department or sewer district. Politicians have promised to cut taxes for decades, only to be stymied by those two problems. What can you do differently?
RA: We have to make the case stronger and stronger each year that it’s just unnecessary to have all these layers. I think people like scapegoats, they like to complain, but they like the problem to be solved for them, and so maybe it takes an act of courage from Albany to actually start deciding on a macro level to reduce things at a lower level.
TC: You will take over in January from a 12-year incumbent. There must be some uneasiness among entrenched county employees. What is your message to them?
RA: We’re going to do things differently, but they don’t need to be scared. They should embrace that, and once they understand what my mission is, I want everybody on the same team. They have to play a vital role in this, and those that accept and contribute will continue, and those that don’t buy into it or don’t want to stay will be asked to leave.
TC: Do you get to take a vacation at some point?
RA: I don’t know. Probably not, although I’m trying to maybe go away for a few days in December, just to get away from it all. But for the most part it’s just a lot of work to do. It’s 5,000 employees and 40 different departments, and you’ve got everything grinding to a halt because nobody knows what’s going to happen in January.
The radio host and sports enthusiast has just delivered an unequivocal message to incumbents everywhere: Beware the wrath of the voters.
Astorino was propelled to the Westchester county executive’s office earlier this month by a wave of voter frustration, defeating three-term incumbent Andy Spano in their rematch by close to 15 percentage points. The last Republican to hold the office was Andrew O’Rourke—who, notably, was the GOP’s gubernatorial candidate in 1986.
Astorino built his career in radio while serving part-time as a town council member and county legislator in Westchester. He helped found ESPN Radio in New York, where he produced The Michael Kay Show, among other programs. He hosted a show on the Catholic Channel with Cardinal Edward Egan and is currently program director at Sirius Radio. Astorino’s talent for communicating will be put to the test in the next four years, as he tackles an ever-rising property tax bill in Westchester and tries to cut through the tangles of bureaucracy that have driven up costs in the county.
He took a moment out of his job at Sirius to discuss those challenges as well as the transition from radio to government.
What follows is an edited tran scri pt.
The Capitol: How much longer will you be working at Sirius Radio?
Rob Astorino: I’ll be here a day or two a week for the next several weeks.
TC: You built your career in broadcast. Will it be difficult not having radio in your life?
RA: It will be, although I’ll have it in my life in a different way, in that I’ll be interviewed. And I like that. I think that’s an important tool for me to use to communicate directly with the residents of Westchester. I won’t be using spokesmen as much as the current county executive has. I think it’s important for people to hear directly from me about how I feel about issues and why I’m doing what I’m doing. But I love doing TV, I love doing radio, I love talking to the press, and I think I’m comfortable doing that, and it’s important for our message to get out.
TC: Mayor Bloomberg does a weekly radio show in New York City. You could do something like that.
RA: I know. I would love that, if there were that specific outlet. There are smaller stations, but I would even love if a New York City station allowed me to do that, even on a monthly basis or something.
TC: How have radio and politics intersected in your career?
RA: They’ve always been dual tracks, because politics—public service—was always part-time, whether as a town board member or county board. So at one point they intersected and I had to decide whether I wanted to do it full-time or stay in my broadcasting career. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, whether it’s being with the Pope for a papal visit or being on the field after the Yankees win the World Series.
TC: Did you specifically go into broadcasting to cover sports?
RA: I started a public access television show when I was 15, a high school sports show, and then I was announcing football games and basketball games on cable. And from there I took it to Fordham, when I was on WFUV, and then got my job.
TC: So now you are going from interviewer to interviewee.
RA: It was kind of surreal, the day after the election, to step outside my house and see this bank of television cameras, reporters from New York City who wanted to hear what I had to say.
TC: What is the takeaway from your victory? Are there implications beyond Westchester?
RA: This is the first opportunity for voters to scream very loudly at all elected officials who are in office. The voters have had it. They expect a lot more from their leaders. In many ways it was a throw-the-bums-out movement. But they were looking for people they connected with, and I think I did that, because I represent what most people are going through. We’re all just struggling and just keeping our heads above water right now, because of the economy and these runaway taxes, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult for people to stay in Westchester.
TC: Have you felt the consequences of the economy and rising property taxes personally?
RA: My taxes on my house, which we bought five years ago, have doubled. In five years. And people in our neighborhood and throughout Westchester, for the most part, cannot keep up with that, especially if you have a family, and you’ve got bills, and you’re not set for life. Like everyone else, I get up early in the morning, go out to the car, drive to the train station, and head into Manhattan, work a long day, come home and, if I’m lucky, I get to see the kids before they go to bed and tuck them in. And I think a lot of people do that and then they realize that these long hours are just to stay the same. It’s sort of like a gerbil on a wheel. It’s very frustrating.
TC: Property taxes are only partially controlled by the county. You can keep the county’s share of taxes down, but state taxes will continue to rise as local schools and municipalities grow, and require more aid from the state. What can you do to reverse that trend?
RA: I can really scale back the size and scope of county government, which I can control, which is not going to cut a property tax bill in half. But you know what? It’ll set the example. And if the county portion of the property tax bill doesn’t go up, then that’s a good thing, that’s a good first step. The other thing is to use the bully pulpit as effectively as we can. I heard from a lot of legislators that they took this loudly and clearly. Will they go back to their same old habit of taxing and spending and letting them be controlled by special interests? Or will they actually try to make some fundamental differences in the budget process?
TC: Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi suffered at the polls despite cutting the county’s share of property taxes and chairing the state’s property tax reform commission. How can you be sure, if taxes continue to rise, that voters will not hold it against you four years from now?
RA: Everyone has their own little fiefdom and they don’t want to give it up. One of the first things I did when I first got elected councilman in 1992 was to do a study to see if we could merge the town police department in Mount Pleasant with the Village of Pleasantville police department, which was in the town. It showed that we would save a lot of money, but it wasn’t accepted by the village. At the end of the day, people have to decide what they really want.
TC: Local political systems thrive on patronage. And no one wants to give up their local police department or sewer district. Politicians have promised to cut taxes for decades, only to be stymied by those two problems. What can you do differently?
RA: We have to make the case stronger and stronger each year that it’s just unnecessary to have all these layers. I think people like scapegoats, they like to complain, but they like the problem to be solved for them, and so maybe it takes an act of courage from Albany to actually start deciding on a macro level to reduce things at a lower level.
TC: You will take over in January from a 12-year incumbent. There must be some uneasiness among entrenched county employees. What is your message to them?
RA: We’re going to do things differently, but they don’t need to be scared. They should embrace that, and once they understand what my mission is, I want everybody on the same team. They have to play a vital role in this, and those that accept and contribute will continue, and those that don’t buy into it or don’t want to stay will be asked to leave.
TC: Do you get to take a vacation at some point?
RA: I don’t know. Probably not, although I’m trying to maybe go away for a few days in December, just to get away from it all. But for the most part it’s just a lot of work to do. It’s 5,000 employees and 40 different departments, and you’ve got everything grinding to a halt because nobody knows what’s going to happen in January.
