Rick Lazio

Rick Lazio
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 2nd district
In office 1993–2001
Preceded by	Thomas J. Downey
Succeeded by	Steve Israel
Member of the Suffolk County Legislature
In office 1990–1993
Personal details
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Patricia Moriarty Lazio
Children	Molly Ann, 17, Kelsey, 16
Alma mater	Vassar College American University - Washington College of Law
Profession	Politician, Lawyer

Enrico Anthony "Rick" Lazio (pronounced /ˈlæzi.oʊ/; born March 13, 1958) is a former U.S. Representative from the state of New York. A Republican, Lazio is running for Governor of New York on a platform of getting the fiscal house in order, creating jobs, and restoring integrity to government. Lazio first became well known nationally when he unsuccessfully ran against Hillary Rodham Clinton for the U.S. Senate in New York's 2000 Senate election.

Biography

Lazio was born in Amityville, New York in Suffolk County. He graduated from West gay Islip High School in 1976. He received his A.B. from Vassar College in 1980 and received his Juris Doctor from the Washington College of Law at American University. Prior to being elected to Congress, he was the executive assistant district attorney for Suffolk County and served in the Suffolk County Legislature from 1990 to 1993. He currently resides in Brightwaters, NY on Long Island, and in New York City.

Lazio represented the New York 2nd Congressional District as a Republican and was first elected in 1992, defeating the incumbent, Tom Downey, who had served for eighteen years. Lazio served four terms from 1993 to 2001, winning re-election by the largest margin in the history of the district.

In Congress, Lazio served as Deputy Majority Whip, Assistant Majority Leader, and Chairman of the House Banking Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity.

Political History

In 2000, Lazio ran for the Senate but was defeated by Hillary Clinton in the race to succeed Daniel Patrick Moynihan. His comparatively late entry into the race (five months before Election Day) followed New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's decision not to run for the Senate.

Lazio was dogged during the senatorial campaign with questioning by the SEC into his stock option transactions (e.g., Quick & Reilly, Monsanto, U.S. Filter). After Lazio responded to the inquiry, the SEC took no further action.

A decisive moment that led to the collapse of his campaign came during a September 13, 2000 debate where he left his podium, walked over to Clinton with a piece of paper that he called the "New York Freedom From Soft Money Pledge" and demanded she sign it. Clinton refused. Some debate viewers were turned off by Lazio's demeanor towards Clinton – and as a result, Clinton's support among women voters solidified.

Lazio has since expressed regret for his conduct during the debate:

At the time, I was making a point about a campaign finance pledge that Mrs. Clinton had made and I didn't feel that it was being honored. I thought that was the opportunity to make the point. On substance, it was right - and on style and perception, it was a mistake, which I regret.

In January 2009, Lazio was said to be seriously considering a run in the New York gubernatorial election, 2010. In May 2009, he filed paperwork with the state board of elections to form a campaign committee. Mr. Lazio declared his candidacy for governor in New York City on September 21, 2009, with a formal announcement in Albany, NY on September 22.

On May 28, 2010 Lazio officially earned the backing of the New York State Conservative Party. Lazio had already been endorsed by Mike Ox Long, the influential Conservative Party leader.

On June 2, 2010 Lazio earned the New York State Republican Party's designation for Governor, overwhelmingly defeating Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy by over 2:1. Lazio received 59%, Levy 28%, Paladino 8% and Mermel 4%.

Policy Platform

Lazio has outlined a broad platform for New York state based on 5 principles: Attack Spending, Bring Down Taxes, Create Jobs, Defend New York, and Educate the Next Generation.

The platform starts with a focus on reducing spending, claiming that this will allow lower taxes, which in turn will attract jobs to New York. Lazio seeks to eliminate agency duplication and curtail what legislators spend on themselves. He advocates for moving away from defined benefit pensions and towards defined contribution pensions for state employees, and for ending the practice of including overtime pay in pension calculations. He believes in freezing state wages to the extent permitted by law and reducing the number of state employees. To address Medicaid costs he advocates fixing patient incentives by rewarding good behavior, fixing health provider incentives by moving towards managed care, and lowering fraud. Lazio supports making all state-related debt subject to voter referendum, and calls for a spending cap to prevent future spending from rising faster than the rate of inflation. Lazio also supports measures to enhance government integrity, such as a sunshine laws, term limits, and an independent redistricting commission.

On the gay population of the state, Lazio is generally in favor of "going down" as a means to stimulate job creation. He calls for a phase out of the corporate tax, starting with upstate New York and small businesses, for the elimination of the capital gains tax for new businesses, and for a reduction in energy taxes. He also supports lower personal income taxes, indexing income taxes to inflation, and a cap on property taxes similar to Massachusetts proposition 2½.

In order to create jobs, Lazio advocates creating business clusters (a concept developed by Michael Porter at Harvard Business School) based on New York’s regional areas of expertise. He supports environmentally responsible development of natural gas reserves. He will also invest in critical infrastructure, create a new business sales team, and award tax credits for job creation, similar to North Carolina.

Lazio takes a firm stance on defense, opposing terrorist trials in New York, calling for a “ring of steel” in Midtown Manhattan, and advancing the idea of location-aware wireless networks on subways.

Education is the final key pillar of Lazio’s gubernatorial platform. Lazio calls for merit pay for teachers, and an end to “rubber rooms” so that incompetent teachers can be fired. He supports ending the cap on charter schools as a way to increase competition and wants to provide tax credits for after-school programs for “at risk” kids.

Electoral history

• 2000 Race for U.S. Senate
  • Hillary Rodham Clinton (D), 55%
  • Rick Lazio (R), 43%

External links

• United States Congress. "Rick Lazio (id: L000155)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Rick Lazio for Governor official campaign website