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Friday, March 29, 2024

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Supports Trichter for State Comptroller

Dear Editor:

Republican/Conservative Party candidate Jonathan Trichter for State Comptroller makes sense. Albany has always had members of different political parties holding key statewide offices. This promotes independent checks and balances to insure honesty. Past Republican Governors Nelson Rockefeller and George Pataki had Democrats Arthur Levitt, Carl McCall and Alan Hevisi as State Comptroller. Democrat Governors Hugh Carey and Mario Cuomo had Republican Comptroller Ned Regan.

GOP Gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro’s valiant efforts swimming upstream against Albany Pay for Play special interests and overwhelming Democratic enrollment numbers favor Democrat Andrew Cuomo being reelected Governor for a third term. Just look at the voter affiliations and campaign funds. State wide voter enrollment numbers clearly favor Cuomo. There 5,621,811 Democrats versus 2,632,341 Republican active voters. Cuomo has $11 million and will easily millions more over coming weeks. Molinaro, like Cynthia Nixon in the primary, will be outspent by Cuomo ten to one.

For taxpayers regardless of ideology or party affiliation — Republican Jonathan Trichter is the logical choice for State Comptroller. He can hold Cuomo accountable to honest finances along with avoiding waste, fraud and abuse. Trichter will also have his hands full keeping an eye on Democrat State Assembly Speaker Carl Hastie and the new State Senate majority leader Stewart Cousins. It is doubtful that current Republican State Senate leader John Flanigan will maintain majority control of the State Senate. . One party control of Albany by the infamous “Three Men In The Room” for both Albany Executive and Legislative branches of state government is a recipe for disaster.

Many including myself long for the days of our late State Comptroller Arthur Levitt who served from 1954 to 1978. He was a true friend of taxpayers and kept the wolves at bay!

Sincerely,

Larry Penner


Tax Breaks & Corporate Jets

Dear Editor,

Your recent article on tax breaks for corporate jets (9/13) unfortunately missed some key points regarding business aircraft depreciation provisions.

First, while it may make for a good soundbite to paint this tax-reform with a negative brush, the fact is, this policy – supported by economists and non-partisan groups alike – applies to all manner of business assets, including heavy machinery, trucks and other vehicles, farm equipment, and other business tools.

It is important to understand that, like other equipment, a business airplane is a key tool for efficiency and productivity. Business aircraft are like offices in the sky, where employees can work while minimizing travel down-time, make multiple stops in a single day, and reach far-flung company facilities, often in rural areas where other forms of transportation might be limited. (In fact, most business aviation flights are into airports with infrequent or no scheduled airline service, and the majority of companies that rely on the airplanes are small to mid-sized businesses).

Equally important: independent studies have concluded that S&P 500 companies utilizing business aviation routinely outperform, across a number of measures, comparable companies not using business aviation. Furthermore, use of these aircraft benefits not just the companies relying on them, but the broader economy as well: business aircraft manufacture and use generates $219 billion annually in economic activity, and supports over 1 million American jobs.

It’s regrettable your article provided readers any of this important information.

Ed Bolen

President and CEO

National Business Aviation Association


Grandfather Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s

Dear Editor,

I think it’s safe to say I’m not the only one alarmed by your story titled “U.S. Alzheimer’s Cases to Nearly Triple by 2060.” Brain diseases are about the last thing you would want. A person can’t function, can’t be him or herself, when there’s something wrong with the brain.

By 2060, almost 14 million Americans will suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, which is almost three times the amount of people who have it today. There’s always the hope that medical knowledge will advance by the time us younger folk get to our older years, but it’s certainly not a comforting thought to know that more people are projected to get the disease.

“This study shows that as the U.S. population increases, the number of people affected by Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias will rise, especially among minority populations,” said Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

My grandpa was diagnosed with dementia last August. I’ve been fortunate enough to not really know anyone who has or had Alzheimer’s, but it’s a similar experience with dementia. My grandma started keeping a diary of things my grandpa was doing and saying when she started noticing him acting weird. After the diagnosis, I knew my grandpa was essentially gone. He would never truly be there in his head, and I would never again get to interact with the man I knew. I braced myself to deal with this reality for the next few years, and when I saw him during the high holidays last year, it was apparently one of his better days, but it was evident he had dementia. He loved everything about Judaism and would spend the entire day at shul on Yom Kippur. His absence at services was so notable that year. Only a few months later, he went into hospice care and died surrounded by his closest family.

Ultimately, things played out about the best they could have. For so many other people, they have to continue caring after people they love so much, but people who aren’t themselves anymore and sometimes can’t even remember who their own family members are. These are truly terrible diseases, and when a study like the one in the article comes out, it’s a reminder that we should put much more effort into medicine. Think of where we could be if the money spent on the military industrial complex were used for medicine and science instead. Even if we find cures, this disease is also another crucial reminder of how invaluable time with family and other loved ones is.

Sincerely,

Martha Pumarol

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