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Contact: Bill O’Reilly, 914-619-5252

                                       ANDY SPANO CALLS WESTCHESTER VOTERS
                                          'CLUELESS', 'NOT THAT SOPHISTICATED'

White Plains, NY-May 26...Westchester County Executive Andy Spano, who has more than doubled county spending during his twelve years in office, and who now presides over the county with the highest taxes in America, is continuing his rhetorical assault on Westchester taxpayers, calling residents "not that sophisticated" for questioning their local tax bills in the current issue of The Capitol, a respected publication covering New York State policy and politics.

Mr. Spano called Westchester taxpayers "clueless" in a highly-defensive State-of-the-County address last month. Then he questioned their values. "County government may seem big and amorphous," he said in prepared remarks at the time. "Despite our efforts there still are plenty of people who are clueless about what we do. ...We have to rethink, not government, but our values."

Now, Mr. Spano is questioning the sophistication of Westchester residents. In response to a question about rising local tax costs, Mr. Spano said: "Problem is, people don't differentiate between schools, county government, local government, et cetera. The general public is just not that sophisticated."

Westchester government has grown in cost from $800 million to $1.8 billion per year under Mr. Spano. His government spends more than 87 nations do, and the county portion of local tax bills is more than triple the amount families pay in neighboring counties.

"Mr. Spano might want to stop criticizing taxpayers and start listening to them," said Westchester County Executive candidate Rob Astorino. "Families are genuinely hurting because of local tax bills and they have a right to question where their dollars are going. The fact that no one can figure out how Mr. Spano is spending so much money is his problem, not theirs.

"Mr. Spano has a spending problem," Mr. Astorino continued. "But he seems incapable of taking the first step: admitting it."