Castelli Looks at Experience, Record as Keys in GOP Primary Bid
Robert Castelli finds himself in a bit of an unusual position for next Tuesday’s Republican primary in the 40th state Senate District against Terrence Murphy.
For the first time in his political career, which has included four years on the Lewisboro Town Board and nearly three years in the Assembly, Castelli isn’t the choice of the Republican establishment. That nod goes to Murphy, a Yorktown councilman, who last spring was anointed by party leaders—and by outgoing state Sen. Greg Ball—as the district’s next Republican candidate to take on Democrat Justin Wagner in November.
That’s OK with Castelli, 64, whose efforts in Albany to engage lawmakers in both parties and seek common ground was a staple of his time in office after winning a special election over County Legislator Peter Harckham in February 2010. He followed that with a victory over Tom Roach, now mayor of White Plains, before losing two years ago against Assemblyman David Buchwald in a redrawn district that heavily favors Democrats.
“I’m not the popular guy with the party bosses,” he said. “I’m the guy the people sent up to keep my word and do as I said.”
Castelli said he decided to challenge Murphy after several Westchester Republican committees refused to grant a 10-day adjournment following Murphy’s entry into the race in May. That adjournment, which he said is standard practice, would have allowed him and any other Republican hopefuls to make their case to the party.
Had they followed that process and he wasn’t selected, Castelli said he never would have challenged Murphy or anyone else.
“At the end of the day, you have a candidate who is the handpicked replacement of a disgraced lame duck senator—that’s the only way I can put it—and party bosses in Albany, or you have an independent voice who has served at that level, and no candidate in this race, Republican or Democrat, has done so,” Castelli said.
He’s had to defend himself against being “too liberal” in several nasty mailers sent out this summer to the district’s registered Republicans, including one with a photo of him marching with Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Bill and Hilary Clinton in the New Castle Memorial Day parade. Castelli said he’s maintained a cordial and respectful relationship with all of them.
Castelli calls himself a “staunch fiscal conservative” and “a staunch reformer.” In 2011, he enthusiastically supported the tax cap because it forced municipalities and school districts to immediately rein in spending, although he decries Albany’s inertia to enact mandate reform.
On the reform issue, he is an advocate for legislative term limits, full disclosure of legislators’ outside income and revoking pensions and benefits of any public official convicted of a crime.
Castelli said that while the controversial Common Core was a well-intentioned initiative by government and education leaders, its implementation was poor. The state should revamp the program.
“We want to be able to offer our children, because they are our future, the opportunity to prosper,” Castelli said. “So we need to offer them the same possibilities and capabilities, but what we need to do is get great teachers in the classroom who have the autonomy to teach and to focus their time on teaching and learning, not testing.”
The former assemblyman, who is a Vietnam veteran and served the state police for 21 years before becoming a criminal justice professor, wants to repeal the SAFE Act that was pushed through in January 2013, a month after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Castelli said it did “absolutely nothing” to make the public safer because New York already had the toughest gun laws in the state.
“When people clamor for more laws, most of them, what they’re looking for is more law enforcement,” Castelli said.
Instead he would focus on having more effective policing and passing mandatory prison sentences for anyone convicted of a crime while using a firearm.
During his time in the Assembly, Castelli was given one of the highest environmental rankings of any legislator by the Sierra Club. He supported a moratorium on the extraction of natural gas through hyrdrodraulic fracturing—at least until science can prove that it can be obtained safely.
He has a similar position regarding the Algonquin pipeline, proposed for some of the district’s communities in northern Westchester and Putnam.
Castelli is also unapologetically pro-choice, a position that has rankled more conservative Republicans. While personally opposed to abortion, he said government has no business making that decision for a woman, her family and her doctor. He is opposed to late-term abortions and abortions performed by anyone other than a doctor.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
