Steve Levy: People are upset and want a revolution

Citing widespread voter disgust with Albany, two of the declared Republican candidates for governor Thursday promised radical change to lower property taxes and spur job growth.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy and Buffalo real-estate developer Carl Paladino each said voters' frustration was justified. They were responding to a poll by Newsday and Hofstra University that found 83 percent of state residents and 90 percent of Long Islanders are dissatisfied with state government.

The survey also found 70 percent of voters statewide believe Albany "needs major structural reforms." With the election only five months away, less than half support their incumbent state senator and assembly member.

The poll was released Thursday at Hofstra, where Levy and Paladino participated in a panel discussion. They were joined by state Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), the minority leader, and the heads of New York's two major political parties.

The event kicked off Renew New York, an educational initiative by Hofstra, Newsday and News 12 Long Island; the latter two are owned by Cablevision Systems Corp. Other planned events include debates between the candidates for governor and state attorney general.

Levy said the poll reinforced what he's seeing on the campaign trail: voters are mad at their state government. He said they fear hard times for their children and don't believe current leaders can solve the problems.

"People are upset and want a revolution," Levy told about 300 people in a campus theater.

Paladino agreed, adding voters' anger was rooted in governmental secrecy. He cited behind-the-scenes negotiations over the state budget.

Paladino also alleged New York's Medicaid bills, the highest in the nation, are due to waves of people coming here for the generous benefits. "We are inviting every poor and disenfranchised person in America to come here . . . And what happens then? Well, you get all these other problems: immigration, crime, social breakdown," he said.

Jay Jacobs, head of the state and Nassau Democratic committees, shot back that people come to New York for economic opportunity, not public assistance. He said South Americans aren't "leafing through the Medicaid rules to figure out what state to move to."

Jacobs was the only Democrat on the panel. Organizers said Gov. David A. Paterson, Senate leader John Sampson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the party's presumptive nominee for governor, declined invitations to participate. The same was true of Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio.

After the panel discussion, Levy also told reporters he would announce "within a week" his choice for lieutenant governor.