STAMATIS LILIKAKIS VS. LUCRETIA REGINA-POTTER
STAMATIS LILIKAKIS
Businessman Stamatis Lilikakis, a first-time candidate, has thrown his hat into the ring to run for the Republican nomination for Assembly in the 46thAssembly District, now represented by Democrat Alec Brook-Krasny.
A lifelong resident of Bay Ridge, Lilikakis will be competing in the only Republican primary in the borough because, he says, he thinks the state is driving business away, thanks to a plethora of taxes and regulations, and because he believes there need to be changes in the current educational system.
He is, he stressed, “a small business-owner and I have seen how the state has made it almost impossible to run a small business, thanks to the taxes and regulations. As a business-owner, I know what needs to get done, but most politicians, on every level, have never run a business so they have no idea what business needs, and they are driving business out of New York.”
Lilikakis also takes issue with high stakes testing as well as the Common Core curriculum. “The system doesn’t really work,” he said. “It has to be fixed or changed. You can’t have 15 people deciding policy on education when only one has been an educator. We have to let the trained professionals do what’s best for kids.”
Lilikakis would also like to see the culture of Albany change. “We’re one of the most corrupt states in the country,” he contended. “We have to bring some kind of morality back to the state. We need to get average citizens involved in the political system who want to do things for the proper reasons.”
LUCRETIA REGINA-POTTER
Lucretia Regina-Potter, 46th A.D. Republican district leader, is running for the GOP nomination in the district, and the opportunity to run against Democratic Assemblymember Alec Brook-Krasny.
Regina-Potter – who has run for Assembly in both the 46th and 49th A.D.s — is in her fourth term as district leader (the other three times being in the 49th A.D., till redistricting shifted her residence into the 46th).
Among the issues that she cites as being of major concern are taxes. She says she “would like to do a review of the real estate taxes in the district. I think they should be more on a par with income than what the over-assessed value of the property is. I think there should be a cap on them.”
In addition, says Regina-Potter, she would like to “review insurance rates in the district. Auto crime has gone down over the years, yet insurance rates rise.” Also, “I think homeowner’s insurance should be reviewed,” she said, contending, “We are all being penalized for living near the water.”
Regina-Potter also says she is concerned about helping small businesses. “We need to provide tax incentives to help them grow,” she said. “Too much revenue is being raised through fines. We should be making it easier for them to hire people.”
Regina-Potter also says she is in favor of “school choice.” But, she said, taxpayers are paying twice if they send their children to private or parochial schools and have to pay tuition. For that reason, she said, she supports “not exact payment but some type of assistance” when parents choose to send their offspring to private or parochial school.
Locals weigh in after Biden declares victory