GOP, Libertarian Gubernatorial Candidate Campaigns in Hartwick
By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZEL
HARTWICK
GOP and Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Larry Sharpe spoke to supporters and potential supporters in Hartwick on Sunday, March 8. Town of Hartwick Councilmember Bryan LoRusso hosted the event on his property.
Sharpe previously ran for governor on the Libertarian Party line in 2018 and 2022, each time securing a small percentage of the vote. He has already been nominated for the Libertarian line this year. By also joining the GOP primary this time, he said, he hopes to offer plans rather than vague criticisms of Governor Kathy Hochul.
GOP leaders across the state have endorsed Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman in the race. But for some locals, Sharpe is the better choice.
“I believe in Larry’s message, I always have,” LoRusso said while introducing him. “If a Republican doesn’t realize that this is the best goddamn team we’ve seen in decades,” also referencing Sharpe’s running mate, Lewis County Sheriff Mike Carpinelli, “they’re out of their minds.”
Sharpe criticized what he saw as the ineffectual leadership of GOP leaders in New York and across the country. Comparing President Barack Obama to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Sharpe said, “So now the leadership of the GOP said, ‘Got you, Mitt Romney Jr.: Blakeman.’ We did exactly the same thing. We have learned nothing.” Sharpe said he anticipates party officials will attempt to keep him off the GOP primary ballot.
Speaking and taking questions for about an hour, Sharpe outlined his plans to drastically decrease the size and function of state government, particularly in education.
“Let teachers teach,” he said, while calling for the creation of a New York State sovereign wealth fund to fund schools and to abolish school taxes.
“Am I against having more administrators than teachers? Yes, yes I am. Now who changes that? We can. Once local people run their school districts, you decide which measures you keep. No more grants, no more fundraising, no more oh, wait a minute: Kathy Hochul has a friend who owns a construction company, so I guess we’re getting football fields,” Sharpe said.
On energy, Sharpe said he supported nuclear power. “Absolutely, nuclear energy is the answer, has been for years.”
He called for communities to have 50 percent ownership stakes in the nuclear power plants and direct votes on how to spend any profits.
“This is not you go talk to your city council, and they decide to give money to their friends,” he said.
Sharpe also advocated for public union contracts to receive referendum votes from residents rather than be approved by local governments; to make small businesses and farmers “immune from all federal regulatory bodies” if they only sell in New York State; and to use local control over energy as leverage over the artificial intelligence industry.
“If we do it right, within eight years, we will sue the government to stop taxing us. The federal government won’t need taxes because we’ll be self-sufficient,” Sharpe promised.
