Rob Astorino

Robert P. Astorino (born May 3, 1967) is the Republican Westchester County Executive and an American media personality and politician. He was one of the founders of 1050 AM ESPN Radio in New York City, and worked as the station's Executive Producer, and as executive producer of The Michael Kay Show. He is also a television host on the MSG Network.
Astorino served as a member of the Westchester County Board of Legislators from 2003 to 2005, when he launched an unsuccessful bid to unseat Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano. In 2009, he was elected County Executive as a Republican, defeating Spano. In 2013, Astorino defeated Democratic challenger Noam Bramson, mayor of New Rochelle, for reelection. He resides in Mount Pleasant, New York with his wife and three children. In 2014, he was the Republican nominee for Governor in that year's gubernatorial election, but was defeated by incumbent Andrew Cuomo.

Astorino grew up in Thornwood, New York. He is of three-quarters Italian descent. He attended Westlake High School, and enrolled in Fordham University where he received a bachelor's degree in Communications in 1989. At the age of twenty one, while attending college, he was elected to the Mount Pleasant board of education, but resigned three years later to take a position at WFAS radio in White Plains. He later attended the Enforex School of International Studies in Barcelona, Spain where he became fluent in Spanish.

He is a member of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. After graduating, he hosted the weeknight sports shows Inside Sports on WFAS radio, served as host and producer of Sports Rap on the Sports Channel television network. In 2001, he helped launch ESPN Radio in New York City.

Astorino is also an anchor for the MSG Network program Talk of our Town. He is the recipient of the Associated Press award for Best Spot News Coverage and award for Best News Program, and the Metro New York Achievement in Radio award.

ESPN radio

In 2001, he was one of the founders of 1050 ESPN Radio in New York. He directed the rebranding of New York's WEVD-AM 1050 from a talk radio station to an all sports format. He became the station's Senior Producer, and worked as Executive Producer of The Michael Kay Show. He was promoted to Station Executive Producer and served until 2005, when he resigned to run for County Executive.

As the producer of the 4 to 7 PM time slot, the team of talent assembled by Astorino included Michael Kay and Joey Salvia, and helped the show in its success against long time afternoon sports radio mainstay Mike and the Mad Dog on WFAN. His accomplishments include securing broadcast rights for the New York Knicks and New York Rangers, also at the expense of WFAN.

Satellite radio

In 2007, Astorino was hired as the first program director for Sirius Satellite Radio's "The Catholic Channel". He hosted a Thursday night program with Cardinal Edward Egan, the archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York.

Astorino was hesitant at first to work on religious radio, but he changed his mind when he found out "The Catholic Channel" would be different. He stated, "I think it's a great opportunity not just for the archdiocese but for the Catholic Church as a whole to reach out to people across the country with a message, and have a two-way conversation."

According to the Journal News, "With total authority over programming, the Archdiocese of New York was given the rare opportunity to play Michelangelo and create something new. Egan, who is not known to be a great communicator like his predecessor, Cardinal John O'Connor, gave the project his blessing. In addition to his show, he welcomed Sirius listeners when Sunday Mass from St. Patrick's Cathedral was broadcast."

In 1991, Astorino defeated an incumbent town councilman in Mount Pleasant and was elected to the town board. He was reelected in 1995 and 1999. During his tenure on the town board, he served six years as Deputy Supervisor and 8 years as Chairman of the Public Safety Committee, which oversees the police department.

Westchester County Executive Andrew O'Rourke appointed Astorino to the Westchester County Board of Ethics in 1996, and he was reappointed by O'Rourke's successor, Andy Spano in 1999. He served one term on the Westchester County Board of Legislators, and ran an aggressive campaign as a candidate for County Executive in 2005. Astorino was among the finalists for Lieutenant Governor to gubernatorial candidate John Faso in 2006.

County legislature

In 2003, Astorino announced he was a candidate to replace retiring County Legislator Sue Swanson, who represented a district encompassing Mount Pleasant, Pleasantville, North Castle, West Harrison, and portions of northern Greenburgh. Astorino defeated his challenger with an aggressive campaign, which according to the Journal News, "raised the bar" for candidacies to the Board of Legislators.

As a county legislator, Astorino was involved in plans to redevelop the Saw Mill River Parkway and restore wetlands, which is often flooded dangerously during rain storms, and coordinated meetings between the environmentalist groups, New York State Department of Transportation and the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 2005. He helped the board stop Westchester's payments of a "franchise fee" to their bus operator, Liberty Transit Inc., after drawing attention that the contract with the company did not provide for such a payment.

Once elected, he served on the committees for parks and recreation; housing; health; public safety and criminal justice; youth; and county officers and departments. After serving only two years, Astorino opted not to run for reelection, instead focusing on a challenge to incumbent County Executive Andy Spano. As an outgoing legislator, he opposed the pay increases that were enacted for board members.

His affiliation with the fossil fuel industry and his participation in the Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) Pipeline has earned him the nickname "Gastorino". Westchester residents have expressed concern that the 42 inch pipeline with a blast radius of 1,500 feet, will be carring explosive methane 105 feet from Indian Point nuclear power plant.

2005 race for County Executive

The 2005 campaign for Westchester County Executive pitted the two-term Democratic incumbent Andy Spano, against Astorino, a Republican. The race featured instances where Astorino publicized a homemade video of a security breach at the County's Kenisco dam, while the incumbent, according to the New York Times, "in the face of record property-tax increases, has busied himself with a campaign against steroids for schoolchildren, as a follow-up to an anti-bullying initiative that featured admonitions from Spider-Man."

As of 2008, real property taxes in Westchester had increased in Westchester by 54% since 2000. Making the tax issue the centerpiece of his campaign, he railed against two straight years of double digit property tax increases in the county budget, and called Spano out of touch with voters, criticizing a visit to China by Spano during the seven-week Bee Line Bus strike which cost taxpayers $3 million.

Facing an uphill battle in a Democratic County against an incumbent who raised four times as much money, Astorino made a surprisingly strong showing and was defeated by 30,000 votes. Overall voter turnout was light and incumbents were largely successful throughout the County.

2009 race for County Executive

On March 21, 2009, Astorino announced that he would run again for Westchester County Executive. In a surprising upset, he was elected to the position on November 3, 2009, defeating incumbent Andy Spano by 15 percentage points

2013 race for County Executive

Astorino announced that he would run again for reelection for Westchester County Executive. He defeated challenger Democratic candidate Mayor Noam Bramson by 12 percentage points.

2014 race for New York State Governor

On March 5, 2014, Astorino announced that he would run for New York State Governor. Astorino has called for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's resignation as chairman of Republican Governors Association, for his lack of support, which he claims is in deference to incumbent Democratic Andrew Cuomo. He was defeated in the election.

Elijah Miller House Veto

In 2010 the county legislature passed a $1.2 million bond issue to finance the restoration of the Elijah Miller House. County executive Robert Astorino, who had previously supported preserving the building five years earlier as a member of the legislature, vetoed the measure, saying it should be supported by private funds.

Electoral history