New York is a great state with a history that is resplendent with vision and achievement, tolerance and freedom. We look back to the great leaders of our history, remarkable figures such as Alexander Hamilton and Dewitt Clinton, who peered far into the future and laid the groundwork to make America the world’s greatest economic power and New York City and State its cornerstone. We look back to Frederick Douglass, who published his great abolitionist paper The North Star from the bustling port city of Rochester, and to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who put Seneca Falls on the map of history forever. We look back to the remarkable Teddy Roosevelt, one of our greatest presidents, a champion of honest government and one of the world’s pioneers in defense of the environment. History has been kind to us.

Under Governor George Pataki, we have made tremendous strides in recapturing New York’s greatness. We have made record investments in education and the well-being of our citizens. We have made historic progress in preserving our natural heritage, and we have had unprecedented success in lowering crime. Under his strong leadership, we have held fast in the face of unspeakable terrorism, united as a free and proud people. Governor Pataki also led the fight to reduce New York’s intolerable tax burden and make us more economically competitive with the rest of America.

I have put together this website to help you, potential voters, learn more about who I am and what I believe. On this page, I offer my vision for what I call a NEW New York. I begin by articulating five basic principles. As you will see in the section dedicated to major addresses that I have delivered, I often make reference to these principles, which represent the core of my message.

The first of these principles is freedom, both economic and political, because freedom is what creates prosperity, and freedom is what allows people to change themselves and change the world around them.

Closely related to freedom is opportunity, which I see as the second, key principle. Every person in our State, whatever their background, must have the right to rise as far as his or her ability will take them.

Economic growth is the third, key principle. In a competitive world, those who do not move forward, fall back. Government must pursue pro-growth economic policies. There is no alternative.

A fourth principle is quality of life. I am convinced that much of what we have in life is what we share. We must preserve the majestic beauty and historic areas that make New York a special place to live. We are simply caretakers of this State for our children and grandchildren. We must work together to pass it on better than we found it.

And finally, my fifth key principle is educational excellence. We must continue to invest in education at all levels of our society. As we do so, we also must demand accountability from students, their families and their schools. I am a firm believer in standards. If you set them high, people will meet them. If you set them low, people will meet those too. The expectation of excellence must be our educational North Star.

In the many positions in which I have the privilege to serve the people of New York, these principles have guided my actions. As Senior Vice President for Economic Revitalization at the Empire State Development Corporation, I pushed hard to change the way we pursue economic redevelopment in poor and underserved neighborhoods. I fought hard to upset the political power structure in Harlem that stood idly by for years while that great neighborhood disintegrated. Under my direction, we insisted on bringing for-profit investment into Harlem and elsewhere which created sustainable jobs and offered genuine consumer choice and competitive prices to people in Harlem and the surrounding communities. I was thoroughly convinced money could be made there if we just gave companies the freedom to do what they were able to do elsewhere: make investments and reap the rewards of those investments according to the dictates of our economic system.

As Vice Chairman of the State University of New York (SUNY), I have been empowered by Governor Pataki to fight hard for charter schools that give children in poorer neighborhoods the same opportunities for a superior education as children in more affluent communities. I am a strong believer in competition, and a strong believer that people who are free to choose will use that freedom wisely and do what is best for them and for their children. For this reason, I support vouchers that are subject to local control. People in communities and towns that do not want vouchers should not be forced to adopt them. But where children are being systematically denied a decent education, I believe vouchers must be an available tool. At SUNY, I also fought hard to raise educational standards. I have no tolerance for the argument that some children, by accident of birth or circumstance, should not be expected to excel. Raising standards raises expectations and raises hope. I am very pleased that our decision to increase standards at SUNY has increased the quality of education while maintaining equal opportunity for all groups in our State to attend these excellent universities. The achievements of the young people at these institutions of higher learning have shown that the critics of high standards were wrong.

At the Department of State I am pleased to have had the opportunity to work closely with the Governor and the Department of Environmental Conservation to fight for a cleaner and safer environment. In my capacity as Secretary of State, I have passed on millions of dollars in assistance to communities to protect and enhance waterfronts and environmentally important habitats. I have also sought to bring reform to our State’s antiquated brownfield laws in order to spur redevelopment, especially along our valuable waterfront. In my vision for a NEW New York, we will transform these former industrial sites by restoring access to our rivers and lakes and creating new jobs and new places to live.

As we look out over the rest of America, we have seen tremendous economic transformation in many parts of the country. We know how much, for example, the South has changed. States that were once mired in the thicket of discrimination and poverty, such as Georgia, are now economic powerhouses. We also know that the population in many of our upstate communities has dwindled, as people have made the difficult decision to pursue opportunity elsewhere. And contrary to popular opinion, it’s not just warmer weather that is attracting people. States like New Hampshire have enjoyed tremendous population growth in recent decades as companies have been attracted by a friendlier business climate.

In my vision for a NEW New York, we need to recapture the spirit of daring that made New York such an economic juggernaut in the past. We need to reduce taxes, reduce spending and reduce the unacceptable regulation that shackles the construction industry and leaves us chronically short of housing in New York City among people of all incomes. We need to infuse our political culture with the spirit of competition. Just as charter schools bring competition to education, we need to change the way we practice politics. Legislative reform will never occur without re-invigorating the two party system. Political monopolies are no more effective than economic monopolies. They stifle innovation and discourage initiative. That too must change.

In my vision for a NEW New York, people from all backgrounds and communities will have an opportunity to share in the American dream, guided by a strong commitment to values, fairness and equality. I invite you to read through my site and stay in touch with me over the coming months. The journey has begun and I invite you to join me as we set out on a path towards a NEW New York.