We’re all Democrats, and we’re voting for Mike Lawler. Brendel is deputy supervisor in Ramapo, Stacy is deputy mayor of Montebello, and Ally is on the New Castle Town Council.
As Democrats, we believe that leadership should be measured not by party affiliation, but by results, integrity, and a commitment to the people we serve. Our support for Republican Congressman Mike Lawler reflects our belief that, on the issues that matter most to our communities, collaboration must come before politics. While we may not agree on every issue, we recognize the importance of working across party lines to advocate for our families, strengthen public safety, create economic opportunities, and ensure that the voices of our residents are heard in Washington.
We're committed to the people, not just a political party, because progress happens when leaders work together for the common good. Between us, we’ve sat through a lot of budget meetings, and what residents bring up most is property taxes.
For eight years, the federal deduction for state and local taxes was capped at $10,000, which doesn’t cover many property tax bills in Rockland or Westchester, never mind income tax. Mike got that cap raised to $40,000 in last year’s tax law. “I stood up to the president. I stood up to my own party. There were only five of us out of 220 that wanted to get this done,” he said at the Spring Valley NAACP forum at Rockland Community College on October 7. Cait Conley was on the same stage. Her view was that “the best thing that Congress could have done for New Yorkers was absolutely nothing and just letting it go away.”
She doesn’t own a home anywhere in this district, and she doesn’t pay property taxes here. The only house on the financial disclosure she filed with the House in May is in Lee County, North Carolina, and she collects rent on it. Mike grew up in Rockland, graduated from Suffern High School, and lives in Pearl River. As Stacy said in her endorsement video, he “owns a home here and pays taxes here and is raising his kids here.” Stacy has known him since he was her assemblyman.
Mike was a deputy town supervisor in Orangetown before he went to Albany. Ramapo had 983 pedestrians injured and 27 killed between 2011 and 2022, and Mike got $5 million for the Safer Ramapo Project, which pays for signals, turning lanes, sidewalks and walking paths in the town and its villages, Montebello included. It was signed into law in February. In March, he asked appropriators for 12 new ambulances for Ramapo’s ambulance district, which covers 61 square miles. When the July 2023 floods hit Stony Point, he spent July 10 surveying the damage with state and local officials and then wrote to Governor Hochul and President Biden asking for a major disaster declaration. Rockland got it on July 22.
Ally is raising three Jewish children in New Castle. “Jew hatred is on the rise. We are not immune to it here in New Castle,” she said when she endorsed Mike in September. In December 2019, a man with a machete attacked a Hanukkah party at a rabbi’s home in Monsey.
Mike is the lead sponsor of the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which passed the House 320 to 91 in May 2024. In June, he and Rep. Dan Goldman, a New York City Democrat, introduced the Jewish American Security Act to put more money into the security grants synagogues and Jewish schools rely on. In April, he and Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat, went after Candace Owens and Hasan Piker in a House resolution. Stacy said it in her video: “He calls it out when it comes from the right and he calls it out when it comes from the left.” At the News 12 debate on September 28, Mike asked Conley four times if she would denounce Mayor Zohran Mamdani. She said she denounces antisemitism “from anyone” and changed the subject to Donald Trump, but never answered the question. We need courage from our member of Congress in the face of hate. Mike has shown that time and again, while his opponent seems to have left her spine behind in Washington.
“I don’t have to agree with Mike on every issue. Neither do you,” Ally said in September. “We shouldn’t write off a candidate based off of the letter in front of his name.” Early voting runs October 24 through November 1, Election Day is November 3, and the three of us will be voting for Mike Lawler. We ask that you do, too.
Brendel Logan-Charles is Deputy Supervisor of the Town of Ramapo. Ally Chemtob is a member of the New Castle Town Council. Stacy Caridi is Deputy Mayor of the Village of Montebello.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Opinion| Three municipal Democratic officials back Lawler for Congress
