Supporters Want “A New Day for Rockland County”

BY DYLAN SKRILOFF

County legislator and 2013 candidate for candidate for county executive Ed Day (R-New City) held his first official fundraiser and campaign speech to supporters on Tuesday.

Nearly 200 showed up for the event, helping Day get his campaign off on the right foot both in terms of morale and finances.

Day laid out the core of the platform he’ll be running on. One of the planks he is advocating is zero-based budgeting, which is a management method outlining all tasks a department is supposed to accomplish and justifying each action and expense building from the original mission. It helps organizations cut through bureaucratic morass and see what functions actually are needed.

The second-term legislator said he will not allow the taxpayers to take the brunt of future budgets, promised to be an active proponent of consolidation of redundant services, to crack down on abuse of the social service system, and to be a visible leader answerable to the public.

Day, a retired New York City and Baltimore police officer, pointed to his resume as a commander of detectives in New York City and chief of detectives in Baltimore, and private sector experience as corporate director of security for property management firm Phipps Houses Services Inc., as preparing him for the tough job of county executive.

A common theme among supporters of Day is that he’s sincere. Joan Kaye, a New City resident who is Day’s constituent, said of Day’s speech, “It was sincere. He really meant what he said about cleaning up the government.”

Clarkstown GOP Chairman Bob Axelrod said, “Knowing Ed Day is to believe him when he talks.”

Day was introduced by his son Chris Day, a combat veteran who was an “Airborne qualified Army Ranger and Captain in the United States Army 4-73 Cavalry Squadron of the 82nd Airborne Division.” Legislator Day’s youngest son Michael is currently serving as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army.