Maragos to Gillibrand: London? Paris? Really?

George Maragos sees London, sees France and sees ... a poorly timed fundraising visit by U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY.

For those of you unfamiliar with Maragos, here's some quick background provided by his campaign team:

"George Maragos is the current elected Comptroller of Nassau County. He is the declared Republican candidate for the United States Senate in 2012 against New York Senator Gillibrand. Mr. Maragos brings 35 years of successful senior management experience and accomplishments in the private sector. Mr. Maragos has an MBA in Finance and a degree in Engineering. He is married to his wife for 38 years and has two children and two grandchildren."

Today, Maragos went after Gillibrand for raising campaign funds in London and Paris. Below is his full, unedited statement.

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U.S. Senate Candidate George Maragos, Jan. 10, 2012: The Friday unemployment statistics, although encouraging on the surface, were inflated by counting part time courier, messenger and part time retail jobs according to the New York Times. There was no growth in manufacturing or other good paying blue-color jobs. Hidden in the unemployment headline number is the plight of the New York City financial industry, which is loosing jobs at a record pace. According to the New York Times’ Patrick McGeehan, “more than 200,000 jobs were lost (during 2011), many of them in the city (Wall Street).” While New Yorkers are unemployed and suffering, Senator Gillibrand is touring Paris and London on a major fundraising junket. She is showing as much disdain for the unemployed as she recently did for our farmers upstate, and small businesses with her “Upstate Works Act” which she hyped as a major job initiative. The “Act” is ineffective and provides false hope to upstate small businesses and farmers. Gillibrand’s “Act” will not create upstate jobs, will not help New York manufacturers compete or help New York farmers. Gillibrand herself admits that she cannot predict how many jobs, if any, her plan might create. Mr. Tumulty of the StarGazette.com noted, Gillibrand wants to spend “more money we don’t have and would need to borrow from foreign governments!” She asks to spend over $30 billion without any clue as to how many jobs will be created or how much of the $30 billion will actually come to New York. Even worse, the bill only offers small business loans to manufacturers, which will serve to put them more in debt and destroy their competitiveness. Gillibrand’s own colleagues in the Senate think little of her proposal. Not a single other Senator has stepped up to support and co-sponsor her bill. New York manufacturers, small businesses and farmers require significant federal tax and regulatory relief to improve their profit margins in order to be able to invest, and expand to create the jobs needed in upstate New York. The financial industry needs a repeal of certain aspects of the Dodd-Frank and the Sarbanes-Oxley Bills, which drive trading, and jobs overseas. While the aspects of these bills that provide consumer protections must be supported. New Yorkers deserve and need bold and creative ideas from their leaders that create jobs and not more wasteful spending and more regulations.