“It should come as no surprise that Andrew Cuomo is using a rigged budget process to boost his own power and silence the voices of Western New Yorkers. Tucked away in the State Budget is a measure that completely removes local representation on power plant siting boards. In other words, the liberal elite in Albany will decide how, when and where they want to put an energy plant – and the rest of us are virtually powerless to stop it.

“The process to develop large-scale energy projects once included members of local communities. Now that process will be exclusive only to politicians hundreds of miles away. Decisions made from the comfort of the Capitol will affect the well-being of families, schools and businesses forever. The voice of communities is nothing more than an inconvenience to this administration. President Ronald Reagan once said, ‘The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’ This insulting measure proves one thing: Andrew Cuomo thinks he IS the government, and he is only here to help himself.”