Every time we talk about drunk driving, politicians offer the same tired lines: “tragic,” “avoidable,” “our thoughts are with the family.” Then nothing changes.
Enough.
If I am elected the next Governor of New York, ending drunk driving will be one of my core missions. Not reducing it. Not managing it. Ending it.
What happened near the Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove recently was not an “accident.” It was a choice—and it ended a life.
A 42-year-old off-duty police officer, a wife, a sister, a mother of a two-year-old child, was killed when a drunk driver ran a red light. She was rushed to Stony Brook University Hospital, a fantastic hospital where my son was born and was cared through NICU, but sadly she was pronounced dead. The driver survived. His passenger survived. She did not.
Her family will live with that choice forever.
Drunk Driving Is Not a Mistake: It is a Decision
We need to stop pretending that driving drunk is some unavoidable human error. It isn’t. It is a conscious decision to get behind the wheel knowing you are impaired and knowing you could kill someone.
And when that decision does kill someone, the punishment must reflect the reality of the act.
Under my administration:
- If you kill someone while driving drunk, you will be charged with murder.
- You will spend the rest of your life in prison.
- There will be no parole. No early release. No second chances.
A life sentence is not “harsh.” It is proportional. Because the victim does not get a second chance either.
Ending the Culture of Leniency
New York’s current approach sends the wrong message. Too often, drunk drivers face plea deals, reduced charges, or sentences that allow them to walk free after destroying families.
That ends.
Even when no one is killed, penalties for driving while intoxicated must become severe enough that people fear the consequences before they turn the key.
That means:
- Mandatory long-term license revocation
- Vehicle forfeiture for repeat or high-BAC offenses
- Lengthy mandatory incarceration
- Permanent felony records that cannot be wiped away
Driving is a privilege, not a right. If you prove you cannot handle that responsibility, you lose it.
Zero Tolerance Means Zero Tolerance
This is not about revenge. It is about deterrence.
The goal is simple: make drunk driving unthinkable in New York.
When the punishment is absolute, behavior changes. We have seen it with seatbelts. We have seen it with smoking indoors. We can see it with drunk driving too, if leaders have the courage to act.
Families should not have to bury loved ones because someone chose convenience over responsibility. There is no excuse in 2026 when ride-share services have become so accessible.
Children should not grow up without parents because the law treated a lethal decision as a “mistake.”
Leadership Means Saying What Others Won’t
Career politicians avoid this issue because they are afraid of being called “too tough.” I’m not.
I am a career accountant. I deal in consequences, accountability, and results. When systems fail, you fix them. When incentives are broken, you change them.
New York has tolerated drunk driving deaths for far too long. That tolerance ends with me.
No more excuses. No more half-measures. No more families destroyed because the law wasn’t strong enough to stop a predictable tragedy.
If you kill someone while driving drunk in New York, you will never walk free again.
That is not radical. That is justice. And in my vision for New York that is a necessity to protect families from needless tragedy.