April 11, 2025 • 6 mins
Rob Astorino talks with Mendte in the Morning about what he has coming up on his show this weekend including the MTA and the Hudson River helicopter crash.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is Rob Astorino, who has a little radio show
right here at seven to ten WR on Saturdays. Rob,
good morning, thanks for coming on today.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hey Bonjoro Ken, how.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Are you, bun Miamiko. Good to talk to you, my friend. So,
you know what, let's let's start with that right there,
with the whole issue of the perpetual budget hole in
the MTA and how our wonderful, wonderful governor always seems
to find a way to sneak in a way to
tax people to cover that hole. If it was a business,
(00:31):
it would have been out of business decades ago.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Oh god. Yeah. And you know, even like Trump has said,
and Sean Duppy said, okay, let's like to kind of
doge it man, Let's let's send in the auditors. Let's
see how we can help. Of course, they don't want
that at all. And I can tell you having you know,
Bin County executive and dealing with the MTA and having
a direct vote on the MTA through an appointee that
(00:58):
it is just as you were saying. I mean, it
is just a massive blob that kind of eats everything
in its way. And unfortunately, so much of that has
been done through the decades where the rules and the
union contracts which are impossible to untangle, and those are
the things like it's like paying for personnel and people
(01:19):
and the contracts, you know, because they're bound to do
union contracts. And that's why it's the most expensive mile
to build in the world. I forget what it is.
It's several billion dollars per mile if you're building track.
So it's incredibly expensive and it's very hard to unwind.
They could do it. The State of New York has
the power to do that, but they won't. Nobody will
(01:42):
touch it because the MTA union is so powerful.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, from what I understand, after you do your twenty years,
you get you you get the retirement benefits and the
healthcare for like forever and ever and ever. So if
you start working there at eighteen and you retire at
thirty eight, bud, if you live to be ninety, it's
an unsustained you are covered very well for the rest
of your life. You could be working two other careers
after that and make a fortune.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Well. The one thing that I actually agreed with Cuomo
on and actually fought with him on. In fact, Bloomberg
and I actually went together at the time on his
plane because my plane was out of service. Of course,
you know, we went up here, We went up to
Albany to lobby for extending the pensions for new employees
(02:27):
of the pension system in New York, you had to
work for at least ten years to get vested in
a past it's called tier six. Of course, Hochel, I
think it was one year or two years ago, and
the state they backtracked and now you only have to
be an employee for five years anywhere in the retirement system.
So once you're there for five years, and it's not
(02:48):
five in a row, it's cumulatively five years. Oh my god,
you're now vested and you get a pension when you retire.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Show me another business, another company where that would be
the case. They don't exist. That is not unelievable. All right, yep,
we have to shift gears to the horrible tragedy that
was yesterday. I understand now for those who don't realize
you were in radio and TV. You did for many,
many years before you got into politics. So you were
a helicopter pilot report or a helicopter reporter, I should say, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I one of my first jobs was metro traffic. So
I was I was the traffic reporter for TV and
radio back then in the This was in the nineties
for a period of time, for like a year, year
and a half. So I was in a small Sesna
one point fifty two and I would do midday and
we would fly around and I would do traffic, and
(03:39):
I was also in the helicopter at times, and we
would take off from Teterborough and I actually loved it.
It was beautiful. I mean waking up, as you know,
like when you're doing morning drive, it's great. I mean
it's not fun to wake up at three in the morning, right,
but it's it's fun because you see New York City
literally wake up. It goes from quiet dark to a
(03:59):
little hustle and muscle lights come on, sunrises. Is beautiful.
And I was in the helicopter doing traffic. And I
always knew in my head that if something went wrong
in the plane would not be a problem. We would
find it. It was like a Volkswagen with wings, you'd
find a place to land. If something went wrong in
the helicopter, I I knew there was not going to
(04:22):
be a good ending. And it was always in the
back of my mind because it just when bad weather
started to come in, I would sort of like clench,
you know something, or I just get it was not
it was not fun for me. It wasn't fun. And
tomorrow on my show at four pm, I will tell
the story where we almost did die.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Something.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
No, it's not fun. But you know when I heard
that yesterday and I remember and you probably remember when
Jane Dornacker, of course a w NBC in nineteen mid eighties,
when she when she died on the air. YEP, horrible, horrible.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
And let's shift also with the minute we have left here.
President Trump has failed to persuade a federal judge to
dismiss a lawsuit accusing him of making defamatory statements about
the Central Park five. And this does not stem back
to the original case per se, as it does back
to the debate he had with Vice President Harris at
the time in which he said that one had pleaded guilty.
(05:26):
It turns out they hadn't pleaded guilty. They had confessed,
and they said that they were forced into the confession.
So there's a difference between that and pleading guilty. So
now they are suing him in a judge in Philadelphia again,
a circuit judge has decided that it's okay and it
can be admitted and they can go to.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Court of course, of course, and that judge will be
the hero at the Philadelphia cocktail parties this week. And
that's the way it goes, unfortunately for Donald Trump, because
no matter what he does, or what he says, or
what he tries to do, he's going to be treated
very different than just about everybody else.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Because orange man always bad.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
That's always always bad. Orange is no good color. You know.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
One of the topics with ten seconds here, one of
the topics are here, you're gonna be talking about Tomorrow's
when people hold open a door and you don't say
thank you. How upsetting it is. I will call in
about that. I'm gonna call in. I have a whole list.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I know. Yesterday I was driving literally, I was going straight.
I had the right away a car in traffic trying
to make a left, and I waved them on and
they just go without even a little acknowledgment of a
thank you. And I wanted road rate at my home.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Rob as Doreno, host of The Rob as Dorino Show
on WOR Saturdays four to five and also host of
Saturday Agenda one to three on Newsmax. Former Westchester Candy
executive and my good friend. Nice to have you on.
We'll be checking you out tomorrow, sir, have a
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Great weekend, Ken, you too,
It is Rob Astorino, who has a little radio show
right here at seven to ten WR on Saturdays. Rob,
good morning, thanks for coming on today.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hey Bonjoro Ken, how.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Are you, bun Miamiko. Good to talk to you, my friend. So,
you know what, let's let's start with that right there,
with the whole issue of the perpetual budget hole in
the MTA and how our wonderful, wonderful governor always seems
to find a way to sneak in a way to
tax people to cover that hole. If it was a business,
(00:31):
it would have been out of business decades ago.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Oh god. Yeah. And you know, even like Trump has said,
and Sean Duppy said, okay, let's like to kind of
doge it man, Let's let's send in the auditors. Let's
see how we can help. Of course, they don't want
that at all. And I can tell you having you know,
Bin County executive and dealing with the MTA and having
a direct vote on the MTA through an appointee that
(00:58):
it is just as you were saying. I mean, it
is just a massive blob that kind of eats everything
in its way. And unfortunately, so much of that has
been done through the decades where the rules and the
union contracts which are impossible to untangle, and those are
the things like it's like paying for personnel and people
(01:19):
and the contracts, you know, because they're bound to do
union contracts. And that's why it's the most expensive mile
to build in the world. I forget what it is.
It's several billion dollars per mile if you're building track.
So it's incredibly expensive and it's very hard to unwind.
They could do it. The State of New York has
the power to do that, but they won't. Nobody will
(01:42):
touch it because the MTA union is so powerful.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, from what I understand, after you do your twenty years,
you get you you get the retirement benefits and the
healthcare for like forever and ever and ever. So if
you start working there at eighteen and you retire at
thirty eight, bud, if you live to be ninety, it's
an unsustained you are covered very well for the rest
of your life. You could be working two other careers
after that and make a fortune.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Well. The one thing that I actually agreed with Cuomo
on and actually fought with him on. In fact, Bloomberg
and I actually went together at the time on his
plane because my plane was out of service. Of course,
you know, we went up here, We went up to
Albany to lobby for extending the pensions for new employees
(02:27):
of the pension system in New York, you had to
work for at least ten years to get vested in
a past it's called tier six. Of course, Hochel, I
think it was one year or two years ago, and
the state they backtracked and now you only have to
be an employee for five years anywhere in the retirement system.
So once you're there for five years, and it's not
(02:48):
five in a row, it's cumulatively five years. Oh my god,
you're now vested and you get a pension when you retire.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Show me another business, another company where that would be
the case. They don't exist. That is not unelievable. All right, yep,
we have to shift gears to the horrible tragedy that
was yesterday. I understand now for those who don't realize
you were in radio and TV. You did for many,
many years before you got into politics. So you were
a helicopter pilot report or a helicopter reporter, I should say, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I one of my first jobs was metro traffic. So
I was I was the traffic reporter for TV and
radio back then in the This was in the nineties
for a period of time, for like a year, year
and a half. So I was in a small Sesna
one point fifty two and I would do midday and
we would fly around and I would do traffic, and
(03:39):
I was also in the helicopter at times, and we
would take off from Teterborough and I actually loved it.
It was beautiful. I mean waking up, as you know,
like when you're doing morning drive, it's great. I mean
it's not fun to wake up at three in the morning, right,
but it's it's fun because you see New York City
literally wake up. It goes from quiet dark to a
(03:59):
little hustle and muscle lights come on, sunrises. Is beautiful.
And I was in the helicopter doing traffic. And I
always knew in my head that if something went wrong
in the plane would not be a problem. We would
find it. It was like a Volkswagen with wings, you'd
find a place to land. If something went wrong in
the helicopter, I I knew there was not going to
(04:22):
be a good ending. And it was always in the
back of my mind because it just when bad weather
started to come in, I would sort of like clench,
you know something, or I just get it was not
it was not fun for me. It wasn't fun. And
tomorrow on my show at four pm, I will tell
the story where we almost did die.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Something.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
No, it's not fun. But you know when I heard
that yesterday and I remember and you probably remember when
Jane Dornacker, of course a w NBC in nineteen mid eighties,
when she when she died on the air. YEP, horrible, horrible.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
And let's shift also with the minute we have left here.
President Trump has failed to persuade a federal judge to
dismiss a lawsuit accusing him of making defamatory statements about
the Central Park five. And this does not stem back
to the original case per se, as it does back
to the debate he had with Vice President Harris at
the time in which he said that one had pleaded guilty.
(05:26):
It turns out they hadn't pleaded guilty. They had confessed,
and they said that they were forced into the confession.
So there's a difference between that and pleading guilty. So
now they are suing him in a judge in Philadelphia again,
a circuit judge has decided that it's okay and it
can be admitted and they can go to.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Court of course, of course, and that judge will be
the hero at the Philadelphia cocktail parties this week. And
that's the way it goes, unfortunately for Donald Trump, because
no matter what he does, or what he says, or
what he tries to do, he's going to be treated
very different than just about everybody else.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Because orange man always bad.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
That's always always bad. Orange is no good color. You know.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
One of the topics with ten seconds here, one of
the topics are here, you're gonna be talking about Tomorrow's
when people hold open a door and you don't say
thank you. How upsetting it is. I will call in
about that. I'm gonna call in. I have a whole list.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I know. Yesterday I was driving literally, I was going straight.
I had the right away a car in traffic trying
to make a left, and I waved them on and
they just go without even a little acknowledgment of a
thank you. And I wanted road rate at my home.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Rob as Doreno, host of The Rob as Dorino Show
on WOR Saturdays four to five and also host of
Saturday Agenda one to three on Newsmax. Former Westchester Candy
executive and my good friend. Nice to have you on.
We'll be checking you out tomorrow, sir, have a
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Great weekend, Ken, you too,
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