The Republican candidate for governor, Marc Molinaro, is weighing in on the Schoharie limousine crash, saying there needs to be more government oversight.
Molinaro said he does not want to make the tragic crash, which took the lives of 20 people, a political issue. When asked by reporters, though, he said laws need to be changed to provide more oversight. The driver of the limousine did not have the proper license, and the limo that crashed had failed inspections multiple times.
In addition, the state transportation department did not tell the motor vehicles department that the company, Prestige Limo, did not have authorization to operate the car service.
“The lesson we can learn, I hope, is that the oversight we intend to have needs to be effectively applied,” said Molinaro, who added state agencies need to communicate better.
“There are always going to be bad apples, and they need to be held accountable,” he said. “But the least we can do as a state is use this as an opportunity to give the meaning to their loss.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said the laws on the books for licensing and vehicle inspection are adequate, but they weren’t obeyed in this case.
The son of the company’s owner has been arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide.
