Assemblyman George Latimer, a Rye resident, will run for NY State Senate.
His announcement from this morning follows. What do you think? Leave a comment below.
"George Latimer to run for State Senate
George Latimer, a longtime Sound Shore resident, businessman and public official, has announced he will be seeking the Democratic nomination for the New York State Senate, 37th District, currently held by Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer, who is not seeking re-election.
George is a Westchester native, graduate of local public schools, with degrees from Fordham University (B.A.) and New York University's Wagner School (M.P.A.). For 20 years, he served as a sales and marketing executive with major U.S. corporations, subsidiaries of Nestle and ITT, with on-site assignments with IBM and AT&T operations, among other responsibilities.
In his public life, George has served as a member of the Rye City Council, and the Westchester County Board of Legislators, where he was twice elected Chairman of the Board, and ran a highly successful bi-partisan legislative administration for four years. He is completing his 8th year as a member of the New York State Assembly.
In the community, George is a frequent volunteer with groups too numerous to mention individually, ranging from youth baseball to Helping Hands, and has served on many volunteer boards. George has been honored for his service by non-profit groups of all type, from local Chambers of Commerce to advocacy groups. He is a visible participant in the life of his home region in Westchester.
Ask your friends. If you know someone who lives along the Sound Shore – in Larchmont, Mamaroneck, Rye, Port Chester, Rye Brook or New Rochelle – ask them about George and what's he's done as a public official.
"This is a time for people to hear the truth – not partisan platitudes – about what must be done in government.
The changes we need – the changes I have fought for all my life – involve sacrifice from everybody, not just from 'the other guy'.
Property taxes are too high, and I have worked hard to address that major worry many of us face; it always comes up as the #1 local issue homeowners are concerned about.
But I'm also worried that we are going to wreck the good things we've created, over many years: our transportation system, our police and fire protection, health care for our seniors and veterans, education for our kids, all because our political system has been captured by cynical politicians who play to people's anger. Their voices are drowning out the reasonable and rational majority of us. Those politicians are trying to tear down the very things our grandparents and parents fought so hard to build.
I'm not here to sell "snake oil solutions". I grew up in a tough, poor part of this County. My parents worked hard and sacrificed, to give me a better life than they had. That's still possible for the next generation.
And that's what I'm going to fight for in the State Senate. Join me.
George Latimer"
Feels very wrong to me. A miscalculation. And I’m never against meritorious promotions.
He could very well continue to serve us from his current position effectively. Now he’s up against a guy with message, momentum and money. A guy who had pretty much the dirtiest of campaigns run against him 2 years back (don’t bother denying it, I carefully collected all the Odious reports and official condemnations), lost by a squeaker and thus gathered a reservoir of resident goodwill to see if he can really make a difference in Albany.
In fact I think having a Bob and a George up there in that craphole is the kind of a bi-partisan representation the Sound Shore could be best served from. George fanboys will likely disagree – but remember – I’m not too far removed from being a George fanboy myself. Will George take Working Families Party money? That would be a huge mistake.
I don’t know if this is a miscalculation on George’s part or not – I suspect that the Democratic party was interested in seeing someone with his credibility, character and record run – but it will be a tough race for him. I will support him. Work for him. Contribute to him. But I hate to think about losing him in office – much to Ted’s point.
RoboRepublicans are at it again. There’s another round of unsolicited, uncredited calls coming criticizing George Latimer for standing up for transparent gov’t. That’s right. The republican party is saying refusing to agree to middle-of-the-night, no-voter-input, back-room Albany deals is a mistake. Given the respect in which I hold George’s republican competitor to be our NYS senator, I doubt that he would have stood (or sat, as the case may be) for the kind of backroom dealing done by the current Albany chiefs. Too bad the NYS republican party doesn’t have the courage to actually own up to its part of the problems with NYS gov’t. George certainly has the courage to stand up for his convictions and good gov’t.
If it is the NYS Republican Party they are idiots. Likely feeding Rye resentment. Cohen should tell them cut it the heck out.
Ok Bob, so here’s the first Cohen indirect salvo I’ve received via an email newsletter. And like you’ve mentioned, it doesn’t name George. Yet. But the issues are tightly framed before that final paragraph where the seeds of coming direct attacks are obviously planted. Do you have an address for signing up for George’s newsletters you could share with residents?
“I have knocked on hundreds of doors and spoken to thousands of voters across the district in the past several months. I hear the same thing from everyone: Property taxes are squeezing household budgets to death. Many are being forced to downsize or relocate because they can no longer afford to stay in their homes.
Yes, New York State passed a 2% property tax cap, which I proudly supported, but it has not been able to function as intended because Albany’s career politicians keep passing costs down to us. They force our county, towns, villages, and school districts to spend money they don’t have. Many of these mandates are outdated and their repeal would provide millions of dollars in tax relief for us.
We can no longer afford — literally– career politicians who promise to fight for the property tax relief at home and then sit on their hands in Albany. Westchester residents need a fighter — someone who will not run scared from the special interest groups when a controversial vote comes to the floor.”
Ted –
Not sure what address to use to signup, but the next one I get, I’ll pass along — and maybe George will let one of us know where he wants requests for his e-letters to be sent.
As an aside, his Legislature web site has a listing of his publications. They can be found at:
http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/George-S-Latimer/postings/
And at last what may be the truth about the RoboRepublicans is at hand. Just received a RoboCall from “my neighbor, Bob Cohen” inviting me to an on-line town hall. Good idea. But the execution may be a bit of a problem because the call came from the same phone number used to send out the irrational attacks on George. My math may be simplistic, but 2+2 usually equals four. Does this mean that Bob Cohen was behind the George attacks but refused to identify himself?
Bob – a local lady with a Big (D) after her name sent me a governmental newsletter thingy from George called “New York State of Affairs.” The format totally sucks but the content isn’t bad. Here’s some of it germane to the coming Cohen attacks –
“Standing Up by Walking Out – Would you go into a car dealership at 2 a.m., after being up all day, look at a new car, and then immediately sign a document committing yourself to buy that car on the spot? Or perhaps, you wait until 4 a.m., then sign the papers? Of course not. Only a fool would do that. And that is akin to what happened at 2:30 a.m. on Thursday morning, March 14th, as a series of controversial bills were placed before the Assembly, under a demand to pass them before dawn. Why?”
Either George is a party sacrificial lamb (feels likely) or the powers that be will give him the resources to be competitive. First on my list for him would be a legit Constant Contact newsletter like Cohen has been mailing out for years. All you local Big D’s should be working the phones demanding resources. Otherwise it’s gonna be Goodbye George.
Latest issue of George’s newsletter is out (note, by sending it electronically, he’s not wasting taxpayer $$$ on postage. Thanks, George).
George’s e-mail address per the Newsletter is:
latimerg@assembly.state.ny.us
George’s website:
http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/Latimer
And George’s Cell Phone – which he openly encourages his contituents to use to contact him (wonder if the RoboRepublicans will try calling it):
(914) 777-3832