On Election Day 2017, George Latimer, left, was elected Westchester County Executive. Three years later, the COVID-19 pandemic began, with an initial outbreak in New Rochelle. Since then, everything has changed, including what is required from our elected officials.
Latimer was forced to lead Westchester through our most difficult time since September 11, 2001. He has done so with a calm reassurance that is needed during times of trouble. He has also been able to encourage residents of our county to wear masks and get vaccinated, not only for their own health and safety, but for their families and community.
Latimer was elected during pre-pandemic politics in Westchester. Now he asks for your vote in a post-pandemic political world, and he has earned that vote. We endorse Latimer for re-election as County Executive because we have seen results and not just rhetoric from him during a time of crisis.
During the pandemic, County government in Westchester has helped deliver PPE and vaccines to the people of Westchester. Under Latimer’s leadership, county government has provided assistance in the form of rent payments, small business assistance and food assistance, providing needed help to keep many residents in their homes, and with food on the table.
Unfortunately, whether someone should get vaccinated has become a political issue in Westchester and across our country. Latimer has called out residents in our county who refused to wear a mask when the pandemic was raging, and has urged county employees and the people of Westchester to get vaccinated. We agree with Latimer, and stand with him and with the medical and scientific community on this issue, which in our view, is critical to get us back to normal.
Latimer’s leadership of Westchester County and its people through the pandemic is the primary reason we endorse his re-election. In times of crisis, leaders emerge and help us through our most difficult times. Latimer has done that, and we wonder how our county would have been without an experienced hand, and a leader willing to listen and work with everyone.
Latimer’s opponent, Christine Sculti, has argued that county government has gotten too big and is spending too much money. But in a time of crisis, this is the time that the people of Westchester need their county government even more. And on the issue of taxes, Latimer has reduced the county portion of a homeowners property tax bills in two of his four years, a major accomplishment for any county executive, regardless of party.
Sculti has criticized Latimer for raising other county taxes, but the big problem with taxes in Westchester, as most homeowners know and understand, is that we pay the highest property taxes in the United States. Latimer has worked to address that issue, and as a democrat, he has taken away one of the republicans most effective arguments. And Westchester County’s Bond Rating has improved during Latimer’s tenure.
Over the past four years, Westchester County government has also been able to complete projects that remained unfinished for years. These nuts-and-bolts issues may not be politically sexy, but to those affected they are meaningful.
Under Latimer’s leadership, the Sprain Ridge Pool opened, the County resolved its affordable housing lawsuit and has built more affordable units than ever before, rebuilt the Family Court in New Rochelle, rebuilt the historic Miller House, and much of the county’s auto and bus fleet are becoming electric.
The people of Westchester are safer now under County Executive George Latimer. Crime is down across the county, and there are no calls to defund the police.
The longtime argument from republicans that Westchester residents are fleeing the county because of taxes cannot be found in recent census figures, which have Westchester reaching one million residents for the first time. People are indeed yearning to live, work and raise a family in Westchester, and those of us who have lived here all our lives, like Latimer has, understand why.
For Westchester homeowners, the prices of their homes have also increased at a dramatic rate under Latimer, and even more so during the pandemic, where families needed space for their children to learn remotely.
Latimer has checked all the boxes, and all the metrics and issues, that an elected official is measured by. Many of these issues Latimer inherited from the last County Executive and resolved.
We applaud Christine Sculti for challenging Latimer at a time when no other republican would step up and do so. It is important for voters in Westchester to have a choice when they go to vote for County Executive, and we commend Sculti for giving voters that choice.
But Sculti’s decision not to debate Latimer was a mistake, in our view. It denied giving the voters of Westchester a chance to see her in action, sharing her issues of concern with them.
In fact, much of Sculti’s campaign has been much to do about things that county government has no control over, like federal immigration policy and the curriculum taught in the more than forty different Westchester school districts.
Part of Sculti’s campaign focuses on education in Westchester’s many school districts, and the diversity equity and inclusion curriculum being taught in some of those schools. Her mother is the co-founder of Save our Schools in Westchester and Putnam. Latimer has steered clear of the issue, in part because it doesn’t fall under the purview of county government.
Beyond that, we haven’t found a lot of substance in Sculti’s campaign. When we look for alternative proposals to what Latimer has done from Sculti, we haven’t found any. But we have found a lot of rhetoric and a philosophy that follows an ideology that resulted in a Blue Wave of democratic support in Westchester in 2017 that elected Latimer and many democrats.
There’s not much room in a Westchester residents’ life for rhetoric when you are locked down in a pandemic and in fear of your future and your family’s health.
Unfortunately, Westchester County, like the rest of our country, is deeply divided politically, with democrats holding a majority, while republicans are in the minority, and about 25% of independent voters looking for a reason to vote, and able to tip the balance in a close election. We endorse George Latimer for re-election as Westchester County Executive. He has served the people of Westchester well during a difficult time and has earned your vote.
