Westchester County Executive George Latimer made his first public comments regarding Governor Andrew Cuomo in a video which can be viewed on YouTube, (https://youtu.be/SeHfirU01YQ) What was news from Latimer’s comments was more of what he did not say, than any takeaways from what he did have to say.
Latimer did not call on Governor Cuomo to resign is the largest takeaway from Latimer’s comments, because they put him at odds with most of his fellow democrats from Westchester, and on the state and federal level of elected officials.
State Senators from Westchester, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Shelley Mayer and Alessandra Biaggi have all called on Cuomo to resign. So have New York’s two US Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and all three Congressmembers representing Westcheser, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, Rep. Mondarie Jones and Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, …and Rep. AOC.
So why did Latimer come out and say, lets give it time for the investigation to continue and be completed, while respecting the victims who have come forward? One Westchester democrat said, “One day ago President Joe Biden basically said the same thing, let the investigation finish its course, so maybe George (Latimer) thought, if the President won’t tell him to resign neither will I.”
Latimer also confirmed that he did receive a phone call from Larry Schwartz, testing the waters about support or lack thereof for the Governor. But Latimer did not characterize the phone call in any way as being forceful or out of line.
“I spoke to Larry,… but tht’s not unusual. Larry is a resident of Westchester County and a former Deputy County Executive, whom I have known for 25 years. He was solciiting my opioinon on this matter and made no effort to influence me or threaten me. I personally did not find his outreach unreasonable,” said Latimer.
