By Dan Murphy
WESTCHESTER, N.Y. — Some elected officials in Westchester are so popular with their constituents that they become like family and are never defeated in their re-election attempts. Regardless of whether they are Democrats or Republicans, some are elected for decades, like former County Legislator Bernice Spreckman and former County Legislator Vito Pinto. Together, Spreckman and Pinto served for more than 50 years in local and county government and were so popular that it was futile to put up candidates against them.
In 2010, then-County Executive Rob Astorino made the choice of appointing Pinto as director of the county’s Veterans Service Agency for two reasons. First, Pinto was a well-known, respected Westchester veteran who served his fellow vets well. And second, Astorino wanted to try a get a Republican elected in Pinto’s district, and couldn’t do it without getting Vito out of the seat. With Pinto serving in the Astorino administration, Republican Sheila Marcotte was elected county legislator and Republicans were able to form a coalition majority on the BOL.
County Executive George Latimer has always made a point to highlight his political history of working with Republicans in a bipartisan manner, whether it was giving committee chairmanships to Republicans when he served as chairman of the BOL, or getting Republican support for his bills while in the State Senate.
So far, Latimer has kept a few holdovers in county government from Astorino’s administration, most notable Ron Tocci, who continues to serve as veterans services director (he replaced Pinto who retired in 2015). Tocci was a long-serving moderate Democrat who ran as a Republican in his final two years in the Assembly.
Democratic sources tell us Latimer is looking at bringing another Republican into his administration. Last year, County Legislator Jim Maisano was re-elected to his 11th two-year term on the County Board, representing the 11th District of Pelham, Pelham Manor and New Rochelle. Maisano is one of those special elected officials in Westchester who can run and get re-elected as long as he wants.
While Democrats don’t have a chance in the 11th BOL district with Maisano in office, if he becomes a member of the Latimer administration, then a Democrat could win the seat, giving Democrats 13 members on the 17-member BOL.
“Right now, Democrats have a 12-member majority on the Board of Legislators, and with George as county executive, they really don’t need a 13th member,” said a county Democratic leader. “I think this decision has more to do with George wanting to serve in a bi-partisan manner, and if at the same time he can give Democrats an almost unbeatable super-majority on the BOL, even the better.”
There are also rumblings that some of the younger members of the Republican BOL caucus will at some point consider switching parties. One Republican from southern Westchester, after watching all of the defections of Astorino administration workers to the Board of Elections, said, “This is like the Titanic, there’s only enough seats for a few and our ship is sinking.”
