George Latimer (New York politician)

George S. Latimer (born November 22, 1953) is an American Democratic politician who currently serves as County Executive of Westchester County, New York. Prior to being elected Executive, Latimer was a member of the New York State Senate for the 37th District; he was first elected to that post in 2012. Latimer previously served on the Rye city council, in the Westchester County legislature, and in the New York State Assembly. Latimer was elected as the Westchester County Executive in November 2017, defeating Incumbent Rob Astorino. Latimer has never lost an election in his three decades in public office.^[1]

Early life

Born in Mt. Vernon, New York to Stanley and Loretta (née Miner) Latimer, Latimer attended local public schools. He graduated with a B.A. from Fordham University in the Bronx in 1974 and received a Master's Degree in Public Administration (MPA) from New York University's Wagner School in 1976.

He worked for two decades as a marketing executive in the hospitality industry for major organizations, including subsidiaries of Nestle and ITT.^[2]

Career prior to 2010

Latimer first ran for public office in 1987; he won a seat on the Rye City Council, finishing first in a field of 6 major party candidates. Latimer was elevated in 1991 to the Westchester County Board of Legislators, the first-ever Democrat to win the 7th District seat representing Rye City, Larchmont Village, and Mamaroneck Town and Village. Latimer was re-elected in 1993, 1995, and 1997; in January 1998, Democrats won a majority of seats in the County Board for the first time in 90 years. Latimer was elected to chair the board, and was the first Democrat ever to do so. He was re-elected to his legislative seat in 1999, and served a second term as chairman from 2000 to 2001.^[3]

During his tenure as chair, Latimer was the first chair to widely pick members of the minority party (Republicans) to chair committees alongside Democrats. He presided over three budget adoptions that cut the total county tax levy (FY 1999, FY 2000 and FY 2001). Latimer established cable television coverage of County Board meetings and helped shepherd major legislation on human rights, environmental protection, gun safe storage, and waste hauler regulations to passage. He led the board through a 2001 redistricting plan, including members of the League of Women Voters on the committee to ensure a balanced approached to redistricting.

Latimer did not seek a third term as chair in 2002, having been re-elected to a sixth term in the Westchester County Legislature. Westchester County Democrats elected him County Democratic Party Chairman in September 2002, where he served one two-year term. After re-election to the County Legislature in 2003, Latimer sought and won a seat in the New York State Assembly in 2004. In the Assembly, Latimer represented the 91st District, which included the Sound Shore communities of New Rochelle, Rye Brook, and Port Chester alongside the communities of his County Legislative District. He defeated his Republican opponent Vincent Malfetano with over 68% of the vote, carrying each of the district's seven cities, towns and villages. Latimer was re-elected to the Assembly seat without opposition in 2006, and scored 71% of the vote in his 2008 victory over Republican Rob Biagi. Latimer won a fourth Assembly term in 2010, defeating Conservative Republican Bill Reed with 67% of the vote.

New York State Senate

Upon the retirement of Senator Suzi Oppenheimer (D) in January 2012, Latimer, a Democrat, ran for New York State Senate in the 37th District against Republican Bob Cohen, prevailing by nearly 10,000 votes--54% to 46%--in one of New York State's top five closely watched Senate races. In the Senate, Latimer was named Ranking Member of the Senate Education Committee and served on a number of other committees. In the 2013 State Legislative session, eight Latimer-sponsored bills passed the Senate; Latimer was tied for third-most productive senator among the 26 Democratic Senators. Latimer was re-elected to a second term in November 2014, defeating Republican Joseph L. Dillon by 52% to 48%.

In 2016, Latimer was challenged by Republican Rye City Council member Julie Killian. Killian's campaign outspent Latimer's by nearly 5-to-1.^[4] He won a third term, defeating Killian by 56% to 44%.^[5]

Westchester County Executive

In 2017, Latimer challenged incumbent Republican Rob Astorino for Westchester County Executive. Latimer was endorsed by the Reform Party of New York State, which was founded in 2014 by Astorino.^[6]

During the campaign, Astorino attacked Latimer because a house belonging to his late mother-in-law was delinquent on $46,000 in property taxes.^[7] Latimer said that the taxes would be paid as soon as the estate was settled, and that he was not responsible for the taxes as he did not own the house. An investigation by News 12 showed that Latimer's name did not appear on the deed to the house.^[8] Latimer also "came under fire for...having a car-registration suspension on his record,"^[9] and for missing state budget votes in April 2017.^{[10][11][12][13]} Astorino called for Latimer to "step down from the state Senate's Education Committee because he missed the state budget vote..."^[14]

The state budget was passed a week after the April 1 deadline this year, and Latimer missed the votes on legislation approving school funding, tax revenues and the capital budget."^[10] Latimer accused Astorino of "trying to divert voters attention"'

The Latimer campaign, in turn, accused Astorino of receiving a sweetheart deal on a Rolex watch due to his relationship with a businessman who had pleaded guilty to fraud charges; Latimer's campaign called for Astorino's resignation based on the allegations.^[15][16]

Latimer won by 13 points despite being outspent over 3-to-1 by Astorino's campaign.^[17][1]

Electoral results

References

External links

• New York State Senate website