Latimer Announces Bid for Re-election to State Senate
State Senator George Latimer (D-Rye) announced his re-election bid on Sunday, July 31 at his local campaign headquarters on Ward Avenue in Mamaroneck. He asked voters for continued support in his fight for good and ethical representation and cooperative, bi-partisan government.
Latimer, first elected to the State Senate in 2012, represents the 37th District, including the cities of Rye, New Rochelle, White Plains and Yonkers, and the Towns of Harrison, Mamaroneck, Rye, North Castle, Bedford and Eastchester. He has held elected office in local, county and state government. Prior to his work in the public sector, Latimer spent 20 years working for subsidiaries of Nestle and ITT.
“When I was on the Rye City Council, we all worked together to get things done for the people of Rye. Later, as the first Democratic Chair of the Westchester County Board of Legislators, I worked across the aisle to bring the people of Westchester the best possible government. In Albany, I’ve established a record as one of the most bi-partisan elected officials in either house and as a strong advocate in Albany for ethics reform. However, our weak ethics laws and the partisan, polarized state legislature, keeps real reform beyond our reach,” Latimer said, in declaring his re-election bid.
“What we need in Albany today is exactly what I have done my entire career,” Latimer added. “We need to look past partisan labels, refrain from the name calling and personal attacks, and work together to solve the many problems our state faces.”
Latimer specifically pointed to the need to fix ethics laws, to get money and corruption out of government as well as the need for mandate relief to help local governments keep property taxes down.
Medicaid costs required of county government is a big problem for New York’s local governments, Latimer believes. He cited the failure, again, of the state legislature to combine the state and federal primary election dates, which costs local government up to $50 million every two years.
Latimer also scorned the state government’s micromanagement of local governments. “This year, I actually had to negotiate and pass a bill to allow the City of Rye to lease advertising space on sports complex fences to not-for-profits, with the money raised going to maintain those same parks. Why do we need a state law do to that? We need to fix so many arcane laws, and we can only do it by working together,” Latimer concluded.
Latimer has been challenged for his seat on the state Senate by another Rye resident and Rye city councilwoman, Republican candidate Julie Killian.
Killian recently took a tough stance against a proposed U.S. Department of Education plan that would designate schools with at least a 5 percent opt-out rate from Common Core testing as in need of improvement. (See related story in this issue.)
In a letter to former NYS Commissioner of Education John King, Jr., the new Secretary of Education for the United States, Latimer blasted the same regulatory proposal, saying it would strip school districts of funding.
Latimer, who tangled with King while he was New York’s Commissioner, wrote, “Less than six months into your tenure as Secretary of Education, we are facing a huge challenge relative to the proposed ESSA Regulation §200.15, which could penalize school districts by withholding federal funding when parents opt their children out, as is their right and role in determining what is best for their children’s education.
“Seeking to allow the federal government to, at minimum, reduce or eliminate federal Title I funding for those school districts, runs completely contrary to the original intent of Title I. Title I was adopted in 1965, as an educational component for President Lyndon Johnson’s ‘War on Poverty’. It is intended specifically to assist disadvantaged children throughout our country.”
District 37 is among the most diverse in the state. Only three of the 15 school districts in the district would not lose funding. “Using opt-out rates from 2015, the Yonkers, New Rochelle and White Plains School Districts would potentially face the greatest loss of aid. … White Plains could lose $1.5 million,” Latimer wrote.
Latimer explained in the letter, “Parents opting their children out of high stakes testing is not government policy. It is parents exercising rights on behalf of the best interests of their children.”
As an alternative to the Regulation, Latimer proposed working with teachers, families and elected officials on both sides of the aisle to address the justifiable concerns regarding high stakes testing.
