Editorial: Latimer Gets the Nod in Tight 37th State Senate District Tussle
Disheartening is the best way to describe the long and unnecessarily rough campaign waged by Democratic Assemblyman George Latimer and Republican challenger Bob Cohen in the 37th State Senate District race this fall.
The candidates–or more accurately the combatants–and their handlers spent the past several months engaged in classic political mudslinging, made worse by the succession of mailers and over-the-air commercials neither side really was eager to take credit for.
It’s one thing to run a hard-as-nails political campaign, quite another when the issues are rarely discussed. When Latimer’s campaign wasn’t accusing Cohen of being a slumlord for violations on properties he owns in New York City, it was the Cohen camp claiming what a poor legislator Latimer has been, for among other things, missing 70 votes in 13 years on the Board of Legislators.
It was disappointing because the race is a critically important one. A district that has been represented by Democrat Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer for the past 28 years, this is a contest where the winner will have to fill the void of institutional knowledge that will walk out the door when Oppenheimer retires at the end of the year.
Disappointing because a glance at Latimer’s and Cohen’s resumes will show that there is plenty to like about both, candidates who are clearly capable of so much more than their campaigns allowed the public to see and hear.
Really, none of the election year shenanigans matters for business owners or homeowners facing myriad challenges and school districts and municipalities finding it increasingly difficult to pay for services with a tax cap and no mandate relief.
With the vitriol aside, there is a clear but not overwhelming choice for the voters in the 37th Senate District. That choice is George Latimer.
Voters have every right to quarrel with his judgment for voting against the tax cap or for making the unpopular choice of supporting the MTA payroll tax. But one of Latimer’s most appealing qualities is his candor and his passion to fight for what he believes.
Latimer could have made the politically expedient choice to blindly follow the cap. It’s popular on both sides of the aisle, even more so with a forceful and admired governor who also supported it, but Latimer reasoned it wasn’t going to be effective without mandate relief. Less than a year and a half after the ballyhooed tax cap, he has so far been correct.
In a district where many residents depend on Metro-North, Latimer decided that the payroll tax, 34 cents per $100 of payroll, was a less destructive course than asking commuters to dig into their pockets for what could have been as much as a $100 a month increase in fares.
His support of a measure calling for an eight- to 10-year phase-in of taking Medicaid away from the counties and to the state, the biggest unfunded mandate, pokes holes in the naysayers’ arguments that it would cause state taxes to skyrocket. The gradual transition for the full takeover by the state and its far larger tax base would cushion the blow while providing some of that elusive relief for the property taxpayer.
Moreover, with an increasingly complicated array of issues, Latimer’s eight years in the Assembly would come in handy. Being able to hit the Senate floor running, is an advantage that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Two years ago, Cohen represented a viable alternative to Oppenheimer, who sometimes did little to dispel the notion that she had overstayed her welcome. Cohen remains a sound alternative, as he is a moderate and pragmatic Republican, with a wealth of experience in business and real estate that could be beneficial in Albany.
He supports a woman’s right to choose; an increase in the minimum wage as long as its accompanied by business tax breaks; for Medicaid to eventually be taken over by the state; and maintaining a moratorium on hyrdrofracking. He also would fight for much-needed help for flood mitigation in the Sound Shore communities that are prone to inundation.
Yet, despite, Cohen’s strong qualifications and centrist views, Latimer also supports most of those initiatives as well. Therefore, it is Latimer’s governmental experience and his willingness to fight on issues such as a fairer funding formula for state aid for Westchester schools that makes him the right choice this time around in what promises to be a race to the wire.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
