State Senate District 37 Endorsement: Latimer Deserves Chance to Continue His Work
In the race for the 37th state Senate District, Democratic incumbent George Latimer deserves a chance for a third term.
With four years in the Senate already under his belt and former positions in the state Assembly and county and local government, Latimer has used his full resume of experience to successfully serve the wide swath of diversity in his district that includes parts of Yonkers and White Plains, the Sound Shore communities, North Castle and Bedford.
Aware that trying to get policy changes through any governmental body when representing the minority party is tough, Latimer has been involved in ongoing efforts to bring about reform and is aware that relationships and knowledge of issues across the state are important to getting what he needs for his district.
Latimer has faced strong challenges at each election by Republican candidates and a state GOP that covets the seat; therefore, he has had to deal with aggressive campaign tactics thrown at him at every turn and is aware that the only way to keep working for his constituents is to keep up and increase the pace of his efforts. This, he said, he is determined to do.
Julie Killian represents a different kind of challenge to Latimer. She helped manage the campaign for a winning Democratic candidate on the Westchester County Board of Legislators and has publicly said she grew up in a Democratic family.
Spurred on to run at the state level after seeing that much of the work she was doing on the Rye City Council would go nowhere without doors opened in Albany, Killian appears to be a pragmatic candidate. She deserves credit for beginning the climb to a broader demographic from her current political roots, whether they be Democrat or a Republican. Killian acknowledges she does not agree with everything the party does but the GOP is more in keeping with her philosophy of limited government and personal responsibility.
Claiming she decided to run when disgraced Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was arrested for corruption, she is passionate about ethics and campaign finance reform and wants to work across the aisle with other politicians who share her goals.
As a woman, Killian is tired of the “old boys club” mentality of state government and would like to step in and begin to change the operational status quo – a very high ideal indeed. She argues her opponent has had enough time in office and has been unable to accomplish that critical piece of the job.
Compared with Latimer, who is impressively well-versed on virtually any policy issue, it seems the learning curve for the work to be done and done quickly might not match the task ahead.
And even though New York has a reputation for setting standards that the rest of the country will follow, Killian’s approach to state affairs comes with a broad brush stroke in many ways more appropriate for general policy discussion than specific state legislation.
Latimer has a vision of where things need to go and sees a path he would like to take to get there. He would be that much further ahead to make positive change happen.
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