Here are ten reasons not to vote for George Latimer, the Westchester County executive trying to unseat two-term progressive Democrat Jamaal Bowman in NY’s 16th Congressional District.
Because they are mostly sui generis, let’s call them Latimerisms.
Latimerism #10: He is “confident” in the Biden Administration’s approach to the crisis in Gaza. As he told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer, “If Biden and his team can work out an arrangement to deliver a combination of events that involves the release of the hostages, all of the hostages, not a partial release, whether they’re living or dead, and at the same time, becomes a cessation of hostilities and humanitarian aid, I would support that, and I think that’s a reasonable position.”
Umm, what?
Latimerism #9: Although he has received a record high $14.5 million in AIPAC support, Latimer wants to make sure voters know he’s not alone: “When you talk about AIPAC support for me, make sure you mention that AIPAC is a supporter of Hakeem Jeffries, or Ritchie Torres, Grace Meng, Adriano Espaillat, Greg Meeks, all those Congressmembers of color in the New York Metropolitan area.”
OK, George. You have diverse allies.
Latimerism #8: Although the county exec touts his temperament—“I [don’t] wave my arms around, and yell”—while in the State Senate, Latimer reportedly missed budget votes because he was in London with his mistress.
You go, George.
Latimerism #7: As county exec, Latimer placed the same mistress, retired New Rochelle judge Susan Kettner, on the county payroll with a $136,000 per year job.
Nice work if you can get it.
Latimerism #6: In 2014, a Rye home owned by Latimer’s wife went into foreclosure. In 2017, Robin Phelps-Latimer owed $46k in taxes to the city of Rye, which the aspiring county executive blamed on “a family disagreement.” In 2019, Latimer announced that he was taking out a loan to clear the debt. In October 2023, new foreclosure proceedings began against Robin Phelps-Latimer’s home, with $20,000 in local school taxes not yet paid.
[Sources: Google “George Latimer wife foreclosure.”]
Mind the home front, George.
Latimerism #5: During his 2017 bid for county exec, Latimer got in an accident in New Rochelle. For reasons unclear, he was driving a campaign staffer’s Jeep. The accident was not disclosed for a few months. Latimer told police that when he entered the intersection, he had been “temporarily blinded by the sun” and that he “couldn’t see the color of the traffic light.” According to independent journalist Robert Cox, such an account contradicted “basic trigonometry.”
Sorry, George. We defer to Hipparchus.
Latimerism #4: As seen in his opening answer of the recent PIX-11 debate, Latimer frequently says that he “draw[s] from my twenty years in corporate life.” His campaign website does not include any details. His Wikipedia bio refers to his work as a marketing executive for large companies including subsidiaries of Nestlé and ITT. It would be unfair to connect him to the Nestlé baby formula scandal of the 1970s or ITT’s close ties to the Pinochet regime in Chile.
We just won’t go there, George.
Latimerism #3: The challenger recently claimed that Rep. Bowman has an “ethnic advantage” in a district that is 20% Black and over 40% white. This comes in the wake of Jacobin’s report that extensively documented Latimer’s insincere commitment to court-ordered housing integration in Westchester. In a NY1 debate, the challenger claimed that Bowman only cares about district residents of color. When pressed on racial issues, Latimer points out that he has a Black deputy in the county executive’s office.
There are four Latimerisms here, but they all point in one direction. Thank you, Hipparchus.
Latimerism #2: Latimer asserted that Bowman’s “constituency is in Dearborn, Michigan,” the nation’s largest city with a majority Arab-American population. “Glad to hear that AIPAC is so afraid of Dearborn that they passed along that talking point,” tweeted Mayor Abdullah Hammoud.
While Bowman called that a “dog whistle,” it’s really more like a bullhorn.
Latimerism #1: It’s beyond absurd that Latimer once compared Andrew Cuomo to Emmett Till. But when asked to explain himself on WNYC, he responded by distorting the caller’s statement and somehow connecting her to Clarence Thomas.
Latimer, in sum, is a bottom-feeder’s bottom-feeder.
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