Who Wants to Replace Latimer at the County?

by Judy Silberstein

(November 17, 2004) George Latimer’s election to the New York State Assembly on November 2 will leave a vacancy on the Westchester Board of Legislators when he assumes his new position. Filling the seat will require a special election, to take place between 30 and 90 days after Mr. Latimer is sworn into his new post in January. The legislature will pick the date, but the parties need to get their candidates lined up quickly. Whoever wins that election will have a short term, only until November 2005 when the next general election takes place. So who wants the interim job?

So far, only Rye City Councilman Franklin Chu, a Republican, has publicly stepped forward.

GOP Rye City Councilman Franklin Chu is the only one declaring an interest in running.

He’s had his name in circulation “since I was aware there would be an opening,” he said. “The conversations began in earnest after November 2,” he added. Mr. Chu, who resides in the Rye Neck area, has been on the Rye City Council since 2001. He is a former investment banker who now runs his own money management firm, Sage Capital Group, and, for the past seven years, has been the principal of the Chinese School of Southern Westchester. “That’s my weekend job,” said Mr. Chu, who was born in Taiwan and came to New York at the age of 7.

He has heard of other Republican possibilities. “I don’t know why they’re being so coy,” he joked. In fact, a raft of Republican names from Larchmont and Mamaroneck have been floated to the media, including Town of Mamaroneck Supervisor Valerie O’Keeffe, Village of Larchmont Mayor Ken Bialo and Trustee Liz Feld. However, these individuals have flatly denied any inclination to seek the seat. "I like being the supervisor," said Ms. O'Keeffe, "and I'm busy following the Forest City Daly proposed project and working hard to get another playing field for the community."

Don Derrico, head of the Town of Mamaroneck Republicans, confirmed that his committee is considering several people “We have a lot of people interested, but we’d like to play it close to the vest at this time,” he said this week. He also confirmed that one of the people under consideration is his wife, Christie McEvoy Derrico, who was narrowly defeated for re-election as a trustee in the Village of Mamaroneck on November 2. "All of the people on the list I've seen are equally qualified and would make great county legislators to follow in George Latimer's footsteps," said Ms. Derrico, who declined to comment further on her own plans.

On the Democratic side, no individual has come forward – coyly or otherwise - although a number of local names have been mentioned informally, including two former mayors Cheryl Lewy (Larchmont) and Debbie Chapin (Village of Mamaroneck), and current Town Councilwoman Judy Myers. "We're actively exploring the issue," said Roz Weinstein, head of the Town of Mamaroneck Democrats, who declined to provide further details.

At the county level, “We’ve started the process,” said RoseMarie Panio, head of the Westchester County Republican Party. She’s been talking with the local party chairs from the four communities involved: Rye City , Rye Town, Mamaroneck and New Rochelle who will ultimately make the decision, she said. They will be interviewing potential candidates and looking at their positions and knowledge of local and county issues and their ability to mount a campaign. The goal is to “get it down as quickly as possible, working around all the holidays,” said Ms. Panio.

No potential candidate has contacted him, said Reginald LaFayette, who took over as chair of the Westchester Democrats in September when George Latimer stepped down to run for state office and who has been very busy in his “day job” as the Democratic Commissioner of the Westchester County Board of Elections. “When we come out publicly, it will be united behind one candidate,” said Mr. LaFayette.

There will be at least one other special election in the county, in District 15, where Democrat Lou Mosiello is headed to the NY Assembly. Another possibility is in District 16, where the incumbent, Democrat Andrea Stewart-Cousins, still has a chance to unseat Republican Nick Spano for NY State Senate in District 35. Senator Spano is ahead by around 150 votes at this point, but a significant number of provisional ballots remain to be counted by hand. It’s that election that is still occupying Commissioner Lafayette, rather than any future race for the other two county legislative seats that have already opened up.