Judy Myers Officially Enters Race for County Legislature:
Who is Her Opponent? When is Election Day?

by Judy Silberstein

(January 6, 2005) It’s official: on Thursday, January 6, Mamaroneck Town Councilwoman Judy Myers publicly announced that she is running for the Westchester County Legislature to represent District 7 that covers Larchmont, Mamaroneck, Rye and part of New Rochelle. As a cold rain fell on the Democratic officials and party leaders gathered outside of the Mamaroneck Town Center, the candidate briefly outlined her reasons for running and sketched themes she will be discussing in the upcoming election.

She gave as her basic reason for entering the race that “I love what I’m doing now and I’m effective at it.” She cited her service as a community leader for 16 years in the PTA, Junior League, Local Summit, United Way, and for 6 years on the Mamaroneck Town Council, and concluded, “But I can do more. And that’s why I’m running.”

She listed a number of achievements on “quality of life issues” that preserve the small-town feel of Mamaroneck. These include participation in a tri-municipal, grass-roots campaign against Ikea; developing and passing legislation to curb “McMansions”; and working in a “painstaking bi-partisan budgetary planning process” that has avoided huge tax spikes and led to Mamaroneck’s gaining a coveted AAA municipal bond rating.

However “not all is rosy” in Mamaroneck or other parts of District 7, Ms. Myers said. She mentioned the problems of senior residents being priced out of the area; lack of “starter homes” or homes for people who work in the community; and rising county and school taxes. She also listed problems with water quality, and unmet needs for day labor hiring halls, playing fields and open space. “In all of these areas, Westchester County can help us,” she stressed.

Ms. Myers is running for the seat vacated by George Latimer, who has just begun his new job as NY Assemblyman for the area. Mr. Latimer returned from his first days in Albany to throw his support behind Ms. Myers. He was joined by other party heavyweights, including Mayor Tim Idoni and City Councilman Noam Bramson of New Rochelle, and County Board Chairman Bill Ryan and other members of the county legislature.

Ms. Myers’ announcement answers only one of three critical questions in this race. Left unanswered is: Who is the Republican candidate? And When Will the Election be Held?

Rye City Councilman Franklin Chu is still the presumed Republican candidate, however, the Westchester Republican Party was not yet ready to make an official announcement as of Thursday. Lacking any other news source, the News 12 television reporter at the Town Center press conference resorted to asking Ms. Myers if she knew who her opponent would be. The only other Republican name that continues to be mentioned as a possibility is Village of Larchmont Trustee Liz Feld, who admitted to having met with party leaders but continued to say on Thursday, “I have no plans to run at this time.”

How about a date for the election? By law, it has to be between 30 and 90 days from January 2, 2005 when Mr. Latimer vacated the seat. Setting the exact date is the responsibility of the new Westchester County Board of Legislature, which met this week without fixing the time for the special election. Their next meeting is not scheduled until January 24, so an early election is an unlikely option. Political junkies should continue to stay tuned.

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