Westchester County Executive George Latimer, a Democrat who on Jan. 3 was scheduled to take the oath of office on Capitol Hill to represent New York’s 16th Congressional District delivered his farewell address before the County Board of Legislators on Dec. 30.
Numerous elected officials from both sides of the aisle in the Hudson Valley gathered at the Legislative Chambers in the County Office Building in White Plains to not only listen to Latimer’s address but also express their appreciation for the bipartisan approach to governing he championed during his seven years in the county executive’s chair.
Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of the 17th Congressional District was among those attending. Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus, also a Republican who is president of the New York State County Executives’ Association, presented Latimer with a desktop rotating globe as a gift from the organization. Moments earlier, Legislator Ben Boykin, who is president of the New York State Association of Counties, presented Latimer with what he described as the first genuine Westchester County lapel pin.
“We’ve shown that Democrats and Republicans can work together and can find common ground. Even when we disagree we can still show respect to each other,” Latimer said. “I suspect I will return to this podium as a member of Congress to update you all on the progress in our nation’s capital when the time is right and we will continue to see each other across the communities we present, because it’s a never-ending campaign trail, which is the reality of holding a two-year term of office.”
Latimer noted that he and others in the room have had disagreements in the past and will in the future.
“Democracy assumes debate and competition of ideas and people,” Latimer said. “It is in the hot fire of debate and conflict that the strongest steel is forged. It is true that we compete for our ideas and for the power to implement them but it must also be true that we are all Americans. We are tied together by fate and faith. We cannot succeed or even survive as a house divided.”
Latimer said that he hopes what he learned during his career in government and politics, in Rye City Hall, in Albany and in Westchester County has prepared him for his service in Washington.
“I see the crowds at hand, the international threats, the domestic strife. It’s very sobering,” Latimer said. “This moment is not about any personal achievement or an electoral victory. The needs of our country come first.”
