Two Democrats have joined with the seven Republicans on the county Board of Legislators to form a coalition that will pry leadership from the Democratic majority in 2014.
Coalition members announced on Thursday that they would support Somers Democrat Michael Kaplowitz as the next board chairman and New Rochelle Republican Jim Maisano as vice chairman. The board will vote for new leadership Jan. 6.
Kaplowitz said the coalition will bring a spirit of across-the-aisle collaboration, leaving behind hyper-partisan warfare and legal wrangling between the legislature and County Executive Robert P. Astorino, a Republican.
Kaplowitz, a 16-year incumbent, expected a “raucous but productive” session.
“No one checks their party registration at the door,” he said.
Maisano said the new leadership didn”™t represent groupthink but would approach disagreements with the goal of building consensus.
“We”™re not going to sue each other, we”™re going to sit in a room and work it out,” he said. “You can”™t govern in a bipartisan way without respect.”
Kaplowitz and Yonkers Democrat Virginia Perez first broke with their party”™s caucus in December 2012 when they voted with Republicans to approve the budget even as most of the remaining Democratic legislators walked out of the county board chambers.
Perez said she and Kaplowitz first reached across the aisle in an effort to end ongoing legislative gridlock.
“Sadly, unfortunately, this coalition formed out of frustration,” she said. After voting with Republicans on the county budget last year, Perez faced two primary election challenges when seeking re-election in November.
Outgoing Chairman Ken Jenkins, in four years leading the board, often clashed with the county executive and several times filed lawsuits against him. Jenkins felt several decisions by the executive overstepped his bounds and bypassed the authority of the legislative branch. Jenkins shrugged off critics who took issue with the board filing those lawsuits.
“I don”™t think we should have had to,” he said. Jenkins spoke to reporters in his office Thursday after the coalition”™s press conference, which he did not attend. The new leadership will need to continue to hold the county executive accountable and make sure the law is followed, Jenkins said.
It isn”™t clear if Democrats other than Kaplowitz and Perez will join the coalition or even just vote in favor of Kaplowitz”™s chairmanship.
Of the 17 person board in 2013-14, 15 members are incumbents. Rye”™s Catherine Parker and White Plains’ Benjamin Boykin II, will be sworn in to replace retiring legislators Judy Myers and William Ryan, respectively. Both newcomers are backed by the Democratic Party.
The Democratic caucus, now set to become the board”™s minority, will meet Monday to discuss their leadership options. Democrat Peter Harckham, the current majority leader, announced at the board”™s meeting this week that he would not seek to continue in that role.
The shift in power marks a dramatic change on the 17-member board, which just three years ago was controlled by Democrats in a 12-seat, veto-proof supermajority. Republicans made up some ground in the 2011 elections, picking up several seats to make their total minority seven members.
On the business front, The Business Council of Westchester was optimistic that the coalition would mean good things for the county.
“Working together in a bi-partisan fashion is simply good government,” Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of the Business Council said in a written statement. “It”™s good for taxpayers, it”™s good for businesses and it”™s good for economic development.”
