Monday, February 12, 2007

Latimer Responds

Liz Benjamin Capitol Confidential

As I was reading this short little interview by Liz, it dawned on me...Eliot is going to need the "Latimers" of the Assembly and Senate if he has any hope of passing the budget on time and also getting some reform bills in motion...George is basically saying..hey I'm small time here....you want to pick on me...go ahead...challenge me..go ahead.....I don't have alot of money...let me help you reform Albany....... andy
"Assemblyman George Latimer, D-Westchester, the latest on Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s post-comptroller vote hit list, didn’t bother sticking around his district to defend himself this morning even though he knew the governor was headed his way.
“There was no purpose for me to go and be confrontational,” Latimer said told reporters who caught up with him after the Assembly had finished work for the day. “(Spitzer) has a right to say what he wants to say. If I got upset every time somebody said somthing not nice about me, I’d have been out of this business long ago.”
Despite Spitzer’s displeasure, Latimer insisted he doesn’t regret voting in favor of making his former colleague, Tom DiNapoli, comptroller, nor does he wish he hadn’t been so outspoken about his belief that the screening panel was biased against legislative candidates.
“I know Tom, and I respect him,” Latimer said. “I don’t think what I did was wrong…I was critical of the screening panel because that’s what I believe is true.”
As for whether he’s worried about running against a Spitzer-backed candidate in 2008, Latimer was circumspect, saying he plans to seek re-election regardless of what the governor does next.
“I’m an assemblyman. I’m not a senior guy here. I have no lu-lu, no dough in my campaign till. If somebody wants to com around and squash me, I’m a little guy. I’m just doing what I think is right.”
For the record, Latimer’s campaign committee had $26,636 on hand in mid-January.
Latimer said he supports a lot of Spitzer’s reform agenda, including the so-called “bigger, better bottle bill,” and the budget reform legislation that has already been signed into law. He has also signed on as a co-sponsor of a billto create a nonpartisan redistricting committee - a measure that hasn’t been universally embraced by his colleagues.
Latimer briefly ran for lieutenant governor in 2002, stepping aside to clear the way for then-gubernatorial candidate H. Carl McCall’s running mate of choice, Dennis Mehiel. He won his Assembly seat in 2004, receiving some 69 percent of the vote. He ran unopposed and was re-elected in 2006.
Democrats have a considerable enrollment edge over the GOP in Latimer’s district, the 91st AD, (30,347-21,226). So his biggest concern for ‘08 appears to be a primary challenge...................my sense is...that is not going to happen.......andy

Comments:
Andy....

Using your posts as my main source, I've written a bit about the latest battle...."Eliot Spitzer and the Comptroller"

http://carriertom.typepad.com/sheep_and_goats/2007/02/eliot_spitzer_a.html

I can't tell you how informative your blog is. I've never cared a wit about state politics, but your journalistic contribution makes it hard to resist.
 
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