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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 14 October 2024

Created: 14 October 2024

Last Updated: 14 October 2024

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(This letter was submitted by Deborah Porder of Scarsdale)
To the Editor:

One of the most important elections facing our country is fast approaching. Early voting for the General Election starts Saturday, October 26th. The Scarsdale Democratic Town Committee wants voters to rally around the Democratic ticket and vote for our candidates on Row A.

There are many races that are contested this election (including those for the President/Vice President, Federal and State legislative offices, and County District Attorney). In addition, there is a proposed amendment to New York’s Constitution to vote on, as well as various judgeships (both contested and not). This letter provides voters with more information about the contested judicial races and the proposed amendment.

Vote “Yes” on Proposal 1--Flip Your Ballot Over

Ballot proposal 1 will amend New York State’s Constitution to ensure that the right to abortion is protected and guarantee equal rights for all New Yorkers. Abortion rights are currently in place by statute only. This proposal would protect these rights by placing them in the State’s Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court took away the ability of women to control their own bodies. New Yorkers, women and men, should have peace of mind knowing that they can make their own decisions about what is right for their families without worry that future state legislatures will limit their rights.
All Democratic judicial candidates are pro-choice and have sound judicial temperament. All candidates listed below are running for Supreme Court Justice positions, except for Sheralyn Pulver Goodman, who is running for County Court Judge. The Supreme Court is New York’s trial court handling both civil and criminal matters. The County Court handles criminal matters and certain civil matters.

Supreme Court Candidates

Brett Broge
Mr. Broge has over 20 years in practice as a civil and criminal trial attorney, with broad experience in many areas, including insurance defense, professional malpractice, misdemeanor and felony criminal defense, matrimonial and family law disputes, and housing and foreclosure litigation. He currently serves as the Supervising Attorney for Legal Services of the Hudson Valley and was the Chair of the Orange County Democratic Committee.

Justice Colleen Duffy
Justice Duffy currently serves as a NY State Supreme Court Justice and an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department, and is running for re-election to the State Supreme Court. Previously, she served as a Westchester County Family Court Judge and a Mount Vernon City Court Judge. She also served as a senior litigation counsel for a Fortune 500 Company.

Kyle McGovern
Judge McGovern currently serves as the Village Justice in the Village of Tarrytown. In addition to being a Village Justice, he is an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) for the Westchester County Human Rights Commission and a founding partner at Lyons McGovern, LLP.

Mary Anne Scattaretico-Naber
Judge Scattaretico-Naber currently serves as a Westchester County Family Court Judge. She was initially elected to the Yonkers City Court, then was designated as an Acting Westchester County Family Court Judge, before being elected to the Westchester County Family Court. Prior to her judicial service, Scattaretico-Naber was an attorney in private practice and then an Associate Court Attorney for the Yonkers City Court.

Rachel Tanguay
Judge Tanguay currently serves as a Rockland County Family Court Judge and Acting Supreme Court Justice. She has presided over Family Court matters since 2016, and prior to that, was Principal Law Clerk to the Hon. Sherri L. Eisenpress, now elected to the NY State Supreme Court. Judge Tanguay previously ran her own law practice handling family and civil law cases and also practiced at a local law firm.
County Court Candidate

Sheralyn Pulver Goodman
Ms. Goodman has extensive experience as an attorney committed to finding justice for Westchester. She has worked to create diversion courts for non-violent offenders in Westchester County. She currently serves as the Administrator at the Westchester Independent Office of Assigned Counsel and served at the Westchester Department of Probation, to further accountability, rehabilitation, and public safety. In addition, she spent 30 years as a trial lawyer representing clients at the Legal Aid Society. Ms. Goodman has served on many legal committees, including the Westchester Police Reform and Reimagining Task Force, the 9th Judicial District Access to Justice Sub Committee, and the Tenants’ Rights and Immigrants’ Rights Committees.

Respectfully submitted,
Deborah Porder, Delegate to the Democratic Judicial Convention for the 9th Judicial District

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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 21 October 2024

Created: 21 October 2024

Last Updated: 21 October 2024

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This letter was submitted by Alissa Baum and Myra Saul, Co-Chairs of the Scarsdale Democratic Town Committee

To the Editor: We won’t go back. Our country faces a challenge of immense proportions this election. Return Former President Donald Trump to the White House or elect Vice President Kamala Harris. The choice is clear: vote for Kamala Harris for President.

The Scarsdale Democratic Town Committee also asks that you support all of our candidates by voting for them on Row A on your ballot! And, remember to flip over your ballot and vote "YES" on Prop 1, which protects all New Yorkers from discrimination and places abortion rights in our State Constitution.

As Vice President Harris has said, Donald Trump is not a serious man. But his politics are seriously consequential for this country. In fact, he proved in 2020 that he is not capable of leading during a crisis, costing Americans their lives and financial livelihoods. But to vote for him now, is to vote for Project 2025, a right-wing document that spells out in specific detail the ruin that he would make of this country in his own image. Let’s not forget that he has promised to be a dictator on ‘Day 1,’ including un-American threats to imprison his opponents. He has called January 6th a “Day of Love.” A significant number of Republican current and former office holders, who probably have little policy agreements with Kamala Harris, won’t even vote for him—he is such a danger to democracy—and have instead endorsed Kamala Harris.

A vote for Donald Trump (age 78) for president must be viewed as a vote for J.D. Vance as his replacement. Think carefully. A man of sterling educational credentials who has acknowledged that he has stated deliberate lies about legal immigrants eating household pets to put the problems with our immigration system before the American people? A man who has courted Christian nationalists? Some may think that Donald Trump is all bluster, but can the same be said of J.D. Vance?

Kamala Harris is the rational choice. As a Democrat, we can extol her virtues on policy any time (support of voting rights, protection of reproductive freedoms, addressing climate change), but what we are trying to convey in this letter is deeper than that. Trump wants to have his own plaything (our country) to rule, not govern. Harris wants us to work together, without the rancor, without the mistrust, without the craziness. She seeks to move us forward again as one country, to disagree amiably on the issues of the day in search of answers on the issues of the day.

Other offices that Scarsdale voters will elect this November are Senator, Congressman, District Attorney, State Senator, Assemblymember and various judges.

Senator Gillibrand is a reliable vote for the Democratic legislative agenda. She has been a strong voice in protecting women’s rights and ensuring access to healthcare. And, through her service on the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, she has worked to keep our country safe.

George LatimerThe U.S. Congressional race presents Scarsdale with a familiar face running as our Democratic nominee—George Latimer. Latimer won the Democratic primary decisively in Scarsdale—10 to 1! Scarsdale Democrats clearly like his approach to politics and governance. Now, Scarsdale Democrats (and Republicans too!) can seal the deal—vote for George Latimer for Congress.

Scarsdale’s own Mimi Rocah decided not to run for re-election as District Attorney. Susan Cacace also won the ‘Scarsdale primary’ for District Attorney. She is a former County Court Judge who also worked for many years in the District Attorney’s office. She has said that she understands the need for Westchester communities to stay safe, but she also understands that there is a need to be compassionate when justice is better served by getting someone the help they need.

Shelley Mayer, as Chair of the Education Committee in the State Senate, has made sure that our schools receive the “foundation” funding that is their due under the state funding formula. She also sponsored the law that requires all schools to promote student voter registration and pre-registration during the school year. She has been a supporter of women’s reproductive rights, such as Shelley Mayersponsoring the law that authorizes and protects New York healthcare providers to offer telehealth services and prescribe medication abortion to women living outside New York. Also, of interest, Shelley has a strong record on addressing climate change, gun safety, flood mitigation, and workers’ rights.

Assemblymember Amy Paulin is our legislative champion, with the legislator with the most bills passed again last legislative session. She has made health care, reproductive health, domestic violence prevention, child welfare, the elimination of sex trafficking, government reform, sustainability and gun safety among her priorities.

The Democratic Ticket is on Row A. Vote Row A All the Way! And remember to flip your ballot to vote "YES" on Prop 1.Amy Paulin

Alissa Baum and Myra Saul, Co-Chairs of the Scarsdale Democratic Town Committee

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Written by Amy Paulin

Published: 08 October 2024

Created: 08 October 2024

Last Updated: 08 October 2024

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We have spent a year mourning October 7. There are still 101 captives, and we don’t know if they are dead or alive. With ongoing rapes, we are concerned that there are pregnancies and babies. For the Jewish people, these are our brothers and sisters being held and tortured. This Rosh Hashanah has been bittersweet for all of us.

Antisemitism, formerly dormant or possibly just at bay, is now fully awake. It is an existential threat. It is on college campuses and in different neighborhoods in our area, and it is being embraced by too many around us, who sadly seem to be uninformed and uneducated about the issues facing Israel and its neighbors, as well as the historic struggles the Jewish community has faced.

Moreover, we are saddened that those who we have stood by and fought for, are not standing by us now in our time of need.

Antisemitism is being cloaked under the false terminology of “anti-Zionism.” Make no mistake, when someone says they are anti-Zionist but not anti-Jewish, their words are false. I wish more people could see through those words. We cannot let semantics mask antisemitism. And we cannot help but hear the chants at the protests that cheer on Hamas and Iran - we know that is based on antisemitism too.

Jews feel afraid, and worried. I am afraid and worried.

Is there a silver lining? I believe there is. As antisemitism is now touching all of us, we are also coming together as one Jewish family. Two Jews, three opinions have become one opinion. We are pulling together, and trying to figure out the best next steps. This is heartening for me.

One thing is certain - we cannot stand by and think or hope that this is just a phase that will pass.

Jews are just a sliver of the world’s population. Almost half of us live here in the US, and mostly in NY. The other half lives in Israel. If we don’t come together as one people, and support each other, then we are going to be doomed.

Many Jews in Germany identified more as German than as Jewish. This, however, did not spare them from the same fate of murder that more religious Jews faced. Likewise, we Jews in the U.S. should not assume that just because we are American, and belong to our communities and our country, that we will be protected from antisemitism.

In the recent Latimer Campaign for Congress, the opposition said they were fighting his “dark money.” They might as well have said what they meant to say, which is that they were fighting “Jewishmoney” – but they couldn’t say that, because it would have made them sound like antisemites. They masked it instead - a common tactic by the latest antisemites we face.

Elections are so critically important. We all need to vote. Both the extreme left and extreme right are espousing views that are dangerous to our democracy that protects us. We have to keep reminding ourselves of our collective strength and not be afraid to use it.

I pledge to be a Jewish leader who will keep fighting to improve our community, while at the same time, I will continue to publicly oppose the evil voices out there who seek to lie and slander our Jewish community.

Lastly, let's all keep working on building bridges to other faiths in our region - let's work to rally all good and caring people in our county, state and nation to stand with and support Jews and Israel.