League of Women Voters Forum

I recently attended a Primary Election Forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters at the Chappaqua library. The two Democratic candidates for State Senate (ED 40), Robert Kesten and Pete Harckham, each responded to questions from audience members. In general, I thought both candidates were well informed and didn’t differ too much in their opinions about the issues discussed. But one thing stuck out for me. I want someone who has passion about wrongs that need to be righted, someone with “fire in the belly” to get to the bottom of today’s problems and come up with solutions to fix them, someone with a broad enough background in local, state and national government who can bring a unique perspective to shaping our future for the better. I, for one, have grown weary of our nation’s Democratic leaders who continue to be polite and play by the rules while the other side runs roughshod over the ideals that make our country great. And they’re getting away with it. It’s time for our side to grow a backbone and make some noise! Mr. Harckham reminded us many times that he used to be a Legislator before Gov. Cuomo asked him to join his staff a few years ago, and then more recently to enter this race. Much of what he said sounded to me like the old guard, ready to try again to do the same old things that didn’t always work so great in the past.

Last year, Mr. Kesten made many attempts to meet with Terrence Murphy, a Trump-aligned republican currently holding this office, to find out his position on many problems that he had identified. He decided he was fed up with the non-responsiveness of Mr. Murphy so he entered the race in September and has spent the last year holding Town Hall meetings, speaking to civic groups and knocking on doors, any venue that allowed him to ask the people of this district directly what their issues are and to let us know how he planned to address them. Mr. Kesten has had years of government experience on the local, state, national and global level, often creating systems that gave a voice to the disenfranchised. A true grass-roots candidate, he will be indebted to nobody but us, his constituents, not Albany, and not Donald Trump. He’s got the fire, smarts and freedom that I’m looking for to speak for the people. Please vote for the candidate who puts People over Politics, Robert Kesten, on Thursday, September 13.

Dale Silenok

30 West Lane

Lewisboro, NY