To the Editor,
Now is finally the time for real change in Albany and there is no better person to lead that fight than Julie Killian. As a longtime Larchmont resident, I have known Julie as one of my dearest friends for more than 30 years. I can tell you she is “the real deal”; honest, smart, and the fresh face we need in Albany.
Julie, Rye City councilwoman, deputy mayor and mother of five, has been committed to our community for more than 25 years. Like many of us, she is disgusted by the corrupt “old boys network” in Albany that has led us to be the highest taxed state and one of the worst places to do business. Thankfully for us, feeling she could not stand the criminal behavior and inertia anymore, she decided to take action and run for state Senate. Julie is a social moderate, fiscal conservative who knows how to lead. Realizing Rye was having serious issues with teen drug and alcohol abuse, she co-founded Rye-ACT, a substance abuse prevention and education coalition that just received federal funding for the next five years.
Sen. George Latimer has recently smeared her as a “snake oil salesman,” a ludicrous accusation coming from a 29-year career politician who complains the reason he can’t get anything done is because of the leadership he has been working with all this time. He is also a man who stood by as scandal after scandal of sexual abuse and “pay for play” continued to permeate the halls and elevators of Albany.
We do not need a bystander like George in Albany. What we need is a person who will stand up and speak out against any criminal activity; someone who will finally do something about the unfair proportion of educational dollars we pay that subsidizes upstate, someone who will streamline and get rid of the exorbitant regulations that make it so difficult and expensive to do business here, and someone with fresh ideas and a new approach. That someone is definitely Julie Killian and I urge you to support her on Nov. 8.
Linda White Banta,
Larchmont
