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Jenkins to Announce Run for County Executive

The Westchester County Chairman of the Board of Legislators will make his bid on Wednesday at noon.

Ken Jenkins (D-Yonkers), chairman of the county board of legislators, will join the 2013 race for county executive, his campaign announced in an email Sunday night.

Jenkins, elected to the board over six years ago and its chairman since 2010, enters what is now a three-way race for the Democratic nomination. New Rochelle Mayor Noah Bramson and Bill Ryan, a seven-term legislator in White Plains, announced their candidacies earlier this month.

Jenkins will make his announcement at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in White Plains Wednesday at noon.

Bramson said his experience as mayor of a diverse community will enable him to lead the county with energy and innovation.

“It is time for a serious debate about our future, and I intend to offer a campaign of substance and ideas,” he said in his announcement.

Ryan released a statement following Jenkins email, saying it was important for the Democratic party to choose the "candidate who can win throughout the county," Newsday reported.

Republican County Executive Rob Astorino has not announced his intentions to run for re-election next November, but he is expected to after the new year—lining up what could be a heated political contest between Jenkins and Astorino.

The two have sparred over the county budget in recent weeks, with the Yonkers Democrat calling the process a "circus" orchestrated by a "misguided" county executive.

sayitsnotsojack December 31, 2012 at 03:04 pm
If the people of Westchester allow jenkins to become country exe. they are the dumbest people on the planet. I know one thing should he win I am going to go on welfare because the freebies will be pouring in.
Nummy December 31, 2012 at 03:18 pm
"Bramson said his experience as mayor of a diverse community will enable him to lead the county with energy and innovation."
What he really meant was, his experience as mayor of a diverse dollar store community will enable him to run the county into ground with energy and innovation as i did to New Rochelle.
leesther brown December 31, 2012 at 05:02 pm
LOL..@sayitsnotsojack....I know that's right!...lol...
Bob Zahm January 1, 2013 at 01:19 am
And I didn't think Santa was bringing the political writing class of Westchester any Christmas presents. Silly me. Jenkins finally being "out of the closet" about seeking the County Executive position after his most recent clown act on the 2013 county budget is the best gift anyone seeking entertainment could get. That is, of course, only so long as Jenkins doesn't win. The damage a Boss Jenkins administration would do is unimaginable.
Here's hoping you get off the heavy meds in 2013, Bobby Z.
Bob Zahm January 1, 2013 at 04:17 pm
Here's hoping you dig up enough backbone to make comments using your real name in all of 2013.
Francis T McVetty January 1, 2013 at 05:10 pm
It goes along with the "peter principle' in business. Promote to the highest level of incompetence. I guess the next step after county executive is governor?
Daniel Padovano January 4, 2013 at 06:26 pm
This is a joke, right? Yes? No?! Dios salavanos!!!
Billy January 4, 2013 at 06:34 pm
Give me a break Bobby Z (I like that), Patch isn't & hopefully never will be run like the Journal News. Maybe you should post over there if its more comfortable for you to know people's names. I don't really see what names have to do with anything anyway but i'm sure Jerry's reference was lost on you, but it is how most of our local democrats act.
Bob Zahm January 4, 2013 at 06:53 pm
Billy - as the user of a fake name, your comments are a prime example of the issue. People commenting from behind a masque are typically (not always) faster to insult others as well as stake out positions that are untenable because they have no fear that their neighbors, family, etc. will connect their written words back to them. And the excuse that the masqued posters are "afraid" of some big dangerous source of reprisals is just that, an excuse.

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Share something with your neighbors. Write a new post... What's up? Make an announcement, speak your mind, or sell something
Lisa Buchman (Editor) June 6, 2013 at 10:14 am
I loved all the music - the band belting out 'Sweet Caroline' was great!
Lisa Buchman (Editor) June 6, 2013 at 10:12 am
Heather, thanks! I saw you in the crowd! These are awesome. It was a perfect night for it! I'll addRead More a link to your post from mine.
Josephine Ziegler presented the school board with the petition at the May 9 meeting.
John Craig June 3, 2013 at 11:50 am
Regarding paragraph 5 -- the retirement incentive. I haven't read anything to suggest that theRead More retirement incentive and the insurance switch are related or that that KLDTA asked for one to get the other. When I read the initial release from the board, I saw them as 2 different cost savings initiatives. ---The district indicated that each retirement saves a net of $32,500 per year. Early Retirement Incentive Plans (ERIPs) are fairly common stuff among downsizing private organizations. I think it makes sense to use them here to accelerate cost savings. ---The original petition was well written. Now that we have addressed point #3, I think it's time to make further progress on point #2 -- a financially sustainable contract. ---And, experience suggests that if you really want to move forward in a collaborative way, you have to let go of the past. Continuing to harp on past mistakes undermines point #5.
Sara Weale June 3, 2013 at 12:36 pm
Thanks for your comment. I agree that we all need to move forward -- but in my opinion, althoughRead More this side agreement made a long-overdue change in health care carriers (while maintaining a high level of health care benefits/access to teachers, retirees and their dependents), the KLDTA again asked for retirement incentives in return - just as they did for the December 2010 MOA that extended the terms of their contract for two years and avoided going to Triborough. Under the 2010 MOA, KLDTA requested a $10,000 retirement incentive and 21 teachers took the offer (including the current leader of KLDTA) -- resulting in an outlay of $210,000 by the district. Although some savings might have been realized for "early" retirements, it is difficult to calculate the exact amount because the district has no way of knowing when a teacher would have retired without the incentive. If 20 additional teachers take the new retirement incentive which was increased to $17,500 for some reason -- that is a total cost to the district of $350,000. Don't forget that regardless of the incentive, teachers retire with full pension and retiree health care benefits. Yes - the district will realize some savings from the incentives -- but we likely would have realized similar savings without incentives and natural attrition/retirement of our teaching staff. What I think we need to pay attention to as a community is that it seems the only way that KLDTA leadership will agree to changes in the status quo is if they get something in return. The last two agreements with the KLDTA will likely result in approximately $500,000 spent by the district in retirement incentives over a five year period -- money in my opinion, better kept in the district system during these difficult economic times and in the tax-cap environment. In my opinion, finally switching health care carriers did not merit financial rewards for teachers likely retiring in the next three years anyway.
Katonah19 June 6, 2013 at 08:08 am
For more insight, take a look at BOE Member Charles Day's statement on retirement incentives inRead More exchange for KLSDTA's agreement to changes in Health Care here: http://bedford.patch.com/groups/opinion/p/days-statement-on-kl-union-contract-changes