Letters received in support of the candidacies of: Jamaal Bowman (for U.S. Congress) and Mimi Rocah (for District Attorney)

Endorsements and Letters to the Editor may be sent to editor@larchmontloop.com

To the Editor:

With ballots just out now for the Democrat primary, I want to encourage everyone to take a look at a candidate who would bring a fresh voice and perspective as our Representative for the 16^th Congressional District: Jamaal Bowman.

As a twenty-year educator in New York City schools, Jamaal Bowman has seen firsthand the barriers holding back our children – and knows what it will take to fix them. When Jamaal saw that underfunded school districts were failing students, he started his own public school open seven days a week to support both his students and his community. For those who know him, Jamaal has demonstrated himself as a problem solver and a change maker. And during the coronavirus epidemic Jamaal has only continued to advocate for us. Between volunteering in our district and joining nurses to rally for PPE, Jamaal has shown that he will always step up for our communities.

Our current Congressman Eliot Engel is in his 16^th term. Protecting a status quo which keeps low-income families locked out of opportunity is not in anyone’s best interest. We need a leader who understands the struggles of the underserved in our Bronx and Westchester communities and one who has been a strong advocate for tangible change.

We deserve a real leader, and I am proud to have requested my absentee ballot to vote for one in Jamaal Bowman. I hope you join me in doing so. Jamaal Bowman is running for Congress to fight for an America where everyone has access to what they need to thrive.

Heidi Sickles
Mamaroneck

To the Editor:

I write to give my wholehearted endorsement to the candidacy of Mimi Rocah for District Attorney of Westchester County and to urge my fellow Sound Shore and Westchester County residents to cast their vote for her in the upcoming Democratic primary on June 23.

Mimi has spent the last two decades dedicated to public service, the rule of law, and community-focused law enforcement.  I know this because she and I worked together in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, where she served as Chief of the White Plains Division, a position which put her in charge of all federal prosecutions in the six northernmost counties of the Southern District of New York.  Mimi was not only a strong and skilled lawyer, but also a dynamic leader.

On her nightly appearances on MSNBC over the last year, one can see Mimi’s intelligence, passion, and resolve.  But I had a front row seat when she shined brightest as a prosecutor, and then my boss.  She made her bones prosecuting organized crime for almost a decade, including members of the Genovese and Gambino crime families.  As a supervisor, she led large investigations into sex traffickers, corrupt politicians and white collar fraudsters alike.

Mimi certainly can be tough.  But, even more importantly, she is fair.  She is acutely aware of her dual responsibilities as both a trusted partner to the local police and a watchdog to inequities in policing.  Mimi’s focus was never on “punishing the bad guys,” but rather on making safe the communities we were charged to protect.  Mimi always took to heart the words of our leader at the time, Preet Bharara, who would say that our job was, simply put, to “do the right thing.”

I promise that Mimi is made for this moment in American life.  I have seen how Mimi will not shy away from tackling the hard issues regarding racism and policing.  On the one hand, she and I worked together to arrest violent gang members—many of them young, African American men—who were shooting at each other and selling drugs in Westchester communities.  On the other hand, when we learned that some police officers were fabricating search warrants to target those same young men, Mimi held those officers accountable and dismissed charges.  There are no easy answers to correcting centuries-old prejudice.  But those answers, whatever they will be, will come from leaders who will lean in to bringing sorely needed reform.  Mimi will be that leader for us.

I was born and raised in Westchester and, after just a few years living in the city after college, returned home to Westchester over a decade ago to raise our family in Larchmont.  I have also been a prosecutor in Westchester, working shoulder to shoulder with Mimi to protect our community from both violent crime, such as gang violence and sex trafficking, and financial fraud.  In that way, I think I am in a unique position to make this endorsement of Mimi.

I can think of no one better suited to be Westchester’s DA.  While the incumbent can “talk the talk” of someone with Mimi’s experience as a prosecutor and leader, Mimi has walked the walk her entire career.  She will always look to make our streets safer.  She will always be a tireless advocate for crime victims.  And she will always ensure that every person, no matter their gender or skin color or sexual orientation, is treated with the dignity and respect they are due.  Now more than ever, when our country’s political landscape is so fractured and unstable, we need leaders like Mimi here at home, in Westchester.

I am proud to call Mimi my friend and neighbor.  And I am proud to give my complete and enthusiastic endorsement of her candidacy.

Andrew Bauer
Larchmont