Don donor boosts Dem
W’chester mogul to host benefit for Latimer in challenge to Bowman
A wealthy GOP donor who backed former President Trump to the tune of $15,000 is hosting a weekend fundraiser for Westchester County Executive George Latimer to boost his Democratic primary challenge to Rep. Jamaal Bowman.
Insurance mogul Alex Dubitsky and his wife are inviting friends to pay up to $6,600 a person to have brunch with Latimer at their home in tony Larchmont on Sunday.
Dubitsky gave $8,000 to Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign and another $7,000 to his Make America Great Again political action committee, campaign finance records show.
He forked over nearly $20,000 to the Republican National Committee in recent years, while chipping in to boost GOP stalwarts like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.).
Bowman, who represents the 16th Congressional District, lashed out at Latimer on Thursday, saying his embrace of Dubitsky shows he can’t be trusted to support President Biden and the Democratic agenda.
“Democrats across New York’s 16th District reject the hateful, divisive, racist politics of MAGA Republicans,” Bowman told the News “It’s straight-up damning that George
Latimer would rather stand with Trump donors than help working people.”
The powerful Working Families Party, which is backing Bowman in what is shaping to be a tough primary fight, also trashed Latimer for hobnobbing with Trump fans.
“Voters should be the ones who decide Democratic primaries, not Republican donors,” said Jasmine Gripper, co-director of WFP.
Latimer defended his “rock-solid record of supporting President Biden” and said Bowman’s left-wing approach is the biggest danger to the Democratic agenda.
“Bowman stood with the MAGA Republicans in Congress to vote against the president on infrastructure funding, vote against the president on the debt ceiling, and he even broke with his fellow Democrats to vote against condemning Hamas’ terrorism,” a campaign spokesman said.
Latimer got a boost in the primary Thursday when state Sen. Shelley Mayer (D-Yonkers) endorsed him over Bowman.
Dubitsky is co-hosting the event with his wife, Pamela Tillinghast Dubitsky, who is chairwoman of the Westchester County
Parks and Recreation Board. She was appointed to the board by Latimer in 2018.
Alex Dubitsky is founder and CEO of Awbury, a $7 billion Connecticut-based insurance firm that boasts of being “a leading provider of bespoke insurance and reinsurance protection for complex financial risks.”
His list of donations paints a portrait of a dyed-in-the-wool conservative GOP supporter. Dubitsky has donated to only one Democrat, a $250 gift to Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) in 2014.
He gave three separate donations to Trump in the runup to the 2020 election, the last one just three weeks before the former president lost to Biden.
Dubitsky also gave to GOP Reps. Lee Zeldin, Marc Molinaro and Andrew Garbarino.
He also gave a hefty $13,500 to Republican Rob Astorino’s failed 2022 gubernatorial primary campaign. Ironically, Astorino was a former Westchester County executive who was ousted by Latimer in 2017
It appears the Dubitsky household is split along partisan political lines.
Pamela Dubitsky, a lawyer who sits on a state parks commission and once headed a local Larchmont library board, donated $1,000 to Hillary Clinton’s losing 2016 campaign against Trump and $1,000 to Gov. Hochul in 2021.
Latimer, 70, who portrays himself as a mainstream liberal Democrat, launched a primary challenge to Bowman, accusing the two-term incumbent of being too progressive for the deep-blue district that spans all of southern Westchester County and a sliver of the Bronx.
He also attacked Bowman for his harsh criticism of Israel amid its war against Hamas in Gaza. He journeyed to Israel on a self-described “solidarity trip” with the Jewish state.
Bowman, a charismatic former Bronx middle school principal, won the seat in a dramatic 2020 primary upset of longtime Rep. Eliot Engel. The district was significantly changed in the 2020 redistricting process, shifting into Westchester and out of Bowman’s Bronx strongholds, but he has not softened his progressive rhetoric, often siding with firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
The race could be shaken up again if the state’s congressional map is redrawn again this year, which now seems likely.
Some versions of Democratic-friendly maps would reshape the 16th District to include much more of Westchester and even Putnam and Dutchess counties, which could benefit Latimer. Others scoop up more of the Bronx, giving a potential edge to Bowman.
One of the nearly 3,000 victims of 9/11 has been identified through DNA analysis, more than 20 years after the attacks, officials announced Thursday.
John Ballantine Niven of Oyster Bay, L.I. was identified by the city’s medical examiner. He is the 1,650th victim to be positively identified.
“While the pain from the enormous losses on September 11th never leaves us, the possibility of new identifications can offer solace to the families of victims,” Mayor Adams said in a statement. “I’m grateful for the ongoing work from the Office of Chief Medical Examiner that honors the memory of John Ballantine Niven and all those we lost.”
The Office of Chief Medical Examiner has worked for the past 22 years to confirm the identities of those killed in and around the World Trade Center. In September 2023, officials announced that the 1,648th and 1,649th victims had been identified. Their identities were kept private at the request of their families.
Prior to that, two victims were identified in September 2021, just before the 20th anniversary of the attacks.
“Our solemn promise to find answers for families using the latest advances in science stands as strong today as in the immediate days after the World Trade Center attacks,” Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jason Graham said in a statement. “This new identification attests to our agency’s unwavering commitment and the determination of our scientists.”
Niven (photo), who was 44 at the time of his death, had already been counted among the 2,977 victims of the attack. He was senior vice president in mergers and acquisitions at the Aon Corporation and worked on the 105th floor of the South Tower.
Niven and his wife, Ellen, had welcomed a son, John Jr., 18 months before the attack. The family lived in an Upper East Side apartment but often spent time at the Oyster Bay home where Niven had grown up.
“He carried his son everywhere, taking him along to wash the car or go for a dip in the pool. He would even hunker down with his son’s toy cars,” Niven’s obituary read. “In quieter moments, he liked to read about history and philosophy.”