Supervisor Candidate Slater Wants Yorktown Open for Business

YORKTOWN, NY - Yorktown resident Matthew Slater announced his candidacy for Town Supervisor today. Slater, 33, is a longtime fixture in state and local government and was formerly chief of staff to New York State Senator Terrence Murphy.

Joined by his wife, Kellie, their 3-year old son, Charles, dozens of supporters and and numerous elected officials past and present, Slater said that it was time to get Yorktown moving again. “Backward policies are costing us millions as taxpayers and generating nothing in return. There is a choice to be made here, we could sit back and watch more of nothing, or we can take action, and that’s why I am running for supervisor,” he said.

“People that have lived here all their lives and people that just moved in say the same thing, Yorktown is just too expensive,” Slater said. “Decades of poor planning and bureaucratic hurdles have created a system where expenses continue to outpace revenues and nothing is done to ease our residential tax burden. Together, we can do so much better!”

Slater graduated Yorktown High School in 2004, and received his undergraduate degree in political science from St. Anselm College. He holds a Masters of Public Administration from Marist College. He was recognized by 914Inc. as a member of the Westchester Wunderkinds Class of 2015, one of the region's top 30 professionals under 30.

Former State Senator Terrence Murphy said, “There are a lot of unsung heroes in public service and to have Matt step up from behind the scenes will be a huge win for the people of Yorktown. As my Chief of Staff he helped deliver so many results here, whether it was funding the new weed harvester for Mohegan Lake, helping craft the nation’s most comprehensive opioid abuse prevention and rehabilitation law, or leading relief efforts to bring local aid the victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Maria, he had my back, and he will have the taxpayer’s back as our next Supervisor. ”

Prior to his time in the State Senate, Slater spent time as the executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party, following the 2012 election, and formerly served as Mid-Hudson Regional Director for the New York State Assembly Minority Conference.

State Assemblyman Kevin Byrne said, “To become the most effective member of the freshman conference took partners and teamwork, and we could not have achieved so much without the efforts of Matt Slater. In Yorktown alone, he helped us alienate parkland to preserve a historic cemetery, designate nearly two-dozen local lakes, including Mohegan Lake, Sparkle Lake and Junior Lake, as inland waterways for the purposes of waterfront revitalization and environmental remediation, as well as rename two of Yorktown's state roads for fallen warriors from the community. He was an outstanding asset to the legislature and will be an outstanding asset for the people of Yorktown as Town Supervisor.”

In addition to his career in government, Slater has been involved in nearly all of the local elections in Yorktown for the Republican Party since 2009. He has stepped down as chair of the Yorktown GOP to mount his campaign.

Legislator John Testa, minority leader of the Westchester County Board of Legislators said, “As a former Mayor I know it takes more than just political acumen to provide effective delivery of services, and Matt Slater has demonstrated thoughtfulness and decisiveness that the current town administration lacks. After years of inaction, Matt helped lead the investigation to properly determine the true value of lost revenue to our community through New York State’s untaxed land policy. No problem is too big or too small for him.”

Slater is presently a top aide to Westchester County Board of Elections Commissioner Douglas Colety. He has also worked as a campaign manager with the New York Senate Republican Campaign Committee, Chief of Staff for former State Assemblyman Steve Katz and a Regional Coordinator for the New York Republican Assembly Campaign Committee. He is a member of CSEA Local 860 and Grace Lutheran Church, where he served on the Congregational Council for four years.

He was also a charter member of Yorktown’s Energy Advisory Committee and volunteers with the Tim Tebow Foundation’s Night to Shine event for children with special needs. He is a member of the Yorktown Elks and has served on the White Plains Hospital’s Breast Cancer Awareness Committee and Go Red for Women’s Health Committee.

“We need a walkable downtown in each of our hamlets,” Slater said. “We need
complete streets. We need smarter, more efficient delivery of services. We can modernize our town facilities, streamline our permitting processes and provide real transparency through an open data. The rest of the world is doing these things and we simply cannot expect a dormant town government to be able to keep up.”

Incumbent supervisor Ilan Gilbert was narrowly elected in 2017 with 51% of the vote.