George Latimer Gal Pal Sue Kettner Lands Six Figure County Job

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Susan Kettner, a recently retired New Rochelle City Court Judge, has landed a six-figure job serving under Westchester County Executive George Latimer.

According to Mark Lungariello writing in the Journal News, Kettner will be paid $136,750 a year.

Latimer recently announced his bid for re-election.

According to the LoHud article, County Attorney John Nonna said hiring a retired judge was something “I never thought of before.”

“I’ve been here for years and I don’t remember getting any resumes from judges who were retiring,” he added.

Absent from the story is any mention of a past-connection between Latimer and Judge Kettner.

Kettner began working for the Westchester County Law Department on January 25th. No public announcement was made of the unusual hiring. Lungariello reported that Kettner will work on assisted outpatient treatment cases, guardianship cases and other proceedings in the Family Court bureau, according to Nonna.

Latimer’s long-standing personal relationship with Kettner has been an open secret in Westchester politics for years with Latimer and Kettner often seen together at various political and fundraising events.

That relationship was prominently exposed during the 2017 County Executive race between Latimer and then-incumbent County Executive Rob Astorino.

Latimer ran a red light, crashed a vehicle owned by Andrew Genna, a Latimer staffer, into another vehicle and then through a fence, into a family’s backyard. Latimer lied to New Rochelle Police officers claiming the sun was in his eyes, so he did not see the red light at a time of day when the sun was well below the horizon.

A lawsuit was filed in New York State Supreme Court in 2019 by Mallesha Malcolm, the woman driving the vehicle Latimer struck. In the complaint, Malcolm said she sustained “severe and permanent personal injuries” due to Latimer failing to yield to a traffic control device and other negligence.

Latimer was not allowed to drive his vehicle because his vehicle registration had been suspended after the City of Yonkers filed a scofflaw complaint with the New York State Department of Vehicles. Latimer owed thousands of dollars in parking fines in jurisdictions throughout Westchester County.

Latimer is believed to have been racing to New Rochelle to meet up with Kettner before heading up to Armonk for a fundraiser.

The Journal News subsequently staked out Latimer’s home in Rye after he told them he did not drive his vehicle due to the registration suspension. The car was illegally parked in the driveway and illegally still had New York State license plates. After observing Latimer leaving his home, driving the vehicle onto public roadways and later returning, a Journal News reporter confronted Latimer who initially claimed he drove the vehicle to keep the engine in good order before admitting he had illegally driven to the Starbucks in downtown Rye, a distance of 3.2 miles roundtrip, to get a cup of coffee.

The Latimer-Kettner relationship exploded into the press after Talk of the Sound was first to report that then-State Senator Latimer had lied to Senate Democratic Leadership to skip budget votes. He claimed he had promised to take his wife on a vacation trip to England. As the State Senate continued its work on the budget, Latimer visited London and Liverpool, not with his wife but his girlfriend, Susan Kettner who posted about her romantic trip to the UK with “George” on Facebook (the images and posts were deleted soon after the story was published).

In the summer before the 2017, his campaign staff were said to be furious that instead of campaigning just 10 weeks before election day, Latimer went incommunicado, spending time with Kettner on a beach at the Jersey Shore where Kettner’s family owns a summer house.

Besides his history as a scofflaw, Latimer has had numerous financial difficulties.

In 2017, the Journal News reported Rye home owned by Democratic candidate’s (Latimer’s) wife has $46,000 in unpaid taxes and in 2019, after the 2028, election the paper reported George Latimer takes responsibility for $77K tax delinquency at wife’s inherited home.

In 2014, the Journal News reported on Sen. Latimer’s home in foreclosure.

In 2019, Talk of the Sound reported on Latimer’s Magic Lamp which he used to convince the simple-minded that a massive 14% increase in the Westchester County sales tax was a tiny 1% sales tax.

The backstory on our stories about Latimer crashing his car, lying to police, lying to his Senate colleagues and there were documented in a 10-Part Series Who is George Latimer?

Kettner has had her own difficulties. In 2011, shortly after becoming a judge she was caught making illegal campaign contributions by Talk of the Sound. An ethics complaint was filed and she was had to take back the money.