By Barrett Seaman–
A former Hastings Democratic Party chair and county aide, Ellen Hendrickx was sworn in as a member of the Greenburgh Town Council on Wednesday, January 12. Her husband John was at her side as she held a copy of Unthinkable, Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin’s recently published memoir.
Raskin’s book, which is fast becoming a best seller, is not only a recounting of the Congressman’s role in the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump but also a moving account of how he and his family dealt with the suicide of son Tommy on New Year’s Eve, less than a week before the January 6th insurrection that led to the articles of impeachment against Trump. Hearing Raskin interviewed on NPR inspired Hendrickx to write an acceptance speech in which she spoke of the suicide of her brother decades earlier.
“One year after that fateful election,” said Hendrickx on Wednesday, “those of us who take office this new year, after a relatively uneventful election, need be extremely grateful and mindful that our democracy continues and we must be fierce in our efforts to protect it.”
“After I heard Jaimee Raskin interviewed on NPR and MSNBC, I came down and wrote that speech,” said Hendrickx later. “If there’s anything like hero worship in my world, he is the one for me.”
Though she lives in unincorporated Greenburgh, Hendrickx, says she has a special connection to the rivertowns. “My hope is to continue to work with the villages,” she says. “I have very mice relationships with the mayors and board members of all the villages.”
In addition to her party affiliation, she has served in various land use boards in Hastings, as a legislative aide to County Legislator Mary Jane Shimsky and as Director of Research in the George Latimer administration.
Read or leave a comment on this story...