Proud To Share ‘Matty’ With 94th Assembly District

Dear Editor,

Matthew Joseph Slater, Matt, Daddy, Son, Supervisor, Nephew, Naval Officer, Friend, Assemblyman, Grandson; this guy wears many hats, but to me, “Matty” is my husband, my best friend, the father of my children, and above all the man I look up to with such love, admiration and pride. I often wonder how I got so lucky to be his wife (shhh, don’t tell him that, we don’t want him to get an inflated ego).

When I first met Matty, I will admit, I was a little suspicious. I mean how could one man be so selfless, kind, honest, hardworking and plain nice – it wasn’t possible – he had to have an alter ego. NOPE. This was him; he wears his emotions on his sleeve, gives 110% to everything he does, loves with abandon and is as honest as the day is long, (and he does the dishes). This was really him. And after nearly 10 years of marriage (December is our 10th anniversary) I have to tell you; all of these attributes have only gotten stronger and better with age.

Five years ago, Matty came to me, I was newly pregnant at that time, and honestly already exhausted, to ask if we could look into running for Town Supervisor of Yorktown. As you can imagine I was shocked. I asked for a night to sleep on it, but after only 10 minutes I walked back in the dining room and said “DO IT!” You see it only took me 10 minutes to realize that I could not be selfish enough to want to keep this man to myself; the town, OUR town, needed him and deserved him equally as much as I did, so how could I hold him back…  

So, you can imagine my surprise when three years later Matty came to me and asked if we could look into running for the NYS Assembly. NEVER in my wildest dreams could I have imagined this path, but once again I asked for a night to think about things, and as I have a pattern of doing took only 15 minutes, came back to him and said “DO IT!” It took me five minutes longer this time, not because I was trying to talk myself out of it but because I was honestly conflicted. I live in Yorktown, I have seen how much had been accomplished in his tenure; how far the town had come. However, I had to be honest with myself and to be able to have someone of Matty’s caliber, intelligence, strength of character and overall kindness representing us in the NYS Assembly, wow, what a blessing that would be. We had to share him (again), not only with Yorktown but with the entire 94th Assembly District. With that thought, all of my questions and concerns evaporated (in 15 minutes), and I became excited, excited for the future, a future with “Matty” representing us in the State Assembly! I know he would tell you I am always right (another reason why he’s so amazing), but yes, I was right, and these last two years with Matty in the State Assembly has been amazing! From the affordability crisis, to small business, to our children, to food insecurity, to our special needs community, to our veterans, to our seniors, to our environment, to our safety, to our libraries, to our first responders – you name it, he has addressed it, and people are listening. He reaches across the aisle, he listens to everyone and speaks his mind, he is our very own “Mr. Smith Goes to…. ‘Albany’”.

So again, five years after this path opened for us, I say, let’s do it Matty! Charlie, Elizabeth and I support you every step of the way, we love you, and are so proud to be walking this journey with you!

-Kellie Slater (Charlie and Elizabeth too)

Yorktown Heights