All this time, I’ve been looking at National politics, and I
have become absolutely disgusted with what we pass off as politicians. It
wasn’t always so. I started out as a Republican in the early 1970’s and was a
member of
the Huntington Town Republican Party. The Nixon fiasco drove
me away from politics completely until the late 1980’s. I remained a registered
Republican until 1990 when I made the switch to the Independent Party, after
experiencing Reagan and Bush, Sr. As an
Independent, I voted for Clinton, and that was the start of my migration over
to the Democratic Party, where I am today. Because of recent governmental
developments I find myself, once again, in search of a relevant political
affiliation that will platform policy that is financially sound and socially
responsible, and, above all, ethical.
The last three and a half years of the idiocy we call
Washington, DC, has gone so far as to make me question whether this is really
the Country I gave up three years of my life to fight for. When I see what is
happening to our politics and our economy, there are many emotions rattling
around in my brain; sadness, embarrassment, frustration, and disgust. I have
become so disgusted, in fact, that I have turned my attention solely to local
politics. For years I have simply voted the “party line” when it came to local
election cycles. I occasionally voted across Party lines in an attempt to make
my vote count, but, for the most part, I ignored what was going on right under
my nose.
We have an off-year election coming
up in Huntington, New York, and it turns out that it’s going to be a very
important election that will set our Town’s course for quite a while. Of note,
the Town Supervisor (Mayor), two Town Council seats, and the Highway
Superintendent positions are up for grabs. Now, as disgusted with National
politics as I am, I know there is little I can do on that front as compared to
what I might be able to accomplish on the local front. Some very interesting
things happened on the way to this election. As a Democratic Committee member, I
can’t speak on the Republican’s trials and tribulations, but I can certainly speak
on the mess my side produced. It all started with a good friend of mine
deciding at the beginning of this year that he would be an excellent candidate
for the Highway Superintendent position. He went about polling his
possibilities and concluded that he would run. As a friend, and fellow
Democrat, I was asked to pitch in, and did so willingly. Our little team was
able to gather enough petition signatures to place his name in consideration.
It all seemed to be going fairly smoothly. There were actually three gentlemen
running for this one spot in the Democratic Party; my friend, the current Parks
Department director, and the incumbent. A nominating meeting was set and that’s
when all the fun began. Normal procedure dictates that you take a committee
vote to determine who the candidate will be, and vote we did. My friend won the
first and second round, but failed to get the required 50% + 1 more vote (for a
simple majority). Party by-laws state clearly that we are to vote, and re-vote,
until one of the candidates does reach the 50% (+1) level. Concurrently, we
were voting for three of our candidates to fill Town Council seats up for grabs
this year. There were also originally four candidates involved in the Town
Council race, and the initial two votes in that category did not produce a
clear winner, either. After only two rounds of voting for each category, all
discussion and the meeting were brought to an abrupt halt. We were informed
that it was past some people’s bed time and it would be best to set a later
date and continue the voting at that time. Just before we adjourned for the
evening, one of the candidates for Town Council withdrew his name from list;
leaving three candidates for the spot.
"The three contenders seeking the Democratic
nomination for Huntington highway superintendent will compete in a primary in
September, after the party could not decide on a nominee at its convention
Thursday night. Two separate votes failed to produce a majority for any of the
candidates -- longtime incumbent William Naughton and challengers Kevin Orelli,
a business owner, and town parks Chief Don McKay."
"In the first round of balloting, Orelli
received 13,813 votes in a weighted system, McKay had 10,858 and Naughton
4,585.5. The second time around, Orelli received 13,330 to McKay's 9,434.
Naughton got 5,020. At that point, the party declared a deadlock -- something
Democratic chairwoman Mary Collins said she could not recall happening in her
30... read
more »" [ http://huntingtondems.com/content/democrats-set-primary-top-highway-job
]
The alarm bells started going off, triggering my more than
healthy cynicism of all things politic. When you fail to pick a candidate in
committee, you are required to have a “runoff” election to include all duly
petitioned persons vying for the position in question. But first, you are
supposed to give voting in committee a chance to work, and the fact that we
were cut short after only two rounds can only be characterized as a breach of democratic
process. For an entire week the Party Leaders were silent; then they dropped
the bomb. The Town Committee members were notified
by e-mail that the County Chairman was brought into the fray
to manipulate the situation under the guise of “cost control” (run-offs cost
money). The savings was to be achieved by telling two candidates for the Town
Council spot that they were no longer welcome, thus relieving the necessity of
a costly run-off in that category. They were forced to resign their candidacy
leaving a convenient single person on the ballot.
There was, indeed, a run-off for the three contestants vying
for Highway Superintendent which itself produced many shades of gray when you
looked behind the scenes. The full weight of the Town’s and County’s resources
were thrown behind the incumbent, Naughton, to ensure his reelection, and my
friend was torn to shreds in the voting due to the third candidate, Mckay, who
was tossed in the ring to foil any competition for his cohort, the incumbent.
NOW, PAY ATTENTION!
 |
| Councilman Eugene Cook |
 |
| Supervisor Frank P. Petrone |
..............wants his job....................
 |
| Councilman Mark Cuthbertson |
.............wants his job............
 |
| Councilwoman Susan A. Berland |
.........She's safe, for now!
 |
| Tracey Edwards |
........wants his job.........
 |
| Naughton Highway Superintendent |
 |
| Bob Gunther |
.............wants his job.........
THE ‘PUBLICAN’T(S) ARE KNOCKING ONTHEDOOR:
|
It is upon these occurrences that I have been keeping an eye
on this local Town election. What I see is the incumbents, Democrats, forcing
the process in their favor by trying to scare the crap out of the Town
residents (a tactic normally attributed to Republicans) by running ads and
holding forums where they no longer talk about their accomplishments in office,
but rather spend their time, and our tax dollars, smearing the competition. The
demographics of this Town are such that political tactics of fear have an
effect on our large, older population. We are also blessed with a sizeable
population who would be considered “rich” by any standard. They tend not to vote
in local elections, as if it were beneath them. That leaves the young voters
and the dwindling blue collar class, who tend to be mostly Democrats. This is
going to be a big problem if these folks go to the polls and vote the Party
line without first exploring the political landscape of their Town.
"Local Huntington Dems are About to Hit
an All Time Low"
"At 1:00 today, there will be a press
conference asking Candidate Eugene Cook to step
down from his candidacy as Huntington Town Supervisor. Based on polls, it is likely that
down from his candidacy as Huntington Town Supervisor. Based on polls, it is likely that
Councilman Cook will take over as Supervisor
after the November elections. This has
caused panic among those that are
profiting greatly by the Petrone and Cuthbertson."
&
"Former Legislator Jane Devine at a press conference today calling for Gene Cook to withdraw."
Since I don’t have the stamina, or the voice, to stand on the
old soap box and give oratory to my thoughts and feelings on this election
process and the individuals involved, I have decided the most
effective way of countering the overt and covert skullduggery of the Town
Democrats and the Town Republicans is to write and post about it, and to come
up with a few lawn signs depicting my utter disgust in what I have witnessed. There
seems to be a gross lack of democratic process in the Town of Huntington, so I
will continue my quest for another Party affiliation that more closely shares
my views on the democratic process.
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