New Paltz Village Election Results 2011

Two-year trustee

• Osborn 337
• Glenn 377

Full-term trustee

• Cohen 37
• Crocetti 73
• Sherow 187
• Bunt 262
• Ruger 299
• Rhoads 331
• Basco 372

Mayor

• Cohen 31
• Healey 158
• Gallucci 314
• West 381

Write-in votes for various candidates.

A Message from Don Kerr about the New Paltz Village Elections

Friends,

I have attended 2 of 5 candidate forums during this Village NP election season and feel that New Paltz is blessed with a wealth of qualified candidates.

I will be voting for Sally Rhoads, Ariana Basco and Stewart Glenn for Village Trustee.

Sally has served our Village so well in so many different capacities over the years, that she can be counted on to bring reason and vision to the table. Sally is an advocate who is able to compromise - a rare combination. Having watch Ariana work on the Police Commission, I have been impressed by the tough questions that she has asked and for not backing down when challenged. She's is smart and tough. Stewart Glenn has been involved in local governments for years - just not in New Paltz. We could use his experience in law, government and business on the Village board.

I will not be endorsing Mayoral candidates - some friends running against each other.

I WILL say that the anti West election eve attack post card that I received in today's mail - with info too late to refute - was one of the more cowardly and sleazy things I have seen in a local election in a while. That tactic - employed successfully by bigot US Senator Jesse Helms - shows that one of the other candidates for NP Mayor is unfit to hold the office. What a low blow .....

Whomever you choose to vote for, please come out and fulfill your responsibility to our democracy.

Regards,

Don Kerr

Grow up and vote!

A New Paltz lawn decoration

I invited all the mayoral candidates to put a sign on my lawn.  Only one responded, and my wife saw the sign, but I never did.  By the time I stepped outside on Sunday, both our sign and the one across the street (for the same candidate) were gone.

This has happened before, and I warned the candidates of the possibility.  But I was expecting signs to go missing in the dark of night, when the students are crawling back to bed, and that they would be replaced with lawn decorations.  When I have invited businesses to put a sign on my lawn, that's usually what happens.  They disappear, either to be tossed into the undergrowth or to hang on a dorm room wall.

But these signs disappeared on a Sunday morning, when the alcohol which promotes mischief has moved on to creating stupor and hangovers.  My previous political sign took effort to remove, so I suspected foul play; this one was much easier to take, but I think it was more likely an opponent, not an admirer, who nicked it.

I guess over 200 years of being a college town takes its toll on the adults, too.  But I still love this town, despite the ninnies and cowards who share it with me.

TODAY IS THE DAY NEW PALTZ!

Today is the day Village of New Paltz!

VOTE VOTE VOTE

12-9 at the Village Fire House

As if we did not have enough candidates

Who am I voting for?

This year's village elections are so interesting that it seems like half the letters in this week's paper were from out of town.  It's not an easy choice, and I haven't actually made it yet, because I don't like closing my mind off to the possibilities.  Voting is an art perfected by procrastination - you never know what may change someone's mind.

I like to ask questions which are unorthodox, because they provide a lot of insight.  Like whether or not you'd be willing to wear a top hat if elected mayor, or whether you support a village militia.  Questions like that tell me a lot about how a candidate views the job, or views the village.  I know that I've only got one vote, but we all know how important one vote is in the Village of New Paltz, don't we?

I know that the clever voters are only voting for one four-year trustee spot, because they don't want their votes to counteract each other.  I can't tell you which pairs of candidates would cause that to happen, but there are plenty of people closer to the pulse of the voters than I.

More and more I am finding that I trust candidates who have lived in New Paltz for more than twenty minutes (that's Dener minutes, each one equals a year).  I don't care if the candidate's family hauled stones for Jean Hasbrouck, though; just because you're related to history doesn't mean that you have any knowledge or appreciation of it.

My bias towards age is in part fueled by two subpar trustees which we've elected in the past ten years.  We've also had plenty of terrible trustees and mayors who were much older, so I don't completely trust my gut on this one.  At least one young candidate strikes me as being completely unaware about village concerns and issues.  Another seems quite the opposite.

I'd like to see the residency requirements monitored and enforced more aggressively.  There's no reason for rumor or expectation of trustees not living in the village; we need a rule that can be tracked and verified so the situation can be dealt with.  I'd like to add to that an attendance requirement.  I don't care if the village board meets twice a year or 200, but trustees should be attendance for the vast majority of the time.

At the Chamber of Commerce forum I came to realize that village politics do not have to be dominated by people with engaging public speaking skills.  This is a small town, so if we choose, we can elect someone who is shy, or suffers from stage fright, or whose reflective personality doesn't lend itself to quick, off-the-cuff answers.  We also don't have to vote for one person because it will improve the chances of someone else being elected.  No, we can actually choose to vote for the people that will put the best foot of New Paltz forward.

Sorry I don't have any endorsements, or even decisions, quite yet.  Elections are just too important to rush.

My Picks in the Village Election

For mayor, I'll be voting for Jason West and for the 4-yr trustee seat I'll be voting for Ariana Basco.

kt tobin

(I think Terence is still undecided, not sure if we will be hearing his picks anytime soon.)