Woodstock Democratic Committee Election

This article appeared in the Townsman, August 7 2008 edition

Woodstock, August 4, 2008

With the required petitions filed with the Ulster County Board of Elections it appears there will be contests for seats on the Woodstock Democratic Committee in some of the nine election districts in Woodstock to be settled by a Democratic primary to be held this coming September 9. Each election district will be represented on the committee by two members.

Ulster County legislator Brian Shapiro and Marcia Panza, both incumbent members of the committee, are running unopposed in District 1. In District 2 incumbent Jeff Moran, who is also serving his first term as Woodstock town supervisor, is also running unopposed with former Woodstock town board member Bill McKenna. Councilwoman Liz Simonson, current District 2 representative, did not petition for another two-year term. Long time committee member and former commissioner of the Ulster County Board of Elections Harry Castiglione is running unopposed with Cathy Magarelli to represent District 7. Magarelli has served as the committee's treasurer. In District 8 incumbents Rennie Cantine and former Woodstock councilman Gordon Wemp are also unopposed. Cantine was instrumental in arranging the many open air music concerts in town, and Wemp currently serves on the Woodstock Recreation Commission.

Incumbents Tom Ocker and Ralph Goneau will face off against Mike Veitch and Jane Valand in District 3. Veitch, a loser in the 2003 election for the Woodstock town board, prevailed in a race for the Democratic Committee in 2004 only to be soundly defeated for re-election in 2006. Many remember him for his participation in the "bounding ballot box" episode during the highly controversial 2005 Woodstock Democratic caucus in the Bearsville Theatre. Valand is a new comer to the local political scene.

District 4 Democrats will see a race between former town board member and incumbent committee member Steve Knight and running mate Thurman Greco against David Lewis and Adam Pollack. Greco is noted for her individual effort to raise funds for the committee to cover the rent for the committee's use of the Catskill Center for Photography's facility in Woodstock for meetings. She also serves on the Get Out The Vote committee. Lewis, currently serving on the Woodstock Environmental Commission, in 2005 and 2007 went for the Democratic nod for town supervisor, coming up short in both attempts. Pollack recently came up short in his bid for a seat on the Onteora school board.

Woodstock Councilwoman Terrie Rosenblum, current chair of the Woodstock Democratic Committee, is running with David Gross against the husband-wife team of councilman Chris Collins and incumbent committee member Sheila Eisenberg in District 5. Gross, a current member of the Woodstock Environmental Commission was recently appointed to a county legislature committee to help formulate a 'bigger, better bottle bill,' a law to require deposits on more types of bottled beverages, including bottled water, that will be proposed to the New York State legislature. Eisenberg is a former journalist.

The race in District 6 between incumbents Fran Breitkopf and David Corbett versus husband and wife team Linda and Ulster County legislator Don Gregorius could have implications. In 2011 representation to the Ulster County Legislature will be changed from its present configuration of multiple representatives from the same district to so-called single member districting. Woodstock, instead of being represented by two elected officials, currently Brian Shapiro and Don Gregorius, will be represented by one. Were Shapiro and Gregorius both to be elected to the committee the jockeying could become interesting.

District 9 promises a clash of the Titans, with proven vote getter, incumbent committee member and former Ulster County legislator Sam Magarelli teamed with Sasha Gillman squaring off against equally successful vote getters and incumbent committee members, former councilwoman Tobie Heilbrunn and councilman Jay Wenk. It is not yet known whether Wenk will be financially supported by the Committee For Woodstock's Future, the shadowy group that has raised and dispersed moneys last year for Wenk's and other local political races while not registering with either the state or county boards of election. A question to Wenk regarding this has so far gone unanswered.

The September 9 primary will be conducted at voters' usual polling places between the hours of 12:00 noon to 9:00 PM. It is expected that the familiar voting machines will still be in use.

"I'm concerned that because the Woodstock Democratic Committee races are the only thing on the ballot that Democrats might fail to participate," said chairwoman Rosenblum. "But it will be an important race for the local Democratic Party. Any Democrat who attended the 2005 fiasco and last year's well-organized and fair Democratic caucus knows the difference that a good committee can make."