It’s Official! The 2011 Political Season has begun. Ulster County Democrats and Republicans have held their respective conventions and have endorsed candidates for County Wide and Legislative District elections to be held November 8, 2011. The Ulster County Democratic Committee has endorsed Michael Hein for re-election to the position of County Executive and Jonathan Sennat for Ulster County District Attorney. The Ulster County Republican Committee has endorsed “NO ONE“ for the position of County Executive, leaving many county residents without a choice in only the second election since the County Charter and the position of Executive have been on the ballot. D. Holley Carnright is up for re-election to the position of District Attorney.
For the County Legislature down to 23 Districts:
Of the two Legislative races effecting the Town of Ulster, Districts 3 & 4, Ulster County Democrats have endorsed newcomer Mark Trott and the Ulster County Republicans have endorsed James Maloney as the legislative candidates for newly drawn district 4 covering the Town of Kingston and a large portion of the Town of Ulster. In District 3, covering the remainder of the Town of Ulster and a portion of the Town of Saugerties, incumbent Republican legislator Dean Fabiano will run unopposed.
For the Town of Ulster:
All is relatively quite. No caucus by either the Town Democrats or Town Republicans have been announced. Up for grabs in November is the Supervisors position held by Jim Quigley (2 year term), Council seats held by Joel Brink and Eric Kitchen (4 year terms each), Town Clerk Jason Cosenza (4 year term), Town Justice Marsha Weiss (4 year term) and Highway Superintendent Frank Petramale (4 year term). Although it is still early for these local races, no challenges have been announced as of the writing of this Post.
If you are a registered voter enrolled as a member of any political party, expect a knock on the door from a loyal supporter of the above candidates or perhaps the candidate himself asking you to sign a nominating petition on his or her behalf to complete the process to appear as a candidate on the ballot on November 8, 2011.
Ulster is your Town Too will be posting more often as local election news breaks.
I can't believe the UC GOP has no candidate to oppose Hein, that's what happens when you castrate your legislators, not one of them would go up against Hein on the issues for thepast 2 years, we might as well have had a Democrat Majority!
ReplyDeleteIn addition, the real shame of it all is that the Repubulican taxpayers not only havbe no voice, they have No Choice!
ReplyDeleteHein won't be around long, he's gonna run for Hinchey's seat as soon as hinchey resigns, which can't be soon enough.
ReplyDeleteI guess Nicky Boy wont be back to challenge Quigley in a rematch, I hear he's been courting the idea of Alderman in kington, all i can say is good luck, tough break for Kigstonians though.
ReplyDeleteI do't think the Town Dems will put a candidate up against Quigley, after all, financially speaking the town is in much better shape and after the condition it was in at the start of Quigley's Administration, that's saying sonething.
ReplyDeleteThe things that concern me however, the police Dept is still far too bloated, we need reduce the cost of law enforcement overall. Also there must be some real cost reductions in the cost of public workers, pay pkgs are far too complicated and pensions and healthcare must include employee contribution increases. 401k's should be the future for all public employees, these guaranteed retirement accounts are bankrupting the town, county, state and nation.
Wake up it's a new era, not as cushy as the last but our kids will be the sacrifice or the salvation of whatever we do today.
So, who is runnng against Kitchen & Brink, I heard somewhee that Brian Cahill is giving it some thought, what about Screto did he finally get the hint?
ReplyDelete9:31 Do you really think Quigley or any other supervisor has the balls to take on the UPD?
ReplyDeleteOr the Unions for that matter.
Berardi & Cahill would be better than Kitchen and Brink.
ReplyDeleteIf Quigley does his job properly, there is no need to "take on" anyone or any group. If he can successfully negotiate contracts without a big fight, that is the best solution.
ReplyDeleteBerardi Yes, Cahill, give me a break, he showed us what he's all about while running for the legislature, he's a joke, he certainly isn't his brother that's for sure, so what's up does he need a cushy job with free medical,(free ride county and town politics on the taxpayer's dime), enough already, Brian... It's time to 'go quietly into that good night', you'll have plenty of company, Nick Woerner will be waiting with open arms! (like he has a shot at alderman in Kingston), Nick it looks like you moved for nothing, will mommy have you back?
ReplyDelete5:14, Well said.
ReplyDeleteBrian Cahill should get back behind Kevin's shadow - and stay there this time!
Berardi should take on (take out?) Dean Fabiano. Fabiano just inherited nearly half of the ToU, and doesn't give a rats ass about us "Southerners." Besides, he's just marking time (and adding to his pension) for Saugerties Highway Supt.
I'm going to write in Berardi for legislature if he won't run, because he actually knows the issues and the PEOPLE of District 3, shit he's related to most of them anyway! Hey Paisan!!!
Brink... just let him die in office - we'll put him in an earlier grave by NOT re-electing him, and I don't want that on my conscience.
Kitchen... what can you say, he's a good water carrier, but seriously Eric is about as mentally challenged by being a town coucilman as he can handle. He can stay, but don't even think about higher office!
Mike Berardi for legislator, go go go......
ReplyDeleteDean is a Saugerties loyalist, well as far as his meal ticket is concerned, he's mostly a no show at meetings and his voting record is consistant. but he will be hard pressed to represent the part of his disrtict that is T of U, and we need better representation, Maloney is on the ball but spread thin and Wadnola did what was asked of him, We'll see
A friend of ours just sold a home that had been in the family for some time, while they did better than they had anticipated, (they got offered just below what they had asked) which made them very happy, they would have preferred to keep the home for their children but the tax burden and utility bills had just gotten too damn high.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that real estate values in the T of U have stayed fairly stable in the face of a national housing crisis speaks volumes for our town and indeed our area, (the Husdson Valley), a big part of this is the fact that the Town of Ulster has become a more attractive place to lisve since Woerner was defeated.
hey 3:58 "fact that the town of ulster has become a more attractive place to live since woerner was defeated". Im no woerner fan. But that is a stupid statement.
ReplyDelete7:20 Talk about taking something out of context, if Woerner had his way he would have turned the UPD into a million dollar a year expense, he would have had to raise taxes sort of like the way he left the town after he was defeated, he used the tax base like a campaign tool. All I'm say'n is that had he won again, spending would have increased 'again' and the household tax base would have had yet another double digit levy, with him gone, spending is down taxes are under control residents can afford to keep their homes the town is a better place.
ReplyDeleteIf you can't see that you cant see crap!
532 your partially right and 720's partially right.talk about the police departmnets budget.check out the highway departments budget.its more then the police ,, how can that be. it only works 5days a week 8 hours a day. oh yea, i forgot.. it run by a republican !! nobody ever says anything about that. can we say good ole boys.
ReplyDeleteI think that was a trend begun under Woerner as well,
ReplyDeleteTo those who want to disparage Cahill.
ReplyDeleteHe has a very good job at IBM and has for a long time, he doesn't need health insurance or a cushy job from anyone.
He was a very good legislator, much more active, effective and harder working than Maloney or Wadnola ever were.
Brian is not Kevin, never pretended to be or tried to take credit for his work or anything like that. It sounds like you need to talk to people who actually know him and have worked with him.
If he runs, at least I have one vote for a person who I know will work hard, pay attention and do the right thing.
You can not believe everything you hear in campaign headquarters, there is a lot of BS flying around there.
Anyone who would choose Kitchen or Brink over Cahill is making a huge mistake for the Town of Ulster's future. Berardi will kick Dean's butt in that district. We need someone who will speak up for Ulster since Maloney does not.
ReplyDeleteWoerner deserves credit for running the town finances into the ground. Quigley deserves credit for stabilizing the town books.
ReplyDeleteNeither deserves credit or blame for anything related to housing prices.
Kitchen is a dunce and Brink is too far past his prime. We need replacements for them. Personally, I have no problem with Berardi or Cahill. Secreto is the one I worry about coming back. He is far too political in his activities.
8:18/11:15 Have you seen the infrastructure in this town, ala 1960 something? No shit, we spend more money on Highway... As well we should, it lends to our overall quality of life and improves/replaces existing, aged infrastructure. A new Blaw Knox paver cost a LOT more than a police car.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, we STILL have a LONG way to go with reducing the PD budget. I fondly recall the time when the ToU had nothing more than a Constable. Literally pennies on the dollar compared to where we are now.
Cahill might be ok for the city of kingston, but for the Town of Ulster I'll take the creature from the black lagoon, hey I'd take the creature over brink and even kitchen as well. just promise me that under all that alime and algae you wont find Secreto lurking, he's the jerk that would screw this town up just as bad as woerner did! 2 years aint that long ago, lest we forget!
ReplyDelete6:22 You fondly recall when the town had nothing more then a constable ? Well good for you. I remember watching andy griffith on tv too. What the heck are you saying, lets go back to a constable. You're nuts, you must be a republican.
ReplyDeletesince I worked in one of the county departments that Brian Cahill was part of the committee of a few years back, I had first hand experience working with him. I went to lots of meetings and I know first hand which legislators worked and which ones did not. Brian was one of the best one's I saw in my over 25 years. He was smart, interested, sincere and he always followed through.
ReplyDeleteI would love for Brian to run for town board. He was a very good legislator and would probably still be there if not for Nick Woerner and the hatred for what he did to Ulster. I asked around to some people who I thought would know to see if he is running. I was told he is taking a break from politics and is not running for anything. I am sorry to hear that.
For you naysayers out there, you really sound disconnected from reality when you talk bad about people like Brian. You obviously have no idea how to tell the good ones from the bad ones.
7:54, The old constable system worked pretty well, as did the sheriff's patrol which consisted of two cars back in the day. Everything else was handled by the State Police Period.
ReplyDeleteNowadays you can't throw a stick in this town without hitting a cop car... lets see: NYSP, UC Sheriff, Ulster town, Saugerties town & Kingston City Cops, NYS DEC Cops, NYC DEP Cops and last but not least NYS Forest Rangers.
The only ones worth their salt are the Troopers.
YOU have NO CLUE !! 4:45 NO CLUE
ReplyDeleteNice article in the Freeman yesterday. It looks like Berardi is letting everyone know that the Democrats that were here before Woerner were screwed by some underhanded stuff by Woerner and Co. Of course Woerner says he was the savior which I think is the opposite of what happened. Changing petitions and adding one's family and friends, withholding legitimate petitions from committeemen and ignoring requests to have petitions delivered is pretty despicable stuff. It is not the way to build a political party for the long term.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it was those very Democrats that were screwed who laid the groundwork for Woerner to come in and win? The same Democrats who worked their asses off to build the party, went over and helped Quigley. Why would they do that if Woerner was so great? Donaldson was right when he called him a liar because that is what Nickie Woerner is, a liar.
Woerner hurt a lot of innocent people on his selfish venture into the Town of Ulster. Funny thing, he left as quickly as he arrived didn't he? Kingston's loss is Ulster's gain.
The sooner he comes to terms with his mistakes, the better off he will be. He needs to man up, accept his role in the demise of the Town Democrats and the damage he did to the Town of Ulster finances. He is not much of a man to walk around and deny what is factual and everyone else is seeing. Ginsberg is a fool to have him working there. He is persona non grata in most places, and rightfully so.
Good luck to Berardi getting any of them back, Woerner poisoned the well for a very long time.
Berardi would be a better fit at the county legislative level, he is the least partisan of anyone I'be ever met in the county.
ReplyDelete1:11 I agree with you completely, but unfortunately Berardi is exactly what the partisan players (Republican or Democrat) DON'T WANT. Berardi isn't willing to play ball for his own advancement. As a result, he is ostracized from both sides.
ReplyDeleteI WILL write in BERARDI for L.D. 3, and so should you!!!!
with such a rise in non enrolled voters, I refuse to call them independents as party affiliation is fast becoming a non-starter, voters are begining to vote fiscally rather tha socially, maybe we'll finally get it, social issues are better left up to the individual states, the federal government screwed up politically correct is no longer in vogue.
ReplyDeleteWith all this in mind, Berardi could be the perfect fit for District 3 Residents.
Whoever said that woerner screwed up the dem party could not be more on the money! that jerk screwed up everything he touched now he wants to screw up Kingston too! REALITY CHECK!
ReplyDeleteI can see where the town board could use some thinkers after last nights fiasco. I am calling Cahill and asking him to reconsider. They seemed reactionary, confused and political. That is no way to run a town board.
ReplyDelete