Another hat in Greenburgh’s political ring
The competition for elected office in Greenburgh continues to grow.
Valhalla school board member Judith Beville announced today that she will try to unseat Alfreda Williams, who has been town Clerk since 1993.
According to her press release, Beville is a former regional director with the New York State Mentoring Program who is going for her second master’s degree at Mercy College. She lives in the Parkway Homes/Parkway Gardens neighborhood.
Beville joins a growing number of people trying to boot Greenburgh incumbents: retired Greenburgh cop Kevin Morgan and Greenburgh PTA officer Sonja Brown are trying to unseat Town Board members Eddie Mae Barnes and Steve Bass. Democratic Town Committee chairwoman Suzanne Berger and 2005 Town Supervisor candidate Bill Greenawalt are duking it out to see who will oppose Town Supervisor Paul Feiner in the Democratic primary.
Berger and Greenawalt, as I previously posted, are vying for the party’s designation. Technically, so is Feiner, but the chances of him being named the party’s candidate of choice are slim to none, considering the Democratic committee backed Greenawalt two years ago and the party’s executive committee is backing Berger now.
FOLLOW-UP: Thanks for pointing out the error, Bob. A tired reporter trying to do 8 things on a Friday afternoon sometimes slips up.
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Ms. Baker still can’t seem to get her facts straight on anything she reports about Greenburgh, but this blog entry really takes the cake.
The name of the Democratic Town Committee chair who is running for town supervisor in Greenburgh is not Allegra Dengler—it’s Suzanne Berger.
Ms. Berger got the party’s executive committee backing last month and may well get the town committee’s full endorsement at its convention on Thursday May 24.
Ms. Dengler, on the other hand, was Feiner’s unsuccessful town board running mate two years ago. She was never backed by the party’s executive committee and came in dead last in the town’s Democratic primary two years ago. Ms. Dengler also ran in last year’s Democratic primary for the position of state committeewoman and lost that contest as well.
Once the town committee’s endorsements become known on May 24, Feiner will announce that he’s running his own slate in the town’s Democratic Primary with Beville as town clerk, and Morgan and Brown, running for the town council spots.
A Feiner slate with Beville, Brown and Morgan?
Beville, a member of the Valhalla School Board, is no doubt angry that the town board refused to honor the agreement Feiner made to give away $6.5 million of town money to the Valhalla School District supposedly to compensate the district for a homeless shelter—an agreement the state comptroller found to be illegal.
Brown, the so-called “Greenburgh PTA officer,” is no doubt angry that the town board rejected her demand last fall that the town pay her $30,000 this summer to run an “SAT camp” for which she planned to enroll underprivileged kids in a Princeton Review course.
And Morgan, the former police officer who ran unsuccesfully with Feiner the last time, is no doubt angry that the town board didn’t support the Greenburgh cop who was accused by Chief Kapica of violating police procedures in connection with the well-publicized dominatrix case.
That’s a slate built on anger and resentment. No “dream team” there.
Feiner’s time has come and gone…he has antagonized
his own Town Board Members and has engaged in a
development spree that has literally compromised the
livibility of many areas of the town both incorporated
and unicorporated areas..He has a political police
chief who when Paul says jump he says “how high”
and that has got to change, because the chief
no longer has the suport of his own department
Suzanne Berger will do a good job, be a fair
administrator and will attempt to be a conciliator
rather than an instigator
Supervisor Paul Feiner will be re-elected because of the outstanding job that he has done for Greenburgh, as both a County Board Legislator and as Town Supervisor. Feiner’s innovative ideas, hard work, and honesty are hallmarks of a marvelous public career. The quality of life, the financial stability of the Town and the services are second to none in Greenburgh. I am sure that in this election cycle, anyone running with Supervisor Feiner will be swept into office. The last minute slams and lies promulgated by his opponents in 2005, regarding “Choice” and “The Tappen Zee Bridge” will not fly with the voters this time around. Please note the ruling by the Westchester County fair Campaign Practice Board. By the way, the lawyer defending these “slammers” was Suzanne Berger!
Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee
c/o League of Women Voters of Westchester
Room 12B, 200 Hamilton Avenue, White Plains, NY 10601
(914) 949-0507 / fax: (914) 997-9354
__
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 4, 2005CONTACT:Stephanie Sarnoff, Chair
276-0760 day
722-1304
The Westchester Fair Campaign Practices Committee (FCPC) met on September 29, 2005 to hear post-election complaints filed by Kevin Morgan and Allegra Dengler against Francis Sheehan and Diana Juettner, all having been Democratic candidates in the September 13th primary election for two open seats on the Greenburgh Town Council. The complaints stemmed from alleged misrepresentations in the campaign literature distributed by Mr. Sheehan and Ms. Juettner.
COMPLAINT:
Mr. Morgan and Mrs. Dengler complain that their positions on Choice were falsely described in the literature distributed by Mr. Sheehan and Mrs. Juettner.
FINDING: UNFAIR
While the Committee is not in a position to decide the definition of “pro choice,� there is no evidence that Mr. Morgan said that he favors restrictions on a woman’s right to choose. The inference that Ms. Dengler is not “100% Pro-Choice� is based solely on a private conversation and not backed by other evidence.
COMPLAINT:
Mr. Morgan and Mrs. Dengler complain that their positions on Indian Point were falsely described in the literature distributed by Mr. Sheehan and Mrs. Juettner.
FINDING: NO FINDING
The allegations made in the campaign literature fall within the realm of normal political discourse.
COMPLAINT:
Mr. Morgan and Mrs. Dengler complain that Mr. Sheehan and Mrs. Juettner’s campaign literature is false when stating: “As a Planning Board member he (Mr. Morgan) initiated the vote to waive a public hearing on a final subdivision and voted to allow the subdivision. His company then purchased the land he voted to subdivide, and is now developing it.�
FINDING: UNFAIR
The statement is misleading because the implication is that he had an interest or knew he was going to acquire an interest in the subdivision at the time he was voting on the issue, when in fact he did not acquire the property until a year later when it came on the market.
Of course with out this tactic, Sheehan and Juettner would probably not have won. Their margin of victory was a not much more than a few hundred votes and their tactics tainted the whole vote.
So far over the past two years this disfunctional Board has done everything possible to subvert the role of the Supervisor, who is the elected chief executive of the Town. But the myopic delaying tactics of Sheehann an his cohorts on issues will be unmasked come this September and the Board will revert to the people not the narrow interests of the people who wish to divide Greenburgh into fighting camps.
Garfunkel, who was Feiner’s campaign manager two years ago, did such a good job that Feiner just barely won the Democratic primary against a virtual unknown by a mere 173 votes or 3%.
Garfunkel that year managed a bitter and anger-filled campaign in which he and Feiner blamed his unpopularity not on any shortcomings or mistakes on Feiner’s part, even though there were many, but on a “cabal” he said was hellbent on wrecking Feiner’s “marvelous” career.
And with this latest post, Garfunkel shows he’s lost none of his charm.
Rather than address the issues of the day, he tries to smear Suzanne Berger as the lawyer who had the temerity to defend town council members Sheehan and Juettner against the Feiner camp’s unfair campaign allegations—and essentially throws down the gauntlet by arrogantly predicting that Feiner’s slate this year will win no matter how incompetent, divisive, and unqualified his running mates happen to be.
Garfunkel of course as a long history of engaging in such gutter tactics, doing back to his days in White Plains when he opposed affordable housing there.
Actually, it’s good that Garfunkel reminds of the dispute over whether Morgan was “pro-choice.” While the campaign practices committee found “no evidence” that Morgan favors restrictions on a woman’s right to choose, in fact every Democratic district leader who was present that March 2005 evening for the executive committee interviews heard Morgan say repeatedly that he favored laws requiring parental consent.
Most of us consider those views to be a restriction on a woman’s right to choose. And contrary to the findings of the campaign practices committee, there were multiple affidavits presented to the committee in that proceeding attesting to what Morgan had said.
Of course, I have the guts to leave my name, not like the other contributors who have distorted Paul Feiner’s record and my own. My record as a Democratic district leader, worker and contributor for 38 years, in, and out, of White Plains, can match itself easily against these unknown “poison pens.” But of course, any fair observor over the past five or so years would have been turned off to politics at Town Hall by just witnessing a fraction of the mud slung by the main participants of this locally known “cabal” of haters. Whether they are gravity challenged bombast-bloated legal-beagles, or people who used to do business with the town and were exposed for their rip-offs, or whether they were just power hungry, or whether they pose as representing their neighborhood associations with unlimited hunting and fishing licenses, or whether they are just mindless nit-pickers or bean counters, they all decided to be participants in the “theater of the absurd.” These carping, canabalistic, cabalists must adore their 15 minutes of fame in front of the cable broadcast because they continuallly come back for more and more. Have they enlightened the electorate? No they have driven it away! Have they exposed wide-spread, or even limited corruption? No! Have they opened up government? No! Have they brought reform and fresh air to the public? No! Have they divided Greenburgh? Yes as they have pitted village against the Town and section against section. Have they backed their own selfish interests? Yes! Have they brought down the level of public discourse to the gutter? Yes! Did they pressure the Board from continuing the practice of bringing meetings to different neighborhoods? Yes! And by the way, what are the grand contributions of the present Board? How much legislation has been bottled up and delayed over the past two years?
Did the Fair Campaign Board rule against them? Yes! Did they spread their half-truths and lies in the last moment of the last campaign? Yes! Were their specious claims made against Kevin Morgan on “choice” vociferously denied by the one and only Polly Rothstein? Yes!
For all of you who read this piece, please note the history of the last election cycle. Only 5800 voters out of a Democratic electorate of 28,000 came out to vote in the last primary. Because of this one-party, boss-dominated reality in Greenburgh, most voters were disenfranchised in 2005. Therefore, because in this town, “November Does Not Count” I hope that all of you voters who are regsitered Democrats come out and support Paul Feiner and the excllent candidates, Judy Beville, Sonja Brown, and Kevin Morgan who are challenging to bring real and invigorated leadership to the Board and Town Hall. If you feel that Paul Feiner has been an excellent asset to Greenburgh for the past twenty-five years, then show your support. All of the reforms, the “open government” the financial stability, the prudent management, the concerns for disabled, the reaching out to all communities, the work for unity of the town and the 24/7 non-partisan style and the concern for people have been hallmarks of Paul Feiner’s outstanding career. If this is how you think, and you are pleased with the parkland, the open-space, the conservation efforts, the protection of neighborhoods, the great services, and the transparency of government then continue your support for Paul Feiner. Good government need public participation.
How much can you turn the facts around??? To say that Kevin is pro-choice is redicu
How much can you turn the facts around??? To say that Kevin is not pro choice is a ridiculous comment. I can only think that all of these blog writers do not know Kevin. Let me tell you a few things about Kevin. Even if not elected to the town council, he will still be working to help Greenburgh. Kevin is a family man who has values that the Town of Greenburgh truly needs right now! I for one am voting for Morgan for town council and hope you do the same.
Here’s a strategy that I’d like to throw out there. Since the machine is really heated up to put an end to Feiner’s incumbency. I have an alternative. Feiner should not seek reelection this year.
But, what he should do is declare his intent to seek the NY assembly seat and primary Richard Brodsky. Feiner’s main problem is Brodsky. You have to cut off the head to put an end to the beast otherwise they’ll keep coming after you.
Brodsky is not a liked man in the NY state assembly and for the good that he does do he is arrogant. The governor came into his territory to make that clear and frankly I don’t think he’d be too sad to see Brodsky primaried in 2008. Feiner would make a great opponent to him. Heck, many of his colleagues in the assembly don’t like the guy.
In any case if Feiner loses know that Brodsky had a hand in it.
...and on and on it goes. All those who have reached their level of incompetence, looking to move a little sideways here and a little sideways there.
A town council who wouldn’t recognize important issues if they bit them on the proverbial arse, a Supervisor who has turned Hartsdale into a maddening, shopperless traffic jam and, Oh yes, the lawyers whos only job seems to be producing more and more rhetoric in their attempts to be noticed.
Such a wonderful place it used to be!
Time for new blood!!!
At least you mention the entire town council which is more than the cabal will ever do. They are double standard poli-bashers.
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