Showing posts with label earla van kleeck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label earla van kleeck. Show all posts
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Town of Olive Republican Fundraiser 9-26 II
About 75 people attended the Town of Olive Republican fundraiser today throughout the day. It went from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. We served barbecued hamburgers, hotdogs and there were brownies, cakes and desserts. Mrs. Barringer made excellent baked beans. You haven't lived until you've had her baked beans. Top: Donnie Van Buren, candidate for Town Council. Second from top Earla van Kleeck, candidate for Town Justice. Second from bottom, Vince (Dutch) Barringer, candidate for Town Supervisor. Bottom: I was on garbage detail as per Don van Kleeck's instructions.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Town of Olive Conservative Caucus Nominates Vince Barringer
I attended the Town of Olive Conservative Caucus last night in the Town of Olive Justice Court on Bostock Road. The most remarkable thing about that building is that the men's rooms have two wooden doors. You open the rickety wooden door to the men's room and there's a small ante-room and then you open a second rickety wooden door.
The Town of Olive has a split personality. The Conservative Party has about 85 members and gets about 10 percent of the popular vote in the town. But the town is no longer Republican as it once was. In the late 1980s, I am told, the Republican majority became Democratic as immigrants from New York City, owners of weekend houses, rock stars (no kidding) and other Democrats moved to Olive. Thus, there is a split personality, with a large chunk of the population descendants or long time residents and a large chunk consumers of granola and yogurt. As in New York City, many of the Republicans are left of the Democrats, but the Conservatives can play a decisive role. The candidates need to seem conservative on fiscal issues but liberal on environmental and lifestyle issues. There is a healthy competition for the Conservative Party nod because of the area's split personality.
All of the town's incumbents are Democrats. The Democrats enjoy roughly a ten percent lead in enrollment. The Democratic town supervisor, Berndt Leifeld, has been supervisor since 1988, according to the Olive Press. Timothy Cox, an attorney with the Catskill Watershed Commission and a former Republican, is running for town justice. Bruce Lamonda (who I know from the Emerson Inn and Spa's workout room) and Linda Burkhardt are running for town council and Jim Fugel, who turned down a cross-nomination from the Republicans, is running for highway supervisor. Running unopposed is Sylvia Rozzelle for town clerk. The Democratic candidates are all worthy. However, Republican challenger Vince Barringer makes an excellent point: Leifeld has been serving for over 20 years and is the highest paid town supervisor in Ulster County and among the highest paid in the State. This is excessive given that the Town of Olive is a small town, with less than 4,000 residents.
The Conservatives gave the nod to most of the Republicans, and this was a positive step as their support was not given. Barringer got the Conservative Party nod for town supervisor. Two charming and capable Republicans, both excellent candidates, Don van Buren and Craig Grazier, got the nod for town board. But the compassionate and insightful Earla van Kleeck was nudged out by Tim Cox. Van Kleeck is a good candidate and has an excellent shot at town justice. The Republican candidate for highway supervisor, Chet Scofield, was unable to attend the caucus and was nudged out by Democratic incumbent Fugel.
The candidates spoke to about 20 Conservatives and roughly an equal number of observers, of whom I was one. One of the interesting phenomena of a small town is that the politics are a little less subtle than in Albany or New York City. Two of the Democratic candidates' children are enrolled Conservatives and one of these began to aggressively disrupt and argue when the Republican candidate for town supervisor, Vince Barringer, was speaking. Nevertheless, I thought the Conservative caucus meeting was very well run and the outcome overall is positive for the Republican cause.
The Town of Olive has a split personality. The Conservative Party has about 85 members and gets about 10 percent of the popular vote in the town. But the town is no longer Republican as it once was. In the late 1980s, I am told, the Republican majority became Democratic as immigrants from New York City, owners of weekend houses, rock stars (no kidding) and other Democrats moved to Olive. Thus, there is a split personality, with a large chunk of the population descendants or long time residents and a large chunk consumers of granola and yogurt. As in New York City, many of the Republicans are left of the Democrats, but the Conservatives can play a decisive role. The candidates need to seem conservative on fiscal issues but liberal on environmental and lifestyle issues. There is a healthy competition for the Conservative Party nod because of the area's split personality.
All of the town's incumbents are Democrats. The Democrats enjoy roughly a ten percent lead in enrollment. The Democratic town supervisor, Berndt Leifeld, has been supervisor since 1988, according to the Olive Press. Timothy Cox, an attorney with the Catskill Watershed Commission and a former Republican, is running for town justice. Bruce Lamonda (who I know from the Emerson Inn and Spa's workout room) and Linda Burkhardt are running for town council and Jim Fugel, who turned down a cross-nomination from the Republicans, is running for highway supervisor. Running unopposed is Sylvia Rozzelle for town clerk. The Democratic candidates are all worthy. However, Republican challenger Vince Barringer makes an excellent point: Leifeld has been serving for over 20 years and is the highest paid town supervisor in Ulster County and among the highest paid in the State. This is excessive given that the Town of Olive is a small town, with less than 4,000 residents.
The Conservatives gave the nod to most of the Republicans, and this was a positive step as their support was not given. Barringer got the Conservative Party nod for town supervisor. Two charming and capable Republicans, both excellent candidates, Don van Buren and Craig Grazier, got the nod for town board. But the compassionate and insightful Earla van Kleeck was nudged out by Tim Cox. Van Kleeck is a good candidate and has an excellent shot at town justice. The Republican candidate for highway supervisor, Chet Scofield, was unable to attend the caucus and was nudged out by Democratic incumbent Fugel.
The candidates spoke to about 20 Conservatives and roughly an equal number of observers, of whom I was one. One of the interesting phenomena of a small town is that the politics are a little less subtle than in Albany or New York City. Two of the Democratic candidates' children are enrolled Conservatives and one of these began to aggressively disrupt and argue when the Republican candidate for town supervisor, Vince Barringer, was speaking. Nevertheless, I thought the Conservative caucus meeting was very well run and the outcome overall is positive for the Republican cause.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Town of Olive Republican Caucus
I attended the Town of Olive Republican caucus yesterday, the purpose of which was to nominate candidates for Town office. I do not know if this is a national trend, but the meeting was very well attended. There were 70 to 100 people there compared to a usual turnout at committee meetings of ten or fewer.
The issue at hand was whether the Republicans would nominate an incumbent Democrat, Berndt Leifeld, for Town Supervisor on the Republican ticket (Leifeld already runs on the Democratic ticket). Another Democrat also sought the nomination, I suspect as a matter of opposing Leifeld. He had threatened to seek the Republican nomination also unless the nominations were limited to existing Republicans.
This is a kind of paradox. It seems to me that the interest in the Republicans was largely stimulated by a conflict among the Democrats. Someone did say that he had attended because of his concerns about the big government trend in national politics. I am not certain how far that sentiment goes and I am not certain how far the attendance simply reflected interest in the possible conflict between the two Democrats. I think many of the attendees may have been Democrats, but I'm not positive.
In any case voting was closed to Democrats, that is, only Republicans voted, and it seemed to me that about 30 or 40 people voted, which is still a good turnout. Pete Freidel, currently a Town board member, won the nomination for Town Supervisor. As well, the Republicans nominated a full slate of candidates for Town Justice (I recall it was Earla van Kleeck who was nominated), as well as Cindy Johanssen for Town Clerk and the Republican Chair, Chet Scofield, for Highway Supervisor and Don van Buren was nominated as well.
Nina Postupack, the County Clerk, spoke to the meeting. She has done an excellent job at the County level and is one of the highest ranking elected Republicans in Ulster County.
The issue at hand was whether the Republicans would nominate an incumbent Democrat, Berndt Leifeld, for Town Supervisor on the Republican ticket (Leifeld already runs on the Democratic ticket). Another Democrat also sought the nomination, I suspect as a matter of opposing Leifeld. He had threatened to seek the Republican nomination also unless the nominations were limited to existing Republicans.
This is a kind of paradox. It seems to me that the interest in the Republicans was largely stimulated by a conflict among the Democrats. Someone did say that he had attended because of his concerns about the big government trend in national politics. I am not certain how far that sentiment goes and I am not certain how far the attendance simply reflected interest in the possible conflict between the two Democrats. I think many of the attendees may have been Democrats, but I'm not positive.
In any case voting was closed to Democrats, that is, only Republicans voted, and it seemed to me that about 30 or 40 people voted, which is still a good turnout. Pete Freidel, currently a Town board member, won the nomination for Town Supervisor. As well, the Republicans nominated a full slate of candidates for Town Justice (I recall it was Earla van Kleeck who was nominated), as well as Cindy Johanssen for Town Clerk and the Republican Chair, Chet Scofield, for Highway Supervisor and Don van Buren was nominated as well.
Nina Postupack, the County Clerk, spoke to the meeting. She has done an excellent job at the County level and is one of the highest ranking elected Republicans in Ulster County.
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