One week after the town’s Republican party announced its candidates for the upcoming 2015 elections, the Democratic party did the same, but the backing for some county legislature seats will have to wait.
The endorsements announcement was made at a Bethlehem Democratic Committee meeting on Thursday, April 23, at the Bethlehem Public Library. Although the endorsement for some Bethlehem representatives had to wait, selections were made for all six upcoming town races.
“We appreciate everyone’s interest,” said Democratic Committee Chairman Jeffrey Kuhn, emphasizing this year’s strong slate of candidates.
Only one person stepped forward to be interviewed by the party’s Executive Committee for each position in a majority of the races. John Clarkson was selected to run for a third term as supervisor.
“I’m very proud of the record we’re established, and by we I mean myself, the town board, the Democratic party, and in a larger sense, the whole town,” said Clarkson, emphasizing his beliefs that residents want sound fiscal management to prepare for emergencies and make town improvements.
Clarkson and the town board have been criticized in the past year for the handling of the town-wide reassessment, mostly by large landowners who felt comparable land was not found in order to make appropriate property assessment adjustments. Other criticisms include changes to scheduling policy at the Police Department, and last year’s conservation easements law.
“We have a winning formula. That’s not to say we never run into controversy, but if we never did that and never took a stand, we would not be doing our job.”
Nanci Moquin was backed for a fourth term as town clerk, and Brent Meredith for a second term as superintendent of highways. Newcomer Alicia Rooney was also backed for Receiver of Taxes after she worked with Moquin to send out this year’s tax bills when Nancy Mendeck retired last year.
Both Moquin and Meredith thanked the committee for their endorsements. Meredith said he plans to continue work on efficiencies within the department, but he too faced criticisms on the length of time it took for leaves to be picked up and snow removal. The town’s GOP has yet to name its highway superintendent candidate.
For the town board, four people were interviewed. However, endorsements went to incumbent Joann Dawson and another newcomer, David VanLuven.
“I decided to run because when I look at Bethlehem, I see a great quality of life and services,” said VanLuven. “But we can’t just sit and expect that forever. We have a constantly changing economy, and social environment. We need to adjust and adapt what we do to continue in a way sensitive to our budget restrictions, and resident’s ability to pay taxes in order to look to the future.”
VanLuven, an ecologist, is principal at VanLuven Environmental, an environmental consulting firm. He has worked on the town’s Comprehensive Plan Assessment Committee and the Open Space Technical Advisory Group. He became a Democratic Committee member about three years ago during the Reform Democrat movement. His main goals are smart economic growth, updating the town’s water and sewer infrastructure, and implementing energy efficiency.
Endorsements for county legislative districts have been postponed, after new maps were accepted as a result of ongoing litigation concerning the Voting Rights Act. Kuhn has formerly announced he would not be seeking re-election to the town board to run for the county legislature in the 34th election district, but the new maps accepted in federal court drew Kuhn out of his district. Kuhn said he would not primary against incumbent Charlie Dawson.
Bill Reinhardt also previously announced his intention to run for the county legislature, but would not be stepping down from his town board seat until after the election. He has not been drawn out of district, and if he is successful in his bid, would leave an open town board seat. It would then be possible for other town board members to appoint Kuhn to the seat if they wish.
The Albany County Legislature still has to vote on the new maps for them to be officially accepted. The Democratic Committee will be re-interviewing candidates for the 33, 34, 35, 36 and 38 election districts, before announcing their endorsements on May 7.
Since the new lines could also effect committee districts within the town, and potentially where resident’s vote, the committee said members may start a public awareness campaign for the upcoming election season.
