COLONIE — Democrats are poised to pick Jessica Mahar as its third Town Board candidate at tonight’s committee meeting.
The party will utilize the Committee to Fill Vacancies to replace David Green, who last week resigned his spot on the Town Board to accept an appointment as a town judge. He was going to run for a third term on the board, but will instead run for a full term on the bench. The vacancy on the bench was created when longtime Judge Peter Crummey resigned to run for supervisor.
Mahar is a New York policy and strategy director for the Nature Conservancy, an environmental organization founded in 1951 that has more than two million members. She serviced on the town’s Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee and also serves on the boards of directors for the Albany Pine Bush Commission and the Capital Region League of Conservation Voters.
Mahar will join incumbent Melissa Jeffers, who is seeking a second, four-year term, and newcomer Alvin Gamble for the three open seats on the board. Mahar and Gamble will have the Working Families Party line but Jeffers will not, she will run instead with the Conservative Party endorsement.
Republicans are running three newcomers: Antonio Boncordo, Jeffrey Madden and Alexandra Velella. They will also have the Conservative Party line.
Democrats picked Kelly Mateja to replace Supervisor Paula Mahan, who is retiring at the end of this year after 14 years in office. She will run with the WFP line and Crummey will have the Conservative Party’s.
There are three incumbents on the Town Board who are not up for election this year: Democrat Jill Penn and Republicans Rick Field and Danielle Futia so who controls the town is very much up to voters this November.
