BETHLEHEM — Melissa Kermani announced on Tuesday, Nov. 12 that she is stepping down as the Bethlehem Republican Committee Chair, according to Keith Wiggand, the former Vice-Chair who will take over her role.
Wiggand, the Vice-Chair for the last two years, said Kermani had sent out an email announcing her intention to step down to the committee at around 6 p.m. that day and the change was effective immediately.
Spotlight News has reached out to Kermani for comment but did not receive any yet in the time of this publication.
The announcement comes one week after Election Day where Republican Jim Carriero lost to Democrats Dan Coffey and Joyce Becker in the Town Board race. The Highway Superintendent race remains tight though between Democrat Marc Dorsey and Independent/Republican-endorsed John Anastasi; the Albany County Board of Elections will count more than 280 absentee ballots on Tuesday, Nov. 19 which will finalize the vote count.
While Kermani had been Chair for six years, Wiggand said that he had been Chair previously from 1999 to 2003 so his role now is not new to him. “I’m looking forward to it and I will look to make changes in the committee if needed and the biggest issue we have going on is to just reorganize and make the committee stronger and tighter, and looking forward, not backward,” he said. “The number one thing is having the team concept where you have to run as a team. If you don’t, you’ve got several people running individual campaigns which I think was the issue this year.”
He also said that Kermani “still remains as a Bethlehem Republican Committee member who’s very valued.”
Spotlight News will follow this developing story and update it as more information comes out.
