Reproduced with permission of The Journal News.
Democrats' 2nd petition irks leader
Unendorsed name in Greenburgh race riles party chairman
Robert Marchant
The Journal News
GREENBURGH - Democrats in Greenburgh are facing an unusual political choice - not one, but two petitions carry the names of Democratic candidates for local office.
One petition carries the name of Democratic incumbents seeking re-election: Supervisor Paul Feiner and Town Board members Diana Juettner and Timmy Weinberg.
Another petition lists the Democratic candidates officially endorsed by party leaders at a convention last week: Feiner, Juettner and Francis Sheehan.
Weinberg did not receive the endorsement of the party leadership, but her name is being circulated with other officially sanctioned candidates, which has become a source of controversy within the party. A Democratic primary Sept. 11 will determine who the final candidates are and, while the primary and general election are still months away, the split is already heating up the Greenburgh political scene.
Town Democratic Chairman William Greenawalt had strong words after the petition not sanctioned by his party was distributed in town neighborhoods this week, saying the move by Feiner, Juettner and Weinberg "flaunted democratic procedures."
Greenawalt said Weinberg should have earned her petition separately, as other candidates have done when they did not receive formal party endorsement, and an important democratic
principle was being discarded by the incumbents. He said the unsanctioned petition was misleading, since it implied Weinberg had official party backing when she did not."Most of the party is absolutely outraged about what Paul and the other incumbents are doing," Greenawalt said. "It's absolutely out of kilter with any sense of fairness. They're running what I call rogue petitions . ... It's a first, and not a good first."
Greenawalt said the rift was causing anger among party loyalists. "There's a lot of feeling about this."
"It's a little unusual," said Weinberg, "but there are always differences when you have a primary."
Weinberg said she was not expecting any difficulties in collecting the roughly 1,000 signatures needed to enter the primary on the petition listing her candidacy, a point echoed by Feiner. But Sheehan said he was bothered by the two petitions that were being circulated and the possibility that some voters might not know what they were signing.
"It's misleading. People should know what's going on, but it's not clear the way they're doing it," he said.
Registered Democrats may sign only one petition, not both. Republicans have so far come forward with two candidates for the Town Board, Thomas Donohoe Jr., a retired teacher from Hastings-on-Hudson, and Frances Pulle, an adjunct professor and writer from Tarrytown.
Steve Bass, a Democrat appointed to the Town Board who is seeking to serve a two-year term, is listed on the official Democratic Party petition. The other board seats are for four-year terms.