New Castle Democratic Committee Has Lost Touch With Town’s Residents
Opinion Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer’s interpretation of facts and data.
By Susan Comey, Robert Greenstein, Roger Klepper and Michael Zuch
New Castle is a leafy suburb known for high-quality schools, home of the Clintons and a population that leans overwhelming Democratic.
Those elected to be town supervisor during the past 10 years have all been lifelong registered Democrats (inclusive of the current two-year term of Lisa Katz). Yet in all but two of those years – in four of the last five elections – the elected town supervisor ran against the party-endorsed New Castle Democratic Committee (NCDC) supported candidate. Why is this predominantly Democratic town choosing to elect candidates outside of the mainstream Democratic Party?
Based on last week’s op-ed published here from local resident Andrew Dorfman, the cause must surely be some kind of fifth column in our midst, “a small group within our community that has come to value winning over honor and civility.” Mr. Dorfman doth protest too much, methinks. Way too much.
Simply put, the NCDC has devolved into an insular breeding ground for the worst form of partisan politics, one that only knows political opportunism for the sake of its chosen candidate. Mr. Dorfman will have you believe it is the “other side” that only cares about winning, but that makes it even more abundantly clear that they still just don’t get it.
What the opposition slate – under the banner of the recently-formed independent Unite New Castle – cares about and focuses on is the community, with candidates pulled reluctantly into the political fray from among our wonderfully informed, intelligent and engaged population. This is not done by choice; this is done purely out of necessity. This is what has been happening here in New Castle and, unfortunately, what continues to happen.
What has transpired in our community has been truly stunning, with the NCDC crowding out all attempts by the broader community to engage in a decent and informed manner that puts community interest first. Upon the occurrence of an MLK holiday, for example, or a Pride Month celebration, or even something so tragic as a school shooting, it is typical to see the customary unifying messages from our town supervisor.
But nothing is routine here in New Castle, as those most closely aligned with the NCDC often view this through the lens of political opportunism and use it as an opportunity to go on the attack against the “fake Democrats.” Everything is politically charged.
In 2021, the community was immersed in the analysis of the Form Based Code, a proposed zoning change that would have been truly transformative to our downtown hamlet. The pushback was strong, from people of all political stripes, against a plan that would most certainly have resulted in a proliferation of luxury housing in our downtown hamlet. Yet it somehow became a proxy for diversity, and the leadership of the NCDC soon accused all of the proposal’s opponents of being racist.
In the current election for the remaining three years of a single Town Board seat currently held by candidate Christian Hildenbrand, we have experienced more of the same. Mr. Hildenbrand has been attacked publicly by way of a completely false, manufactured claim that he is the subject of an investigation by the Westchester County Board of Ethics. The Town of New Castle’s own Ethics Board (a bipartisan group chaired by a member appointed by the previous board) unanimously rejected even an appearance of impropriety, and the county has confirmed twice in writing that it simply has no jurisdiction in the matter.
No matter, the claim, and its endorsement by the NCDC and Holly McCall’s campaign, continues. No acknowledgement, no apology and one can only infer that this is only a slight departure from their view of “business as usual.” It is not. It is horrendous. It deliberately and malignantly smears a 24-year resident and his family for nothing but political gain, and it continues a pattern of win-at-all-costs politics that our community does not want.
The election results we have recently seen here in New Castle would not have happened without wide swaths of registered Democrats feeling alienated, essentially abandoned by their own party. There are no easy answers, except to keep doing what the community has been doing: reaching out to unite in a shared vision and shared values, one that cares more about our town and the people in it than it does about your political party affiliation.
Susan Comey is a six-year New Castle resident; Robert Greenstein is a 19-year town resident and served as town supervisor from 2014 through 2019; Roger Klepper is 20-year town resident; and Michael Zuch is a 34-year town resident. All are lifelong Democrats.
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