Former Councilman Placeholder on New Castle GOP Petition
With the deadline for filing just days away, the New Castle Republican Committee has been circulating a petition listing former town councilman Erik Nicolaysen and Chappaqua resident Eileen Gallagher as this year’s town board candidates.
However, Nicolaysen, who owns an insurance agency in downtown Chappaqua, said last week that he does not intend to run for one of the two seats that are up this year. His name is included on the petition as a placeholder to give the committee more time to find another candidate, he said.
Nicolaysen said that state election law allows local political parties to substitute a name on a petition for another candidate until late August. He said there is virtually no chance he will run for the town board seat in November.
“Only if I don’t mind losing my head to my wife,” Nicolaysen joked about the chances of him competing in the fall election. He served previously on the town board in the 1980s.
“We’re just trying to keep our options open,” Nicolaysen later added.
Attempts to reach New Castle Republican Chairman Steven Schoenfeld before on Monday before press time were unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, Gallagher, who most recently served on the town’s Coyote Management Task Force, is also listed on the petition. She referred questions over the weekend regarding her candidacy to Schoenfeld.
Although the party has yet to officially name a slate, Supervisor Robert Greenstein, a registered Democrat who received the Republicans’ endorsement in 2013, said last month he would be once again seeking re-election in the fall on the Republican line.
The town’s Democratic Committee announced its town board slate in late May. Victoria Alzapiedi, the chair of the Coyote Awareness and Safety Advisory Committee, is running for supervisor while Hala Makowska and Jeremy Saland are the Democrats’ candidates for the two council seats.
Democratic incumbents Elise Kessler-Mottel and Jason Chapin decided against seeking re-election.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/