Jockeying for Open Seat in Yorktown Begins for Diana, Siegel
The special election for the open seat on the Yorktown Town Board may not be until November, but the two candidates vying for the pivotal position have already begun campaigning and receiving endorsements.
Citizens for a Progressive Yorktown, a small, two-year-old group of residents that support “intelligent and responsible business development,” jumped into the race early by officially backing Tom Diana, who is running on the Republican line.
Diana, a retired police officer and owner of a local oil delivery and service company, ran last year as a Democrat in an unsuccessful bid for highway superintendent against Dave Paganelli. Now, Diana is in the process of switching his political allegiance in hopes of filling the seat left vacant by Paganelli.
In announcing the group’s support for Diana, Bill Primavera, communications director for Democrats for Diana, said most of the group was registered Democrats who were crossing party lines to endorse Diana over former Supervisor Susan Siegel, who has secured the Democratic, Conservative and Independence lines.
“We never endorsed political candidates, but stuck to the issues at hand. However, in the past year, the political environment in Yorktown has changed radically and, we believe, in a very unhealthy way,” Primavera stated. “At this juncture, our Town Board is deadlocked with four board members, two of whom are progressive and two of whom are, in our opinion, detrimental to the future of Yorktown as a robust community.”
“A special election for a vitally needed fifth board member beckons us to action to seek public support for a progressive candidate to move Yorktown forward. That candidate is Tom Diana,” Primavera continued. “To us, it’s the right person for the job, not the party, that is important. We feel that it is critical that he be elected in November to turn the tide of ennui and negativity that now holds Yorktown captive.”
Siegel, who served one term as supervisor before being ousted by Michael Grace in 2011, questioned the endorsement of Citizens for a Progressive Yorktown, saying the group failed to outline Diana’s qualifications or credentials to serve on the Town Board or his knowledge about town government.
“The announcement made it very clear that the only reason to vote for Mr. Diana was that he would vote with Supervisor Grace and Councilman Murphy, regardless of the merits of the issue,” Siegel contended. “The last thing the Town Board needs is another automatic rubber stamp, one that would give the supervisor unfettered control over the board’s decisions.”
Meanwhile, the Democratic Town Committee in Yorktown extended an open invitation to the Republican Committee to work together to arrange a series of informal forums on town issues leading up to the November 4 election.
“The Republicans seem obsessed with growth and development, but these are not the only issues that a councilperson needs to deal with,” said Lisa Mackay, executive director of the Democratic Committee. “The main job of a councilperson is to oversee and facilitate the smooth operation and delivery of town services, find ways to hold the line on expenses and plan for the town’s long term infrastructure needs. Most of the town’s key development related decisions have already been made and most development plans are handled by the Planning Board, not the Town Board.”
The November 4 election could produce another vacancy on the Town Board as Murphy is running for the state Senate seat being vacated by Greg Ball. To date, the Town Board has been unable to reach consensus on drafting legislation that would allow a special election when an open seat occurs.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
