No. Castle Dems Tab Co-chair for Supervisor; Will Oppose DiGiacinto in Fall
North Castle Democrats endorsed one of their town committee co-chairs for supervisor and both incumbent council members whose terms are expiring for this year’s general election.
Joseph Rende, who leads the Democratic Committee along with Co-chair Linda Fernberg, was tabbed as the party’s candidate to succeed outgoing Supervisor Michael Schiliro at the top of the ticket. Rende will be joined by two-term incumbent Councilman Jose Berra and Councilman Saleem Hussain, who is seeking re-election for the first time.
The matchup for supervisor will be an intriguing one as the town Republicans have endorsed Councilwoman Barbara DiGiacinto to run against Rende. DiGiacinto confirmed her candidacy to The Examiner on Monday but declined to discuss her nomination at this time.
The Republican Committee has not settled on who may represent them for the council seats, but DiGiacinto, who would run from a safe seat after being re-elected for a third term in 2021, said it is likely she will have running mates.
Rende, 65, said when he heard late last year that this would be Schiliro’s final go-round in office and it wasn’t obvious who might step up to lead the ticket, he started to give some thought to the idea of a run for supervisor.
“When Mike said he was not going to seek another term, I discussed it with my family a little bit, discussed it with some friends, thought about it a little bit more and made the decision,” Rende said.
If elected, this would not be the first time Rende will have served in public office. He won a three-year term to the Port Chester Village Board in the 1980s when he lived in that community, and was appointed deputy mayor for one of those years. Rende, a former Republican, moved to North Castle about eight years ago and has been active with the town’s Democratic Committee for the past five years, he said.
His other government experience was serving as Westchester County’s deputy director of emergency planning and management for a portion of the 1990s under then-county executive Andrew O’Rourke. His tenure in that post extended through the early stages of Andrew Spano’s first term.
Since then, Rende has worked in the private sector, currently employed by a title insurance company.
“I think that I have a lot of great experience,” he said. “My role when I was with the county, I pretty much served as a liaison to a lot of the municipalities along the Sound Shore area, and I helped them with their emergency response plans.”
He sees development pressures facing the town as one of the most pressing issues in the upcoming election. While Rende described himself as pro-development, any construction would have to be good for the town, not just the builder, he said.
He also believes he can effectively lead a board that has had some occasional friction among its members.
Fernberg said she was pleased Rende decided to take on the challenge because of his stellar political credentials and government experience, and has the right temperament to do the job properly.
“He has the integrity, he’ll do the job, he has an idea of the time it takes to do it correctly. and I think that’s what his goal is,” Fernberg said.
Berra said he has enjoyed serving the community and delving into the issues, including development, his often-repeated opposition to condominium taxation and helping to save the town money.
“I really do care deeply about this town and I think I have a skill set based on experience, background that adds another dimension to the Town Board where I can really contribute,” said Berra, who was appointed initially in 2014 to serve most of that year, before losing a special election. He then won two consecutive full terms in 2015 and 2019.
He received the endorsement last week despite making a somewhat controversial endorsement of Republican Councilman Matt Milim in 2021. Berra said he fully supports Rende for supervisor.
The Democrats also endorsed Town Clerk Alison Simon and Town Justice Elyse Lazansky for re-election to those posts as well as current Mount Kisco Village Trustee Anne Bianchi, who is running for a Westchester County judge seat.
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/
