P’ville a One-Party Village, But Candidates Abound for Elections

The party, which dominated Pleasantville for more than 20 years, is now dormant.

The party that controlled the mayor’s seat in Pleasantville for 21 years is dormant.

The New Pleasantville Party, a force in village politics from the late 1980s through much of the last decade, won’t be fielding any candidates in next month’s elections.

Stephen Lopez and Jonathan Cunningham, who ran for village trustee seats on the New Pleasantville Party line in 2009, are running as independents this time around.

The other party, The Village Party, is also not endorsing any candidates this spring, though Mayor Peter Scherer and trustees Brian Skarstad and Mindy Berard represent the line.

The lack of party involvement, however, won’t stop the March 20 elections from being a contested race with as many as five candidates running for two seats.

For years, Pleasantville has used nonpartisan lines as its vehicle to nominate candidates rather than the traditional Democrat and Republican parties, which can often have a polarizing effect.

Members of the New Pleasantville Party point to a lack of new blood for the state of the party. Former mayor John Nonna ascended to county government and party organizer Dan Sweeney moved from Pleasantville. When incumbent mayor Bernard Gordon was defeated by Scherer in 2009, no one stepped in to take the reins.

“I haven’t been involved,” Sweeney said. “I wish I had laid the groundwork for people to come up behind me. I thought it was time for younger people to come up and do their part, and that’s one area where it hasn’t really happened. I don’t like to see a one-party system anywhere.”

The New Pleasantville Party was started in the 1980s, in the wake of dissatisfaction over the dominant Good Government Party.

“The New Pleasantville Party was essentially formed in order for there to be a choice,” Nonna said. “We wanted people to have a choice of whom to vote for.”

The party began having an impact when John Farrington was elected mayor in 1988. The New Pleasantville Party continued to control the top spot with the election of Gail Grimaldi in 1991, followed by Nonna and later Gordon.

The Good Government Party faded away, last running a candidate in 1993. In the wake of that party dissolving, the Village Party formed, with Jerry Lynch being elected to the board of trustees in 1996.

Even with the two parties, there were rarely any deep philosophical differences. Typically, allegiances on issues weren’t dictated by party affiliation but on an issue-by-issue basis on what was best for Pleasantville.

“There have been issues where each party has taken a somewhat different approach, like building a village hall or buying a village hall,” Nonna said. “But at the end of the day, most parties have fielded candidates that are interested in local issues. It’s more of the case of the individual person and their style and mold of government.”

Cunningham, who characterized the current New Pleasantville Party as “fairly dormant,” also blamed the lack of candidates in the pipeline for the party’s status.

“There are a bunch of reasons,” Cunningham said. “There was a degree of comfort with candidates doing a good job, so there wasn’t that prevalent need to organize and find replacements. I don’t know if the party will be gone in the future.”

Since he hadn’t announced his re-election bid until recently, Cunningham said that he hasn’t asked or pushed anyone from the New Pleasantville Party to help him in the campaign.

“I’m sure if there’s something that I need help with that people in the party would be available for help,” Cunningham said. “The party is a good organization. It serves a good purpose. We’ll see what happens.”

Gordon said he has not been involved in village politics since he was defeated in 2009, though he still serves on several boards. He said he would not be involved in the upcoming election but is supporting Cunningham and Lopez. Gordon said he would like to see the party become active again.

“It takes a lot of time, effort and organization,” Gordon said. “It just didn’t happen this year.”

With Pleasantville set to have contested elections for the first time in three years, Nonna hopes that residents come out and vote.

“People should participate and vote,” Nonna said. “People should vote in local elections as they vote in national elections.”