www.myharrisonreport.com
Vol. 13/Number 28
July 19, 2013
Harrison conservatives endorse four By DANIEL OFFNER STAFF REPORTER dan@hometwn.com
Due to long-standing capital needs, Harrison now faces a near $80 million debt. The Harrison Report takes an in-depth look at how the town got here. File photo
Murphy, Parker primary official By CHRIS GRAMUGLIA and ASHLEY HELMS HARRISON REPORT STAFF chrisg@hometwn.com ashley@hometwn.com
Democrats’ worst fears have become reality as Rye City Councilwoman Catherine Parker will, in fact, face a primary challenge in September from former Village of Mamaroneck Trustee Tom Murphy. The county Board of Legislators candidates are vying for the seat currently occupied by Legislator Judy Myers, a Democrat, who said she will not seek re-election in November. Both candidates collected more
than 700 signatures, easily surpassing the required petitions necessary to trigger a primary for the right to appear on the Democratic ballot in November’s general election. The deadline for filing petitions with the county Board of Elections was July 11. The two candidates will look toward September’s primary date, and two upcoming debates. For Parker, viewed as the frontrunner, it is a far cry from what she expected when she announced her entry earlier this year. Murphy’s surprise entry into the race seems to have ruffled some feathers within the party. According to sources, Myers and
several other prominent Democrats approached Murphy about not running for the seat. Myers has publicly backed Parker as her successor. Murphy said he shouldn’t have been asked to drop out of the race because he belongs to the Democratic Party and has the right to ask for a nomination. “If anyone should have dropped, it was the person who had to ask permission to run in the party,” Murphy said. The former Mamaroneck trustee garnered more than 500 petition signatures of registered Democrats in Rye, and said he knew he was going to primary Parker. PRIMARY continued on page 14
With five town officials up for re-election—the mayor, two town councilmen, town clerk, and receiver of taxes—members of the Harrison Conservative Committee have endorsed four of them for the upcoming 2013 elections. Selecting an all-incumbent list of endorsements, local conservatives will back Mayor Ron Belmont, Councilman Joseph Cannella, Town Clerk Jackie Greer, and Tax Receiver Nancy Masi on their respective reelection bids, leaving Republican Councilwoman Marlene Amelio as the proverbial odd man out. “We didn’t nominate another council seat,” said Conservative Committee Chairman Rocco Turso. “We didn’t cross nominate a Democrat either.” When questioned by The Harrison Report about whether the party plans to back four-year incumbent Amelio, Turso wouldn’t speak on the notion, stating the party had already filed its petitions for the 2013 local elections. “I am very disappointed,” Amelio said, upon learning that the conservatives had no intention of endorsing a fifth candidate. Although Amelio did not receive the conservative endorsement, she had plans of her own. With the requisite amount of signatures already collected, Amelio said she has filed an opportunity-to-ballot petition— an additional petition that enables candidates to primary—for the Conservative ticket. “Hopefully, the members of the Conservative Party will realize the error and vote for me,” Amelio said. This will be the first primary for the conservative ticket since 2009. Although third-party endorsements are typically a helpful boost at the polls, in Harrison, they have also been a source of contention amongst political candidates. In 2011, there was a primary between two mayoral candidates vying for the Independence Party nod. At first, members of the local Independence committee chose to endorse former-Democratic Mayor
Joan Walsh. But, after filing an opportunity-to-ballot petition, Ron Belmont—who is a non-affiliated voter—won the primary in a landslide, claiming more than 60 votes to Walsh’s 15. In 2009, during the last Harrison’s Conservative Party primary, former Harrison Police Chief David Hall, a Republican, cruised to victory over former Patrolmen Benevolent Association President Ralph Tancredi. A registered Conservative, Tancredi would later be kicked off the police force that same year for his involvement in an altercation at a local bar on Halstead Avenue in 2007. Republican council members Cannella and Amelio also won primary challenges for the conservative party line that year. While Amelio was left on the outside looking in this year, the conservatives endorsed the remaining four incumbents with the Belmont administration. “I’m excited to be endorsed by the Conservative Party,” said Belmont, who received the thirdparty nod earlier this month. “I think [the council and I] have been very conservative on some things… but I think we’re making all the right moves.” With the selection of four endorsees picked from the 10 candidates running this November, it seems doubtful either of the two Democratic candidates running for town council will look to primary against incumbent Amelio in September. For the first year in the town’s history, the local Democratic CONSERVATIVE continued on page 13