Orangetown Candidate Petitions Include Few Surprises

(Reported and written by Robin Traum.)
Thursday's deadline to submit petitions to be placed on local ballots for the general election Nov. 5 at the Rockland County Board of Elections brought few surprises for the races in the Town of Orangetown.

In the race for Orangetown Supervisor, incumbent Andrew Stewart of Nyack submitted a petition on the Democratic line while challenger Walter Wettje of Pearl River filed on the Republican, Conservative and Independence lines. 

Five candidates submitted petitions to run for the two available seats on the Orangetown Town Council. As expected, incumbents Denis Troy of Pearl River and Tom Diviny of Blauvelt both filed as Republican, Conservative and Independence and they will be challenged by Democrats Annmarie Uhl of Blauvelt and Daniel Salmon of Tappan. Andrew Wiley of Pearl River also submitted a petition as a Republican.

Incumbent Robert Simon (Republican, Conservative and Independence) of Pearl River will be challenged by Democrat Chris Smith of Pearl River for Receiver of Taxes. Voters in Orangetown will also cast their ballots in a referendum to consolidate the receiver's office into the town clerk's office, which would not take effect until 2018.

Three Orangetown incumbents were the only ones to turn in petitions for their current offices -- Town Clerk Charlotte Madigan of Pearl River, Town Justice Richard C Finning of Orangeburg and Superintendent of Highways James Dean of Pearl River. Simon and Dean filed petitions for the Republican, Conservative and Independence lines. Madigan was the only local candidate to file for Democratic as well as Republican, Conservative and Independence.

In the Village of Nyack, incumbents Mayor Jennifer White and village trustees Douglas Foster and Marie Lorenzini are seeking the Democratic position on the ballot. 

Petitions were due accepted Monday through Thursday. The Rockland County Board of Elections saw a large number come in through the day among them the ones from the county executive hopefuls including a few new names. Numerous candidates handed in petitions that could enable them to run on a second, third and even fourth party line.

Petitions to run for county executive on the Democratic line came from David Fried of Spring Valley, Dagan Lacorte of Suffern, Vladimir Leon of Spring Valley and Ilan Schoenberger of Suffern. Schoenberger also had petitions for the Working Families and Independence lines.  Edwin Day submitted his petition to run for the position on the Republican ticket. Simon Leschinsky of Spring Valley and Thomas Sullivan handed in petitions for the Conservative line in the race. 

County clerk hopeful Donna Held of New City submitted petitions for the Republican and Independence lines and incumbent Paul Piperato of Thiells turned in petitions for the Working Families and Conservative lines in addition to the Democratic one already submitted. 

Petitions to run on the Democratic, Independence, Working Families and Conservative lines in Clarkstown came from incumbents Town Supervisor Alex Gromack of Congers, and Town Councilwoman Stephanie Hausner and Town Clerk Justin Sweet both of New City.

Incumbent Councilman George Hoehmann of Nanuet filed his petitions for the Republican, Working Families, Independence and Conservative lines. Incumbent Town Highway Superintendent Wayne Ballard of New City filed Republican, Conservative and Independence party petitions. 

Challengers Ralph Riverso Sr. of Valley Cottage, John Noto Jr. of New City and Kathleen Sheridan of Valley Cottage filed their Republican petitions for town supervisor, councilman and town clerk respectively. Incumbent town justices Craig Johns of Nanuet and Scott Ugell of New City filed petitions for the Republican, Conservative and Working Families parties. 

Would be council member Robert Pitkofsky of New City, and town justice hopefuls Adam Garth of West Nyack and Edward Kallen of New City submitted their documents for the Democratic line. Garth and Kallen hope to also run on the Independence, Working Families and Conservative lines. Town highway superintendent hopeful Dennis Malone of Congers submitted paperwork for the Democratic and Working Families lines.

More contenders entered the Village of Spring Valley races with nine prospective candidates for mayor and 16 possible candidates for trustee. Democrats Vilair Fonvil of Spring Valley, Bernard Charles Jr. of Spring Valley, Miguelino Joseph of Monsey and Anthony Leon of Spring Valley submitted petitions to run for mayor along with Allan Thompson of Spring Valley who is seeking the Republican line. Fellow Democrats Zach Clerina, Marie Williams Juan Ramirez and Emilia White of Spring Valley, and Theodore Collins of Monsey submitted theirs for trustee. Objections have already been filed against some of the petitions for mayor and trustee submitted earlier in the week.