They say that the third time is the charm, and fortune finally turned in Manna Jo Greene’s favor on Election Day 2013: She prevailed in her bid to represent all of Rosendale and part of Marbletown as Ulster County Legislator for District 19, after having lost previous bids for the same seat in 1989 and 2003. Running on the Democratic and Working Families lines, the eight-year incumbent Rosendale town councilwoman will succeed retiring Democrat Robert S. Parete. Greene defeated Republican/Conservative/
With a long track record as Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency (UCRRA)’s recycling coordinator, and currently serving as director of Environmental Action for the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Greene is a well-known advocate for sustainable development. She has promised to prioritize “sound solid waste management” at the county level as UCRRA undergoes a process of restructuring.
Rosendale is a town that in recent years has seemed about evenly split between pro-development and pro-conservation voters. So it comes as a bit of a surprise that both “environmentalist” candidates for Town Board prevailed this time around, unseating Ken Hassett, a Republican incumbent who has served a total of 16 years on the Board. Environmental Commission chair Jen Metzger, a Democrat who has often been the target of Hassett’s ire at Town Board meetings, was elected councilwoman with 1,162 votes. Zoning Board of Appeals chair Chris Pryslopski, also a Democrat, came in second with 1,043 votes. Hassett ran third with 881 and fellow Republican Bill Dietz III, a political novice, brought up the rear with 781 votes.
In another upset race, incumbent Republican Deb Tierney, a deputy town clerk since 2008 who was appointed to replace retiring longtime town clerk Joan Jordan this past March, was defeated by her Democratic opponent Mandy Constable, a Justice Court clerk, by a vote of 1,001 to 938. That may be a narrow enough margin to swing the other way once absentee ballots are counted, but it appears that Constable’s promise to keep the town clerk’s office open late one evening a week may have resonated with busy voters.
Endorsed by all four parties in the Town of Rosendale, incumbent town supervisor Jeanne Walsh cakewalked to reelection on Tuesday with a total of 1,618 votes. She is poised to pursue New York State grant funding for two major local infrastructure concerns, upgrades to the town’s public water supply system and replacement of the town pool, during her second two-year term.
Republican town councilman and former supervisor Robert Gallagher was uncontested in his bid to replace retiring highway superintendent Carl Hornbeck, garnering 1,327 votes. Eight-year incumbent town justice William Pape, a Democrat, was reelected without opposition with 1,384 votes. Republican tax collector Deborah Checchia also ran unopposed and was reelected with 1,356 votes.
