The political scene in Olive, at least in terms of the upcoming November elections, has been snowed under so far this year. Or pushed into the extraneous by more important issues.
Town supervisor Sylvia Rozzelle, who roared into office two years ago after decades as the town clerk, asked this week, when first asked about her plans, whether we could “just give us a little break here?”
She then proceeded to talk about how such political matters tended to serve as “a distraction” to everything involved in running a small town, as well as how “partisan politics is more a state or national thing than something big in a town like Olive.”
That all said, Rozzelle added that given how the past two years were focused on “starting a lot of things,” she was looking for the current year as “a time for implementation.”
“If I remain in good health, and my knee surgery goes well, I will be running again this fall,” she then added. “I’m here to do a job and if the voters think I’ve done a good one so far, I stay in; If they think I suck they won’t vote for me.”
Also up for election come November 3 will be the town council seats currently held by Republicans Peter Friedel and Don Vanburen, as well as the town justice position long held by Ron Wright.
Friedel, who challenged Rozzelle for the town’s top spot in 2013, said this week that he hasn’t even thought about this fall’s elections yet. He noted that he’s been dealing with family health problems.
Repeated calls to Vanburen and Wright were unanswered as of press time.
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