Oh, the season has come upon us again. Actually it’s been rearing up out of the ice age for several weeks now, but some interesting notes came out of this week’s Woodstock Democratic Committee meeting. Foremost was the announcement that town supervisor Jeremy Wilber would be a candidate for the post once again. The statement was read by councilman Bill McKenna, as Wilber was out of town. On Facebook, he posted, at the end of a statement, “In short, the local economy is good, the Town facilities are being improved, the Town’s finances are sound and the community’s desire to be part of the green movement is being answered. In order to consolidate these gains I will be asking Democratic Party voters for another two-year term as Woodstock Town Supervisor.” As of now, there are no other declared candidates for the post, and, as in the past, Wilber will certainly be a formidable candidate. There will be a primary election in September for him, should any challenger on the Democratic ticket arise and gather the 127 signatures necessary on a petition for a ballot slot.
Should Wilber win election in November and serve out his seventh term, he will have been the longest serving Woodstock Town Supervisor. Looking at our history, Isaac Elting served the longest as Supervisor, 13 years from 1810-1822; he was followed closely by Albert Cashdollar, who put in 12 years from 1932-1943, and Kenneth Wilson, 10 years from 1944 to 1953. The list shows that 53 different Woodstockers have taken on the job since it began in 1788 (yours truly is also on the list, mercifully having only served consecutive sentences totaling four years). Many have served multiple terms and there are a dozen who, like Wilber served multiple terms that were not consecutive.
We’re not saying this is good or bad. It’s far too early and the field is too scant to get into endorsements. It just is. The race is on.
The Democratic committee reports, as we speculated, that three are seeking the soon to be vacant seat on the County Legislature, Jonathan Heppner, Kathy Moretti and Bill Schechter. Democratic Committee chairwoman Laura Ricci will temporarily leave that post to run for the town board, for which two seats are up, with incumbents Jay Wenk and Ken Panza running for reelection. There is at least one more candidate mulling a town board run on the Democratic ticket, but he or she will remain nameless until the mulling is done.
As usual, the Republicans are laying back, waiting for the Dems, who outnumber them by nearly 3-1, to see if they can self-destruct. They usually caucus right after they see who the Democratic candidates are, which will happen in the September primary.
The race is on…saddle up.