Bennet Ratcliff, Linda Lover and Michael Veitch’s Democratic primary losses to Woodstock town supervisor Bill McKenna’s team are not the end of their campaigns. They will run on the Working Families Party lines in November.
Ratcliff and Lover resigned their posts as president and vice president of the Woodstock Democratic Committee at its June 28 meeting so they could continue their bids for office. Veitch is not a WDC member.
Committee members Maria-Elena Conte, Susan Paynter and Laurie Felber also resigned so they could support Ratcliff, Lover and Veitch.
Party rules prevent members of the Democratic Committee from actively campaigning against nominated Democratic candidates. “The remaining members of the WDC are committed to honoring the will of the voters and supporting the Democratic nominees they have chosen,” said WDC temporary president Jeff Collins in a June 29 press release. Collins, chair of the local library board and an Ulster County Legislature candidate, was appointed at the June 28 meeting. A permanent president and vice-president will be chosen at the next meeting.
In the June 27 Democratic primary, McKenna bested councilmember Ratcliff 770-673.
In the four-way race for two town board seats, Laura Ricci and Anula Courtis, who ran with McKenna, received 804 and 735 votes respectively. Lover placed third with 673 votes and Veitch last with 571.
In the contentious primary, Ratcliff accused McKenna of not running the supervisor’s office transparently, mishandling a case of illegal fill at 10 Church Road in Shady, and not dealing properly with complaints of sexual harassment in the police department. McKenna pointed to Ratcliff’s lack of experience in town budgets and lack of accomplishments while on the town board.
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