A pre-election meet-and-greet for a candidate for town justice on the Conservative line in the Town of Saugerties nearly didn’t happen late last month. Though the immediate issue was resolved, there remained among some parties concerns about fair play.
Gaetana Ciarlante, one of two challengers looking to unseat incumbent Stanley O’Dell, and the Saugerties Conservative Committee planned a meet-and-greet in the evening of Friday, October 27 at the Frank Greco Senior Center. As a flurry of emails revealed, questions about fees and other misunderstandings threatened to derail the event — which was ultimately held at Cantine Field.
Parks, recreation and buildings superintendent Greg Chorvas confirmed that the town had offered the use of the training room at the ice arena as well as the large pavilion at Cantine Field. “Since the day of her event the weather was beautiful and balmy, Ms. Cialante opted to use the large pavilion,” Chorvas said. “Again, judging by the multiple emails received back, it appeared Ms. Cialante was happy and appreciative with the outcome, along with efforts we put forth to resolve the issue.”
Ciarlante, town-board member Zach Horton, and Chorvas had exchanged several emails before the situation was resolved. Ciarlante was suggesting the town’s seeking a fee for the event was possibly politically motivated.
“Are you now in a position to determine the nature of business that should take place at a gathering of conservatives which is also open to the public?” Ciarlante asked. “And even in charge of what can be distributed at a meeting? Seems you may be entering on a very slippery slope. Additionally and historically, for at least a few decades, municipal facilities are used by all political groups and without a fee. If an event is a meeting or billed as a meet-and-greet sponsored by a political party has never been monitored by the town. You have said in the past that as long as the event is open to the public there is no fee. I respectfully suggest you reconsider your position.”
Chorvas said the request to use the senior center filed with town clerk Lisa Stanley was for a Conservative Committee meeting rather than a campaign event. “I further believe, an event such as this, with campaign materials needs town-board approval of said campaign materials,”
Chorvas was uncertain whether it was permissible to host such an event on municipal property, whether a fee was paid or not.
Horton, elected to the town board on the Republican and Conservative lines two years ago, said he wanted the same rules to apply to Ciarlante as they would to anyone else.
“This has absolutely nothing to do with politics, party affiliations or preference,” Horton said. “I just would like things to be applied to Gaetana as they were other candidates. Again, if those others paid the use fee, Gaetana should as well. However, if for some reason the facility use fees were waived then, I believe they should be waived for Gaetana as well.”
Another wrinkle was the delivery of voting machines, which according to Jen Fuentes, deputy commissioner of the county elections board, were due to be transported to the Frank Greco center on the same day as Ciarlante’s event.
“The main issue with the senior-center space was that the county BOE [Board of Elections] already dropped off and secured the voting machines for the commencement of early voting,” said Horton in a follow-up email. “All parties agreed that the security of those machines and the space was the main priority, so Gaetana took advantage of the nice weather and hosted her ‘meet-and-greet’ at Cantine Field, specifically the large pavilion space.”
Ciarlante acknowledged that the immediate issue of the meet-and-greet had been resolved. She remained concerned about whether there would be equitable application of the rules for all political parties going forward.
“There is a bigger issue here and that is who, if anyone, decides what is ‘appropriate’ for a political group, including who they want to have for a meet-and-greet,” Ciarlante said. “We’ll see if it comes up again.”
Horton said he expected there to be less ambiguity in the future. “Moving into the new year, I anticipate the board addressing facility issues as they pertain to campaign functions on municipal property, as well as taking a look at the town＊s current ethics policies and other bylaws, to determine if updates need to be made, etc…” he said.
Ciarlante, O’Dell and Democrat Aimee Richter were seeking the town justice role.
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