In the hour before the Ulster County Democratic Committee kicked off its nominating convention, some members of the City of Kingston Democratic Committee holed up in a council room to demonstrate their preference for Ham.
Business representative for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 825 and the chair of the Ulster County Industrial Development Agency for four terms, Michael Ham was Ward 7’s pick.
“This is a person who stands up for fair labor,” said Ward 7 captain Laura Nordstrom when she introduced him. “Who stands up for people who have blue-collar, working-class jobs. Somebody who understands the need to build housing in a city and who understands the need for that housing to be affordable. And for the people who built it to be able to live here.”
Ham was not Nordstrom’s first choice. In a reflection of the storm clouds gathering over Washington D.C., Nordstrom related that the first candidate she recruited in the end decided against public service out of fear. Left anonymous, that candidate was reportedly transgender.
“I told them that I would tell the committee the story because the trans community is afraid to represent themselves,” said Nordstrom. “We have people who are under attack, and I hope that the people that we nominate — the people that we choose — will represent those who at this time are too afraid to represent themselves.”
The higher-ups
Once Ham had been officially endorsed, committee members moved out into the high-ceilinged and chandeliered room of the Common Council chambers, joining the rest of the crowd there, near 300 strong, the gathered Ulster County Democratic Committee.
Barbara Graves-Poller presided over the countywide convention, her first as elected chair. “We are not going back to monarchy,” Graves-Poller promised, and the room understood she referred to the newly elected president of the United States, who has distinguished himself in his first weeks back in the Oval Office through the firing of thousands of federal employees.
Just yesterday he fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a four-star general and the highest-ranking military officer in the country.
The entire convention played out over four and a half hours, while the gathered body considered each of 23 legislative voting districts before nominating and endorsing their candidates. Speeches proliferated.
The title bouts of this year’s election cycle were the jobs of county comptroller and county clerk.
Though incumbent county comptroller March Gallagher grasped her endorsement unchallenged and with unanimous acclaim, she delivered a fiery speech anyway.
The endorsement for the county clerk position was contested. Interim acting county clerk, Taylor Bruck, won out over New Paltz deputy mayor Alexandra Wojcik. Also historian for the City of Kingston, Bruck worked in the county clerk’s office under the decades-long clerkship of the late Nina Postupack, succeeding her when she retired because of illness.
The endorsement of a candidate for Family Court judge also ranked as big news this year. Lara Oliveri, a law clerk employed with Family Court judge Sarah Rakov, beat out two competitors for the party endorsement.
Family court judge elections are rarer than shooting stars. Outgoing judge Anthony McGinty was elected ten years ago.
Judges traditionally de-emphasize politics in their communications to the voters. Unless the voters have a keen attention for case law and the history of a judge’s rulings, a committee endorsement carries substantial water for the candidate.
The legislative choices
When it came time to the endorsement of candidates for the county legislature, there were some noteworthy developments.
Environmental warrior from District 19 incumbent Manna Jo Greene was passed over by a large margin in favor of Lindsey Grossman, owner of a consulting business.
On-again, off-again Democrat, Saugerties legislator Joe Maloney is off again, having recently crossed the aisle to join the Republicans. The committee voted to rescind Maloney’s membership in absentia.
District 15 Warwarsing/Ellenville legislator John Gavaris, citing health concerns, announced he would not to seek re-election. Gavaris nominated another seasoned legislator to run in his stead, T.J. Briggs, who had previously served from 2010 to 2017.
In Kingston’s 6th district, incumbent legislator Greg McCollough lost out to veteran campaigner Peter Loughran, who had served previously on the legislature from 2005 to 2017.
Committee member Rita Vanacore of Wawarsing introduced a motion to entertain the idea of doing away with endorsements altogether. She disputed the idea that she was trying to overthrow the purpose of having a committee in the first place.
“It’s not anarchy,” Vanacore said. “What I believe that’s happened in this country and the reason that we have the administration we have is because both parties are now corporation-run, and because of that the machine controls what’s going on in the party. Vanacore’s suggestion was defeated.
If other persons want to run for office, they can get into a primary. They need to gather the required number of petitions.
The legislature nominees
District 1 — Aaron Levine, District 2 — Ann Peters, District 3 – None, District 4 — Michael Berardi, District 5 — Abe Uchitelle, District 6 — Peter Loughran, District 7 — Peter Criswell, District 8 — Joseph Donaldson, District 9 — Amy Dooley, District 10 — Dominick Marino, District 11 – None, District 12 – None, District 13 — Adrienne Gelfand-Perine, District 14 – None, District 15 — T.J. Briggs, District 16 — Deb Clinton, District 17 — Megan Sperry, District 18 — Eric Stewart, District 19 — Lindsey Grossman, District 20 — Bill Murray, District 21 — Chris Hewitt, District 22 — Kathy Nolan, District 23 — Jeff Collins.
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