GOP And Democrats Forecast

Control Of The Council

By Steve Bigham

The final meeting of the current Legislative Council will take place Wednesday, November 7 at the Cyrenius H. Booth Library. After that, a new council will be sworn in with several new hands coming on board.

 The November 7 meeting will be the last for 22-year council member Melissa Pilchard, who is moving out of town. She had planned to leave next week, but has indicated she’ll probably stick around. Mrs Pilchard, figures she has attended about 1,000 council meetings over the years.

Also attending his final council meeting will be John Kortze, a six-year council vet, who has chaired its finance committee the past four years. Doug Brennan opted not to seek a second term and Ruby Johnson, who is credited with leading the town’s charge to buy Fairfield Hills, was not endorsed by the Democratic Party and is not running this year.

Former council chairman Pierre Rochman had already announced he would not seek reelection when he abruptly resigned from the board September 6.

The past two years were tumultuous at times for the Legislative Council as it took on some very challenging issues, including Fairfield Hills, charter revision, etc. The magnitude of the issues it took on only served to amplify the contention that arose in its discussions of those issues.

Local political observers are calling this year’s group of council candidates one of the strongest in a long time, and the election could result in a major shake up in the make up of the council. Of the 19 candidates running for the council, only seven are incumbents and many of them may find themselves in a tough race.

In District 2, for example, there are eight candidates running: three Democrats, three Republicans and two candidates from the NICE Party. The incumbents are Democrats Peggy Baiad and Tim Holian. The third Democrat is Joe Hemingway. The Republicans are led by longtime council member Joe Borst, along with challengers Andrew Buzzi and Patrick Mullins, while the NICE Party candidates are Richard Dunseith and Bob Hennessey.

District 3 appears to be a stronghold for the Republicans as three of its four returning incumbents live there. Will Rodgers, Don Studley, and Brian White are all veteran council members. Solid Democratic candidates Amy Dent, Jim Shpunt, and Eugene Vetrano will challenge them.

District 1 should also feature some interesting races as the Democrats work to get incumbent Dan Rosenthal and newcomer Francis Pennarola elected. The Republicans counter with three newcomers: Michael J. Iassogna, Joseph DiCandido, and William F. Meyer, who was recently appointed to the council to fill out the term of Mr Rochman.

“I think we’ll be the strongest in the first and third districts,” noted Republican Town Committee Chairman Marie Sturdevant. “I think the second will be an interesting one with the NICE party being involved. Of course, we have Joe Borst there as an incumbent and he always draws a lot of votes. I do believe the Republicans are going to maintain the majority on the council.”

The Democrats only managed to put up two candidates in the first district, which could open the door for the GOP.

“Mike Iassogna in the first district is a dynamo, as is Joe DiCandido and, of course, we have the ever-popular Bill Meyer, who is already on the council to fill a vacancy,” Mrs Sturdevant said.

Democratic Town Committee Chairman Earl J. Smith puts an entirely different spin on the upcoming election. He predicts the Democrats will come out the winners.

“We feel with the team of Herb Rosenthal and Joe Bojnowski there’s no reason in the world that we cannot proceed to take control of the council,” he said. “We are thoroughly pleased with the quality of candidates in all three districts.”

The Democratic leader said he sees his party gaining three seats, jumping from a 7-5 deficit to an 8-4 advantage.

“We feel 3, 3 and 2 [candidates elected from Districts 1, 2, and 3] is doable. Sometimes you have people that will do a party a favor and allow their name to be on the ballot, but don’t really do much. We don’t have that right now. I haven’t felt this way since we took over the majority of the 18-member council back in 1977,” he said.

The top four vote getters in each district are elected. No more than three members from any party may serve in a district, however.