PEEKSKILL, N.Y. Conservative-leaning politicians in the city are creating an independent third party ahead of this falls elections.
The Peekskill Republican and Conservative candidates for Mayor and City Council are in need of help, said Westchester Republican Chairman Doug Colety in an email sent out earlier this week looking for volunteers to carry petitions.
The group has obtained enough signatures to secure an independent line called Progress4Peekskill, according to the Westchester Board of Elections Co-Commissioner Reginald A. LaFayette, who is the Democratic Commissioner. LaFayette confirmed the petition has been filed with at least the necessary 235 signatures as of Wednesday morning. The new party is not permanent and will only be for one election cycle, he said.
To be a permanent party they would have to get 50,000 votes in a gubernatorial [election] year, LaFayette said.
In the letter Colety cited the citys changing demographics as the reason for the new party being formed.
Given the registration differential in Peekskill, this is an important factor in our ability to win this coming election, said Colety. The opportunity for success is very real but, again, securing this line will be a great help.
Peekskill Republican Mayoral candidate Tony Washington said the new party was aimed at attracting voters who might not be likely to vote Republican or, for that matter, Democrat. He said that dissatisfaction with the status quo and the fighting between the two parties in the city left many voters unhappy.
The Peekskill Democrats acting chairwoman Marina Ciotti said she was shocked but not surprised that city Republicans would take such actions. Ciotti also accused them of reaching out to controversial community activist Darrell Davis, a vocal critic of the Democrat-controlled city council, for help. Davis, a former Peekskill resident, has organized numerous protests against the council at its meetings in the last year over what he says are racially unfair treatment of some city employees and residents. Some of the protests have caused the meetings to be shut down by city police.
Ciotti said the recent endorsement by the Westchester Independence Party has left the GOP in Peekskill struggling to catch up in terms of potential voters.
For the first time ever we got the endorsement of the Independence Party, even though we were taken off the line were still endorsed by them, Ciotti said. The Independence party rejected what the Republicans are putting out there.
Washington said he would not confirm whether the party has reached out to Davis for help.
Weve reached out to a lot of people, Washington said. Weve reached out to my sister.
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