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CORTLANDT MANOR, N.Y. The Cortlandt Republican Committee did not run candidates for two Cortlandt Town council spots or for supervisor for Tuesday's election. That left Democratic incumbents Supervisor Linda Puglisi and council members Richard Becker and Frank Farrell unopposed on Tuesdays ballot.
Suzanne Sadofsky, chair of the Cortlandt Republican Committee, said that a number of factors have kept Republicans from running for town board in the 2011 cycle. Sadofsky said some possible candidates had young children, others were not yet retired and some were not ready to make the financial commitment to run for office.
Its expensive to run any campaign. Having paid advertisements, things were rough for a lot of people this year, and they didnt want to spend the money to campaign this year," she said. "When you run you dont just run for a few weeks, we should start Wednesday getting our candidates lined up.
Sadofsky said she could not speak for the committee about what issues they thought were important in the coming two years, but her personal view is that the town should improve roads, and should have a police department in Cortlandt.
One of the big problems in Cortlandt, I think, is that the roads are not in good shape. There are a lot of things the town could have done and can do, she said. Im very unhappy that we dont have a police department, were paying the county a lot of money.
The Town of Cortlandt paid about $695,000 for a contract with the Westchester County Police Department in 2011, according to Town Comptroller Glenn Cestaro.
The Town of Cortlandt stopped funding the 10 member town police department in 1999, said Puglisi. The Village of Croton, for example, has a 21 member full-time police force and budgeted $2.86 million in funding in 2011. Puglisi said that when the town was in the planning stages of changing police services, it asked the two villages if they wished to expand to cover the town and at that time they were not interested.
One of the biggest hurdles for any candidate opposing Puglisi, said Sadofsky, is that Puglisi is well-liked in the town.
Personally, Ive known Linda for many years, I like her as a person, but politically, my feeling is no one should be in office that long, but thats just the way it is. Even among Republicans, they all like her, shes a likeable person, Sadofsky said.
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