Archive: News

Thursday September 8 -- Lansing Democrats held a caucus at the Lansing Community Center tonight to nominate candidates to run in November's general election.  Three town seats are up this year including one Town Justice seat and two on the Town Board.

William Burin has been one of Lansing's two Town Justices for three four year terms so far, and he was nominated again to run for a fourth.  "Four more years," he said, looking forward to another term.  He added that he might retire from the bench after that, but it is too early to make that decision.  Justice Burin will be uncontested in the general election.

Justice William Burin, running for a fourth term

Finding candidates for the two Town Board seats was problematical.  Cathy Miller had expressed an interest in running, but decided she could not run.  Ms. Miller heads the fund raising effort for Lansing Community Library Center (LCLC) and with the capital campaign making a new push she felt she couldn't do both effectively.  This left the party with a problem: if they don't nominate a candidate in the caucus they won't have a Democrat running in the election.

Lansing party committee chairman Dan Konowalow suggested nominating Ms. Miller to get a name on the ballot.  She would have the option of withdrawing, at which point a vacancy committee can appoint an alternate candidate.  But Hurf Sheldon,  the Democratic candidate for County Board this year, convinced the assembly not to nominate Ms. Miller without her knowledge or consent.  He tried phoning her, but couldn't get through.  He and Ms. Binkewicz argued that she should not be nominated because she had indicated to each of them that she was not realistically able to run.  Town Councilwoman Connie Wilcox added that concentrating on a successful fund raising campaign for the library would be a feather in Ms. Miller's cap that would help a possible campaign in the future.

Greg Lawrence, place holder candidate

This left the Democrats without a candidate.  Other names were considered, but by this time the feeling was that people who were not present shouldn't be nominated.  Finally Gregory Lawrence offered to put his name in the hat as a place holder.  He is unable to actually run but is willing to be the candidate who withdraws, allowing the vacancy committee to find a Democrat willing and able to run for the position.

Lansing Democrats and Republicans choose their candidates in different ways.  Republicans file petitions with the Board of Elections, then run against each other in a primary election if there are more candidates than there are positions.  Current Town Board Member Bud Shattuck is running for another term this year, and Matthew Besemer is running for the seat being vacated by Doug McEver.  The Democrats hold a caucus, a meeting in which they choose the candidates to present to the Board of Elections.

Kartina Binkewicz is sworn in by Dan Konowalow

The caucus begins by electing a caucus chairperson and secretary.  Former Town Councilwoman Katrina Binkewicz was elected chair and Carol Bowles as secretary.  They were sworn in and then Ms. Binkewicz called the meeting to order, explaining the purpose of the caucus.  At that point Justice Burin was nominated and then unanimously voted in as the candidate for Justice.  Next nominations for Town Board were tendered.  Because it had become clear that a vacancy committee would be necessary three members were appointed including Mr. Sheldon, Marcy Rosenkrantz (the current Secretary/Treasurer of the Lansing Democratic Committee) and Ms. Wilcox.

The upshot was a mixed bag.  Justice Burin is a strong candidate with a proven record.  His reelection is a sure thing with no Republican challenging him.  Without a strong candidate for Town Board the Democrats will be virtually handing the two seats to the Republicans.  The vacancy committee still has a chance, but time is running out.

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