Bethel Democratic committee shake up

Controversy sparks changes

By FRITZ MAYER

KAUNEONGA LAKE, NY — A year ago, Steven White was not very involved in local politics and did not support one candidate over another. But when members of the Bethel Democratic Committee decided to support an independent candidate in the November 2008 election, he was motivated to take action.

“The committee was not in a position to determine, at that point, who they were going to support. The voters had determined that already,” he said.

The voters, in this case, were the record number of Democratic residents who went to the caucus in July 2008 and handed a victory to Denise Frangipane over Ted Yeomans. Despite the victory, some members of the committee, including Vicky Vassmer-Simpson, who is also a councilwoman, supported Yeomans, who was himself a Democratic committee member, and went so far as to carry petitions for him as an independent candidate. White said this is a violation of a loyalty clause in the bylaws that govern the Democratic committee.

He began to organize to challenge committee members in an election that was scheduled for primary day on September 15. He joined with other like-minded residents who were equally dissatisfied with some of the actions of the committee and formed a coalition called New Bethel Democrats. They then lined up a slate of candidates who would run for the committee seats.

But it turned out that there will be no election, because with the exception of one member, all of the committee members who are currently serving will not run in the fall.

On July 22, White filed objections to the petitions of four of the candidates, Vassmer-Simpson; Colleen Cunningham, the longtime chair of the committee; Yeomans; and Debra Holt Gabriel, tax collector. The objections were filed with the Sullivan County Board of Elections, which subsequently ruled them invalid because of a lack of valid signatures.

Others candidates, such as Dan Sturm, the Bethel supervisor, and Lynden Lilley, the highway superintendent, committee members during the time of the caucus and its aftermath, decided not to run and in the end, resigned from the committee. Thus seven of the eight seats will be filled by newcomers who have been pushing to change the party in the town. One committee seat will be vacant, and will be filled by appointment.

According to Smallwood resident and coalition co-director Jonathan Hyman, the group reached out to the remaining member, Larysa Dyrszka, and asked her to run with the New Bethel Democrat and Democratic Party endorsement, and she did.

Therefore, with no seats being challenged, there will not be an election and the new committee members will take their positions on September 16.

Cunningham and Vassmer-Simpson did not return calls seeking comment.

In an interview with Hyman and White on July 30, Hyman said many people who had worked hard for Frangipane’s caucus victory became coalition members and candidates and continue to support Frangipane, who won a large victory last November in the general election. And the coalition now seeks to “work with a wide cross-section of Democrats in the town and county, including those whom we have been critical of over this specific issue.”

White said he is satisfied with the way things turned out. He stressed that there was no political litmus test for people to join the coalition and become a member of the slate. He said, “We just wanted fair-minded people who would speak their minds and do the work, and that’s who we reached out to.” He also hoped the outcome would show other people that if they’re unhappy with local political realities, there are ways to bring about change.