Democrats outnumber Republicans on the Sullivan County Legislature by a margin of seven to two, but anyone who follows the legislature knows there has been a deep divide among Democrats since the last election, which ushered in a slate of political newcomers.

That split is now apparent in the Sullivan County Democratic Committee (SCDC) with the chairman of the committee, Darryl Kaplan, trying to prevent two committee members from attending further meetings.

Kaplan has said he will step down from his post in September, which will follow two primaries in which two candidates will challenge candidates backed by the committee.

In the meantime, Kaplan sent an email to an unknown number of Democrats and possibly others, in which he appealed to members of the Democratic committees in the towns of Callicoon and Liberty to block the chairs of those committees from attending future county meetings.

Bruce Ferguson is chair of the Callicoon committee, and Bill Liblick is chair of the one in Liberty.

Kaplan wrote that at the SCDC meeting on May 28th, the behavior of Liblick and Ferguson was “disruptive” and “uncontrollable.” He accused the two of attempting to change the rules of the committee so that Lumberland supervisor Nadia Rajsz would be the committee-endorsed nominee for District Two rather than incumbent Kathy LaBuda.

Ferguson flatly denied this. In an email he wrote, “It is a flagrant misrepresentation to say that I participated in ‘overzealous attempt to have Ms. Rajsz endorsed by the County Committee.’ As you well know, I said it was inappropriate for the County Committee to even take up the issue.”

Ferguson also said Kaplan was going back on his promise that the county committee would hold off on nominating candidates until after the primary. He wrote, “This issue was discussed at length at a committee meeting last fall and it was agreed that SCDC would henceforth not endorse candidates prior to a primary; the voters, not the party bosses, were to be allowed to pick Democratic candidates.”

This discussion was related to the race for governor last year, in which the State Democratic Committee endorsed Governor Andrew Cuomo for Democratic candidate for governor, a position supported by Kaplan.

Ferguson and many other local Democrats supported Zephyr Teachout. SCDC did not make a formal endorsement of either candidate. Teachout lost the statewide election, but won an overwhelming victory among Sullivan County Democrats.

In offering Kaplan advice about how to restore civility at meetings, Ferguson wrote, “Do not override the consensus opinion of the committee to advance your own interests.”

On a separate issue, Kaplan accused Liblick of supporting Republican Chris Gisbon for Congress over Democrat Sean Eldridge in the last election. He implied that the support for Gibson was retaliation over the fact that Eldridge had turned down a request for a loan of $50,000 to start a new newspaper in Sullivan County.

Liblick responded on the Facebook page, Sullivan County Post, “Yes, I approached his venture capital firm with a business plan. The innuendo is a blatant lie, and Mr. Kaplan will have to be held accountable for that and his other reporting with what happened at those meetings.”

An ethics charge was recently filed against Liblick presumably because he made public an email exchange between county legislator Cindy Gieger and county manager Josh Potosek related to ethics complaints against Gieger.