Judy Kennedy thanked the committee for supporting her candidacy for mayor.
By Nancy Peckenham
This year’s race for public office in the city of Newburgh got a bit livelier this week, with the Democratic committee selecting its candidates for mayor and two city council seats and petitions starting to circulate for candidates to get on the ballot in the November election. Two council seats are open, one currently held by Democrat Marge Bell, who says she is not running for a new term, and one held by Christine Bello, who has announced her candidacy for mayor on the Republic ticket.
Cedric Brown.
Ramona Monteverde.
On Tuesday night, members of the Democratic committee nominated Ramona Monteverde and Cedric Brown for the two open city council seats. Judy Kennedy was the committee’s choice for mayor over Lillian Howard, who said she had just decided the night before to get into the race.
Kennedy, a political newcomer, has been developing her campaign for several months. On Tuesday she announced a Tax Relief Rally and March that she is spearheading on June 20 and invited the public to sign tax relief petitions at an open house this Saturday.
After losing the support of the committee, Howard said she plans to get into the primary race anyway and predicted she would repeat her success getting on the ballot as Democratic candidate for mayor in 2007. Howard lost the general election to current Mayor Nicholas Valentine, a Republican.
People interested in running for office who attended the Democratic committee meeting include Timothy Hayes (back to camera), Michael Gabor (center) and Lillian Howard (right.)
Getting into the race without a party endorsement is also the plan of Michael Gabor, who will start gathering signatures on a petition to get his name on the primary ballot without party backing. A long-time activist, Gabor attended the endorsement meeting as an observer and said that he believes the party’s endorsement can be the “kiss of death.” He was the Democratic committee’s pick for city council in 2005, then lost in the primary to challenger Regina Angelo.
Cedric Brown, a former Key Bank manager who now runs a trucking company, said that he decided to run when he got his tax bill, referring to the large increase in taxes this year. Ramona Monteverde, the director of operations of Safe Harbors of the Hudson, thanked the committee members after she was picked on the first round, saying she is “ready to start rebuilding the city.”
Three other people appeared before the committee asking for endorsements: Gay Lee, Charles Kimbrough and Timothy Hayes.
Republicans and Democrats alike are now circulating petitions to get on the ballot. In addition to Bello, John F. Penney and John N. Giudice are the Republican picks for city council. The petitions are due July 14 with valid signatures from five percent of the voters registered in each party. Currently, there are 6,174 registered Democrats and 1,570 registered Republicans in the city of Newburgh, according to Jonathan Jacobson, the Orange County Democratic chairman.
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