Greenburgh politics

The Journal News has an article on the upcoming Democratic primary for Greenburgh town supervisor:

When the Democratic Town Committee gathers Thursday at Town Hall to designate a candidate for supervisor, seven-term Supervisor Paul Feiner will likely be the underdog, despite 14 years of experience and a solid record of voter support.

Lawyer Bill Greenawalt, a former party chairman who is the first Democrat to mount a primary challenge to Feiner since 1993, earned the executive committee's recommendation a few weeks ago, leading some to predict that he will win the party's support...

[Feiner] may be facing the biggest test of his career as supervisor after what has been a difficult year...

In recent months, Feiner has endured a spate of political losses on issues large and small at the hands of the four other members of the all-Democratic Town Board, which has demonstrated more united opposition than perhaps at any time during Feiner's tenure as the town's top official.

The neighborhood of Edgemont is considering becoming a village; the town's six existing villages — Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Elmsford, Hastings-on-Hudson, Irvington and Tarrytown — have discussed seceding from the town completely after a dispute regarding a lawsuit settlement. Many civic organizations continue to scrap with Feiner. And in the fall, critics accused him of violating ethics laws by accepting campaign funds from parties with applications pending before the town....

Arrogant or responsive?

Two years ago, with no Democratic opponent, Feiner struggled to gain party support, winning the designation with only 53 percent of the vote at the party's convention. That November, he easily defeated Republican Jim Lasser in heavily Democratic Greenburgh...

Critics of Feiner call him divisive, arrogant and dictatorial, saying he refuses to work with those who don't agree with his policies....

Madelon O'Shea, a Feiner critic and the president of the Council of Greenburgh Civic Organizations, an umbrella group, said Feiner has offended civic groups by installing his own "community liaisons" as a way of sidestepping them and has never shown a willingness to work with them.

"Paul has absolutely no respect for anybody who runs counter to what he thinks," she said....

Feiner and his supporters, however, scoff at such comments, saying he is one of the most responsive officials in the region.

"I've always been willing to compromise," Feiner said. But, he said, he will not change his beliefs on important issues in the face of opposition. And he said defiantly that he feels he doesn't need the party to succeed at the polls...

Edgemont resident Don Siegal, a Feiner booster, said he has always found Feiner to be eminently approachable.

"He does what he thinks is right for the town," Siegal said.

Here is my two cents on the two lead candidates:

Greenawalt: I do not know Greenawalt's record well, so I will not comment on it (at least until I am better educated). In national elections people talk about the "likeability" of candidates. To the degree that it matters, I give a substantial likeability edge in this election to Greenawalt. In several recent surface level interactions with him I have found him quite personable. He recently attended the Edgemont Community Council annual meeting as well as at least one meeting of the Edgemont Association.

Feiner: It's hard to beat a long-term incumbent, so I wouldn't want to bet against Feiner. His two greatest pluses--and I suspect they may be enough to carry him to re-election--are his incumbency and his remarkable responsiveness to requests from individual constituents. He also has some very loyal followers in the town. And some heated detractors. His minuses have historically been ones that, while evident to some insiders, have been transparent to the bulk of the electorate. This year, however, there does seem to be more of a mood of discontent than in the last election two years ago. Feiner's responsiveness to individuals is quite admirable; however in his desire to deal with whatever the small issue at hand is, he can lose sight of the bigger picture. And one has to wonder how it is that a long-term incumbent is not a shoo-in for nomination by his party. Also, were recent moves by some in the river villages to consider secesion and by some in Edgemont to consider incorporation driven in part by perceptions that Feiner has poor management skills?

Stay tuned.