Election of Democratic Town Committee

The members of the Town Committee of each major political party, by State statute, are elected in January of all even numbered years, after the Municipal elections. All voters registered for a major party are eligible to vote in their respective party's elections. The Middletown Democrats met last night to vote on a slate of 70 candidates put forward by the executive committee of the current Town Committee (DTC).

The DTC executive committee consists of Dan Russo (chair), Ann Tommasi (vice-chair), Sandra Faraci (Secretary), and John Kasper (treasurer). About 50 Democrats attended the caucus this year.

After the list of 70 endorsed candidates was handed out, Joan Liska, a current DTC member, expressed concern at being omitted from the list, and asked how she could be nominated. Russo confirmed that she was not on the list and said that to get elected she would need her name nominated from the floor.

Russo was asked to list the of people who wanted to be on the DTC but were not nominated by the executive committee. He said there were 4: Liska, Sal Nesci, Renee Johnson-Thornton, Ann Bauer-Lawson; 4 others withdrew voluntarily: David Boyce, George Dunn, Jennifer Piazza, and Wilbert Young.

New candidates included: Todd Berch, Cary Chatham, Ava Bysiewicz Donaldson, Bill Grady, Mike Johnson, Daniel Levine, Vincent Loffredo, and Bradley Spahn.

In response to Streeto's insistence that he also had to ask for nominations from the floor, Russo challenged the assembled Democrats to nominate somebody not on the endorsed list. There were no nominations from the floor, and the endorsed slate was elected without opposition.

The first task of the elected committee will be to elect officers for the next term. This will take place at their next meeting, in March.