Yorktown Special Election Candidates Square Off in Debate

 

 

The four candidates seeking two available seats on the Yorktown Town Board in a special election next month met face-to-face Monday night in the only scheduled debate before voters head to the polls.

Democrats Rosanne Brackett and Bob Giordano and Republicans Greg Bernard and Tom Diana fielded a wide range of questions from a panel of two reporters and high school students in the Yorktown Students for Good Government club for nearly two hours in front of a standing-room only audience at the Fourth Unitarian Society of Westchester.

Brackett and Bernard are vying to serve the final three years and nine months of former Councilman Terrence Murphy’s unexpired term. Giordano and Diana are running to fill the last nine months of former Councilman Nick Bianco’s unexpired term.

The March 10 special election will determine which party holds the majority on the town board for the rest of the year since the board is now comprised of Supervisor Michael Grace, a Republican, and Democratic councilpersons Vishnu Patel and Susan Siegel.

The exchange between the candidates remained civil and respectful until Brackett, running for elected office for the first time, and Bernard, who served as councilman from 1994 to 2001, were asked about the differences between each other.

Bernard maintained his experience in local government would enable him to hit the ground running on the board, whereas Brackett would have to go through a natural learning curve.

“I think experience definitely counts,” Bernard said. “I believe my resume says I’m qualified for this position. Whose side is he on? I think we need to get away from that type of thinking. I want to move Yorktown forward.”

Brackett took exception with Bernard’s contention that she should perhaps seek an appointment to the Planning Board or Zoning Board of Appeals before running for the Town Board.

“He has done this job before. I’m a new face. I think he’s a good guy though,” Brackett remarked. “We just have a different way of doing things. I think this is a new day, a new age. I don’t think I have to put 20 years on the Planning Board. That’s ridiculous. We need to change things and we can’t do it by putting people back on the board. I think I come to this with a unique perspective.”

Diana, who lost to Siegel in a special election last year, and Giordano, who founded the Yorktown Small Business Association, opted to tout their own strengths and goals instead of making comparisons.

“I feel that I’m a good candidate for this position,” said Diana, a retired police officer and owner of an oil delivery and service business. “I hope to bring some fairness to the Town Board and try to get it back on track. I would be new to the Town Board when elected. I would be the fresh eyes, the fresh ears. We’re all going to have different opinions. If we can’t work together we don’t belong on the Town Board.”

“I simply want to move Yorktown to the future. I think I have a lot of what is needed to do that. I bring a lot to the table,” said Giordano, a retired IBM manager. “I think people know me as a straight shooter. With me what you see is what you get. I’m seeking your support because I think we need a government that works for everyone.”

The candidates split down party lines when asked about televising work sessions, with Brackett and Giordano wholeheartedly supporting the idea and Bernard and Diana opposing it.

“I don’t know why we wouldn’t want to televise it. We don’t have anything to lose. We don’t have anything to hide,” Brackett said.

“I think it’s a valuable tool for our citizens to be informed,” Giordano said.

However, Bernard and Diana maintained televising work sessions could lead to grandstanding and unproductive discussions.

“I think the way it’s set up now is fine,” Diana said. “If you have an issue you’re interested in you would be there. There’s nothing being hidden from what I can see.”

Other issues the foursome were asked about included the controversial sober home on Underhill Avenue, relocating the highway garage, attracting businesses to fill empty storefronts, alienating parkland for the proposed natural gas pipeline, amending the town’s Ethics Law and Grace’s behavior during Town Board meetings.

“He came in with an aggressive agenda and he’s done some good things for the town,” said Bernard, who noted he has been friends with Grace for 25 years. “If elected I would be able to work with Michael and Vishnu and Susan.”

“I think Supervisor Grace has a really hard job. I think his job is thankless at times. He’s extremely passionate in things he believes in and I can respect that,” Brackett said. “(But) There are things that happen at Town Board meetings that he does that are inappropriate and inexcusable.”

“I think he does an extraordinary job as supervisor,” Diana said. “Supervisor Grace has a tough job. He tries to conduct an orderly meeting. Unfortunately over the last several months things have been stymied. A lot of head butting.”

“I wish him well. I know there is a lot of stress and it’s easy for most of us to lose our patience at times,” Giordano said. “He can show more respect to people and do a better job at listening. The terms hearing and listening are two different things.”