Sweeny Considers Entering County Executive Race
There may be a Republican primary race for Putnam County executive after all.
Alana Sweeny, a Mahopac resident who worked as the director of New York State Council on Children and Families in former governor George Pataki’s administration, said she is considering running against former Putnam Legislator MaryEllen Odell for the Republican line.
“If I decide that I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it to win it, and I am going to win it,” Sweeny said Thursday.
Sweeny said she had been asked by hundreds of residents to run for the seat, but had not made a decision. She said she was not sure when she would decide.
So far, the only candidate to enter the race is Odell, who lost to former state senator Vincent Leibell in last year’s election. Odell received the endorsement of the Putnam Republican Committee. So far no Democratic candidate has announced, but Putnam Democratic Chair Lynne Eckardt said she expects the party to have a candidate.
Leibell, a 28-year state legislator, announced last year he wouldn’t take office shortly before pleading guilty to felony corruption charges. County Executive Paul Eldridge, who was appointed by the legislature to fill a one-year term before a special election is held this fall, said he does not plan to run for a full term.
Sweeny’s husband, Judge John W. Sweeny, Jr., is an associate justice in the First Judicial Department of the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.