To the Editor:

Last week, I attended the Guilderland Democratic caucus at the Orchard Creek Country Club. I am enrolled as a Democratic and you may recall that I unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Guilderland Town Justice last year at the caucus.

I am against the caucus system and even filed a lawsuit in an attempt to stop the caucus because I felt it unfairly disenfranchised thousands of Guilderland Democrats and suppressed voter turnout, which is not very democratic in my opinion.

Very little notice is given to the Democratic voters and there is no absentee voting for elderly, disabled, or those serving in the military. Despite my efforts to put a stop to this unfair and outdated process, a caucus was held again this year.

I am against having a caucus but, because we do not have a primary election for the town board, the only way to participate in the process of nominating Democratic candidates for the town board is to attend the caucus.

So, as long as the Guilderland Democratic Committee decides to hold a caucus in Guilderland, I plan to attend and participate, and encourage other Democrats to attend and participate because it is important for the Guilderland Democratic Committee to hear from regular citizens in Guilderland about what is important to them, what their concerns are about our town, and who they want on the town board.  

There are two seats open on the Guilderland Town Board, and the Guilderland Democratic Committee was nominating only one candidate, incumbent Rosemary Centi. Due to new election reforms recently passed in New York State, the primary date was moved up and the Guilderland Democratic Committee was unable to find another candidate to run for the town board, that is until the caucus last Monday night.

Because it was a caucus, anyone could be nominated for any position. There were two surprise nominations that evening [The Altamont Enterprise, April 18, 2019: “Bohl, leader of grassroots group, endorsed by Dems for town board].

Laurel Bohl, an attorney and longtime resident of Guilderland, was nominated by her husband for the town board. As far as I know, Ms. Bohl has never been a member of the Guilderland Democratic Committee and has not run for office or been appointed to any town position.

Like myself, she is a newcomer to politics. She was able to be nominated because ordinary people who knew her from her work in the grassroots organization Guilderland Citizens for Responsible Growth showed up at the caucus to vote for her.

Democratic citizens of Guilderland sent the Guilderland Democratic Committee a clear message about who they wanted for town board and now she is the Democratic nominee and she should be supported by the Guilderland Democratic Committee, just like its other nominees.

The other surprise was my father, retired attorney Eugene E. Napierski, who wanted to be on the Committee to Fill Vacancies. I nominated him and he won and he is now on the committee and wants to be involved and participate on the committee.

I think it is a hopeful sign that two outsiders with fresh ideas and independent voices are now involved in our local politics. Although we all do not agree on every issue, we are all Democrats and we all want to make our town better.

I hope we can all come together and join forces to elect good Democratic candidates, incumbents and new voices, for the Guilderland Town Board.

Christine M. Napierski

Guilderland