Newcomers get unanimous support for Democratic ticket

NEW SCOTLAND — Neither of the sitting Democratic town board members were mentioned last night while members of the Democratic Party nominated two relative newcomers to run for their seats in November’s election.

Roughly 50 Democrats selected Patricia Snyder and William Hennessy to run for the seats to be vacated by Deborah Baron and Richard Reilly.

Theirs were the only nominations made and nobody cast a nay vote.

Reilly said in March that he would not seek re-election and in May the 16-member Democratic committee, with one member absent, voted 9 to 6 not to endorse Baron for re-election.

Baron and Reilly voted against a popular bill that would have capped the allowable size of retail stores in the town after an election that turned on land-use issues, with a slate of candidates who campaigned on a platform of controlled retail development prevailing.

Before her nomination, Snyder was hailed as someone who has experience with the issues facing the town, which are primarily land-use related.

Hennessy is the chair of the town’s zoning board of appeals and has been on that board since 2002.

Each seat on the town board carries a four-year term.

Thomas Dolin, the incumbent supervisor, was the only nominee for the two-year post and received no dissenting votes.