BREAKING NEWS

DEMOCRATS CAPTURE THE MAJORITY ON THE VILLAGE BOARD

The Village Election of 2008 is behind us. As a result, incumbent Trustee Svend Beecher was reelected to a third term, and second-time candidate Barbara Kraft was elected Trustee for a first term. Campaigning on themes of updating the Village Master Plan in conjunction with the Town Comprehensive Plan, and taking a more proactive and positive approach to the familiar issues of sidewalks, parking, traffic congestion, and trash collection, our candidates spoke personally with many residents in their door-to-door visits. Also stressing open, participatory government and the importance of maintaining the Village’s independence through strong management, our two candidates, running on the Democratic line for the first time, achieved significant margins of victory.

Svend was the run-away high vote getter, with 358 ballots. Barbara followed with 285 votes. Republican Kyle Eighmy, running on the “Responsible Government” line, trailed well behind with 190 votes. In total, 445 ballots were cast in person, plus 17 absentee ballots. (Fortunately, we didn’t have to go to court to count the absentee ballots this time…). There was also a total of 11 write-in votes.

Personal contact made a big difference, and active poll watching followed by last-minute get-out-the-vote calls in the evening of Election Day also contributed to the reasonably high turnout of our supporters. However, compared to last year, when ballots totaled 522 out of a possible 1732, overall participation was down 4 percentage points (30% turnout versus 26% this year). A couple of points are worth noting. Kyle Eighmy and Barbara Kraft were essentially contesting an open seat, that vacated by retiring Trustee Brenda Klaproth. Also, Kyle was running by himself, leaving his supporters with an extra vote to spend – it’s likely that some of his supporters selected one of our candidates as well. (A good example of why it helps to run a full slate, even if voters do tend to split their votes).

As far as goals for the coming term go, now that the Democrats constitute a three-to-two majority on the Village Board, we can expect to see some results. In addition to the platform goals noted above, Svend’s concerns include the enhancement of two Village-owned parcels on Crystal Lake (existing parks which are underused), working with the Chamber of Commerce to balance the needs of local business owners with those of residents, and adopting sustainable energy sources and products for municipal use. Barbara’s goals include encouraging open communication and participation between Village residents, business leaders and elected officials, improving a shared services program with the Town and Schools in order to save tax dollars, and maintaining (while improving) our quality of life in the Village.

Warren Smith, Rhinebeck Democratic Committee Co-Chair