Two candidates running for elected office in the town/village of Harrison have also secured the support of some of the county’s additional political parties, according to the Westchester County Board of Elections.
Councilman Joe Stout, a Democrat, and Richard Dionisio, the vice chairman of the Harrison Republican Town Committee, each received enough signatures to run on the Democratic and Republican lines, respectively. However, Stout must first win a primary election against Democratic Party-backed candidate Christopher Rodier in order to run on the Democratic ticket in the November general election.
But according to the Board of Elections, Dionisio has captured the Independence Party and Reform Party endorsements, fulfilling his petition requirement to run on those lines in the general election. The Independence Party has 779 registered voters in the town/village of Harrison, while the Reform Party has only two registered voters, according to Board of Elections data.
Stout, who met the signature requirement to appear on the Conservative line, said he will run on that ballot line alone in the general election if he does not win the Democratic primary.
Harrison Democratic Committee Chairwoman Elizabeth Pritchard said the committee would support Stout if he wins the Sept. 13 primary, but questioned his politics, noting that the Conservative Party aligns more closely with Republican ideologies.
The Conservative Party has 325 registered voters in Harrison.
Stout told the Review he decided to seek the Conservative line because he knows Harrison residents in that party. He stressed his belief that party politics don’t pertain to most decisions made at the local level. “Ideology shouldn’t trump practicality and business sense and experience when you’re talking about the basic level in government,” he said.
Dionisio agreed with Stout’s sentiment of putting town before party.
“I want to get an attitude of non-partisanship out there,” he told the Review, adding that he reached out for the support of other parties in order to get a better understanding of the concerns of Harrison residents across the political spectrum.
The Board of Elections requires all candidates to petition for a political party’s support when running for elected office. A candidate must receive signatures from 5 percent of a party’s registered voters in order to run on that party’s ticket.
The three candidates running for town board this year are seeking the seat vacated by former Councilman Joe Canella, a Republican, after being elected town justice in November 2015. The winner of the election would fill the remainder of Cannella’s unexpired term, which expires at the end of 2017, but would have to run again the following year to win their own full four-year term.
In January, Stout was appointed by an all-Republican town board to fill Canella’s seat.
Hugh Fox, chairman of the Conservative Party, and Pat Lagano, chairman of the Independence Party, could not be reached as of press time.
