Shepherd joins race for Town Board
Regular Town Board observer and critic Paul Shepherd, an independent candidate for town supervisor in 2009, has joined the race for Town Board, winning the County Conservative Committee’s nomination along with Councilman Peter Reich, who already has the town GOP’s nomination.
Mr. Shepherd is the fifth designated candidate running for two Town Board seats that are at stake in this fall’s election. He will be vying with Mr. Reich, Mr. Reich’s fellow Republican nominee Will Anderson, and Democratic candidates Ian Weslek and Dan Fokine.
The Conservatives also have nominated Glenn Waddington for supervisor and Hap Bowditch, already endorsed by the GOP, for highway superintendent. Like the town’s Democrats and Republicans, the Conservatives cross-endorsed Nancy Kotula for receiver of taxes and Al Hammond and BJ Ianfola for assessor.
Mr. Bowditch will face Democratic nominee Jay Card for the highway post. It is Mr. Card’s second run. He challenged incumbent Mark Ketcham in 2009 and lost by 99 votes. Mr. Ketcham, first elected in 2001 as a Republican running with no opposition, is not seeking re-election.
No formal announcement of the nominations was made locally. County Conservative chairman Ed Walsh could not be reached to confirm them. Councilman Ed Brown, who was re-elected in 2009 on the Conservative line, referred questions to County Conservative Committeeman Neal W. Raymond, who confirmed the Shelter Island Conservative nominations. He said the County Committee had met in a private office in Riverhead on May 23 to screen candidates for races across the county and made its decisions sometimes after that.
Mr. Waddington, a councilman whose four-year term is ending this year, had already announced he would run for supervisor as an independent in what has turned out to be a three-way race. Incumbent Jim Dougherty is seeking a third two-year term as the Democratic Committee’s nominee and newly retired Gardiner’s Bay Country Club golf pro Bob DeStefano is running for supervisor on the Republican line.
