hahaha, people, you are watching the collapse of the "good ole boys" way of politics in Sleepy Hollow, NY

This is an embarassment to our Village, and those involved in running the so-called "caucus" ought to be ashamed. The meeting was scheduled to begin at 4:00 (no where was it posted that the meeting was to end at 4:00!). Members of the Democratic Party who have every right to be there and participate showed up at that time and were trying to sign in when the meeting was "opened" and "closed" in an instant. This is not democracry and this is not the "democratic process". This is a sham. And to call people showing up to exercise their right to vote an "ambush" is reprehensible.

Where was this publicized so that it can be described as a "well-publicized open nomination" ?

The first I heard of it was in the footnote to the article announcing the Sleepy Hollow Independent Party candidates - http://tarrytown.patch.com/articles/elections-2012-begin-in-sleepy-hollow-with-three-independents-announcing-candidacy (btw, that seemed a bit of an innapropriate place to include this information).

Prior to that, the only other mention I can find is from the following article on January 6th - http://tarrytown.patch.com/articles/faces-and-places-taking-the-political-temperature-of-involved-village-citizens - which states that stating that "Official announcements of the candidates will come from party caucuses, dates to be determined, at the end of January". In other words, as of three weeks prior, there had not been an announcement as to the date.

Outside of Patch.com, the only reference to the caucus that I could find deal with the above related debaucle after the fact. This all seems very reminiscent of a similar issue last year where the SH Democratic party filed an objection to their opposition - http://tarrytown.patch.com/articles/sh-candidates-make-official-announcement-say-petitions-being-challenged

I hope this is not a forecast of the remainder of this election....

I stand corrected. There was an announcement 3 days prior which, although I am not familiar with the exact electoral process of this party, seemed to indicate the nominees were already decided prior to the purported nominations described above.

Can anyone elaborate as to whether other candidates would have been entertained had they shown up before 4PM and what the exact process is?

Thanks Krista!

And another follow up from Chair Gandolfo on the list the latecomers signed: "Since the article this morning I have also looked at the list of people Occhipinti had sign his attendance sheet. There are 39 people on the list - however, only 17 are registered to vote as democrats and it is questionable that 2 of those 17 reside within the Village. That would bring their number down to 15. We had at least 20 supporters present - all registered dems. Occhipinti insisted on making his own list - now he is stuck with it. In any event, Occhipinti supporters all came in too late."

This is absurd. The meeting began at 4:00, which means that people had to show up at 4:00, sign in (all 30 of them), and take their seats. That cannot physically happen in one minute. The people who would have nominated Mr. Caetano were apparently there in the building and were trying to sign in. You cannot say that nominations were closed when they were never properly open. And if everyone was supposed to be in the building, signed in and seated by 4:00 or else they lose their opporunity to vote, the public notice should have stated that, which it did not. So if nothing else, the notice was inadequate. Either way, the Democratic Party ought to hold another caucus in order to restore some integrity to this botched process. And if the candidates involved have any respect for the democratic process in this country, they would insist themselves on holding another caucus.

I have a question - Is Janet Gondolfo being hired as the Village attorney as well as the Democratic party chair, a conflict of interest? We all know that the reason why she is the Village Attorney, is because the Democrats, whom she recommeded and placed on the board, hired her (Wray, Schroedel, and the rest of the clan). Of course she would recommend the three women who are running for Trustee, it allows her to still maintain control of the Village and be the "Mayor" behind the scenes. This Village will always remain the same as long as Janet rules. CORRUPT

Another question - Doesnt Don Caetano reside in Ossining? I know he owns property in this Village, but last I remembered he was living above his nursery in Ossining. That is worth questioning. Everything is so corrupt. Mr. Scott you have a lot of changes ahead of you, if you ever get in office.

Occiphiniti did tell me then that he had other nominees as well.

It saddens me to think the selfish acts of those who swear to protect the best interest of the Village of Sleepy Hollow. As a proud American Citizen, the best part of living in the “Land of the Free” is its democracy the ability and the choice that we have to choose those who represent our interest. Such freedom of democracy was denied to Sleepy Hollow residents when Ms. Gandolfo decided things were not going her way, or perhaps she was intimated to know people actually pull together to make their voice heard. Village candidates need to stop running the village as a one man show and start running it more for the villagers. Sadly to say that if this mockery continues until the next elections, the only ones who will suffer are the tax paying citizens of the village.

Like Mr. Scott said “this is an embarrassment to the village.” Candidates often complain of the lack of voter show up on election day, however hello…. you are driving them away! What legacy are we leaving our children who strive so hard? Mr. Mayor how about focusing on the environment, lowering taxes, improving services in the village? For those of you who are interested, tomorrow there will be a massive turn out at the board meeting. Villagers of Sleepy Hollow, come join us and voice your concern.

Let's all be honest with one another. There are certain people that are better off running our Village then others. But you can't start and end an open Caucus in Five minutes. LOL. OMG I wish I was there. The food at Finalmente must have been getting cold. You snooze you lose. Better luck in two years.

Are you sure this was the Democratic caucus? It sounds like a Republican affair--although the caucuses in Iowa and New Hampshire were open and there were no attempts reported to silence dissent. Maybe Sleepy Hollow is doing a party flip.

There are further questions that I am trying to get answers to - with the County Board of Elections for one: What are the rules that govern such caucuses, can they really be "closed" after a few minutes? Shouldn't there perhaps be a window of 15 minutes at least that the meeting should remain open? And I am trying to get the official attendance list and the minutes (with exact timing) that has to be filed with the county.

Another question for the County Board of Elections: Can the Democratic Caucus nominate a registered Republican?? Further, Gandolfo states in her comment that they "had at least 20 supporters present - all registered dems" when one of the nominees is a registered Republican! Does that bring the number down to 19 or does that number not include Lobato-Church? Seriously??

This was brought to my attention because I am all to familiar with railroading injustice substituting as goverment status quo. Fools do eventually play their part and By that I mean , if things had not happened just this way maybe people who never see whats going on can and do now.As documented by the peace keeping police called in ,perhaps Sleepy Hollow residents attend and hold certain people accountable for thinking they can running thing just the way they want to. There is alway still time to do the right thing and consider this a wake up call to the status quo who runs your village. Anyone who stands behind these questionable self rightious ,unabashed is that themselfs .