Democrats Nominate Slate

The Orange Democrats held their caucus to nominate candidates for elected office in the 2011 municipal elections. Ken Saccente was elected as Caucus Moderator and Jody Deitch was elected as Caucus Secretary.

The slate of candidates follows the list presented to the Democratic Town Committee at their June meeting. However, three candidates were not presented at their June meeting nor were they recommended by the Democratic Town Committee.

The candidates were Marilyn Marks for Tax Collector, Susan Riccio for Amity Board of Education, and David Oestreicher for First Selectman. 

At the Democratic Town Committee Meeting preceding the Caucus, Trish Pearson who is the Chair of the Orange Democratic Party credited a small group of people for doing ‘a yeoman’s job’ at finding, recruiting, and securing candidates.

The small group consisted of the Nominating Committee, chaired by John Hoffmann who recently took the title from Bob Sousa who resigned from the position last month, and Mitch Goldblatt who, as Pearson said, “sealed the deals.” Goldblatt, however, said, “I was not a member of the Nominating Committee so I don't know how many individuals were spoken to or spoke to the committee about running for First Selectman.” 

Oestreicher is a political unknown in the town, moving to Orange 10 years ago for a ‘Norman Rockwell house.’ Oestreicher is a professor of chemistry at the secondary and collegiate levels.

Goldblatt did sit down with Oestreicher to discuss the challenges and process of a campaign and the duties of First Selectman of the Town of Orange. Goldblatt said after that discussion Oestreicher seemed “indeed more interested than ever and expressed a sincere desire to run.” The former First Selectman gave the official nomination for Oestreicher stating that he was a runner, specifically a “marathoner” and that Oestreicher has the ability to run a long race.

Some involved in the Democratic Party are concerned with Oestreicher being so unknown in town and the main point of his speech was the schools need more support will not help the party. Tim Riordan is an active Democrat in town said that, “In the difficult financial times facing many in the community, I think the message of Mr. Oestreicher, that ‘we need to spend more on our schools’ may not be the easiest to sell.“ 

Overall, the Caucus went “smoothly” Riordan said. Paul Tarbox, the Democrats’ 2007 candidate for First Selectman, said that he was surprised by the “general apathy by the town’s democrats toward running in the upcoming elections and the lack of candidates for several key offices.” When Goldblatt met with Oestreicher, he detailed the road ahead.

Tarbox explained to Patch what the next step is. He says, “After the party nomination comes all the hard work. The candidates have to organize a team, raise money in a tough economy, develop a platform and message, but most importantly they have to get out to the community and talk to people about what they would do if fortunate enough to be elected.

I wish David Oestreicher the best of luck. It is a hard road that lies in front of him with an incredible amount of pressure.”

Patch contacted Chairwoman Trish Pearson, but she did not respond to our questions.***

The official Slate of Candidates is below:

OFFICE

CANDIDATE

First Selectman

David Oestreicher

Board of Selectmen

Joseph F. Blake

Mitchell R. Goldblatt

Trish Pearson

Town Clerk

Patrick B. O'Sullivan, II

Tax Collector

Marilynn Marks

Board of Finance

Neal DeLaurentis

Angela McNabola

Kevin Moffett

Michael Storz

Plan and Zoning

Paul Kaplan

Rick Mangione

Kevin McNabola

Orange Board of Education

Jody Dietch

Susan Falvey

Marlene Itzler

Amity Board of Education

Elyse Borsuk

Diane Crocco

Polly Demirjian

Susan Riccio

Constables

Santo Galatioto, Jr.

Steve Hechtman

Robert Shanley

Randy Thomas

*** EDITOR'S NOTE: Mrs. Pearson contacted Patch on Wednesday night explaining that she was out of town on Tuesday and did not see Bob's e-mail with the questions until after the deadline.