"Stop the Madness!" The write-in campaigns of Ginny Calcutti.

The last major write-in campaigns in Croton featured one of the village's most colorful characters. She died earlier this summer.

As many readers know by now, and probably many more will realize between now and the November 5 election, two write-in candidates, Gary Eisinger and Nigel Ravelo, are now vying for Board of Trustee seats against incumbent Len Simon and former trustee Maria Slippen. They are running against the two Croton Democrats under the banner of Voice of Croton.

(Slippen, who was a trustee a decade ago, is running for the seat that became open when the late Ann Gallelli resigned for health reasons; Ian Murtaugh, whom Mayor Brian Pugh appointed to the seat, is not running for election.)

Write-in campaigns don’t happen often in Croton, probably for the very good reason that write-in candidates rarely win anywhere. But earlier this summer, Croton lost one of its most colorful past write-in contenders, Virginia (“Ginny”) Calcutti, who died on July 6. Calcutti, who was born in Ossining but lived in Croton for 50 years, worked for 24 years as an administrator for the Croton-Harmon school district.

Calcutti was a registered Democrat, but also a well known gadfly to establishment Dems in the village. She ran two write-in campaigns, one in 2012 and again in 2013. The first time she got more than 700 votes, but lost badly to Ann Gallelli and Kevin Davis. The second time she did not do quite as well, with 555 write-in votes compared to 1262 votes for Andrew Levitt and 1278 for Casey Raskob. (Leo Wiegman won as mayor in the 2013 election, with 1476 votes against 20 write-in votes for local contractor Mark Franzoso.)

In an interview in the Cortlandt Daily Voice during her 2012 campaign, Calcutti told the paper that the three biggest issues in the village were taxes, the money proposed to be spent for improvements along Croton Point Avenue, and some renovations at the Croton Yacht Club. In an earlier interview with the Voice, Calcutti told a reporter:

"I'm tired of the overspending. I'm tired of our residents not being heard. I'm tired of not getting answers to their questions. I want to improve, if possible, our leadership, and I want accountability for that leadership. Oh my God, there's a whole bunch of things."

Calcutti finally got on the ballot in the 2014 election, when she ran for trustee on a slate put together by the newly formed political group Croton United (for some background on that now inactive organization, please see here.) They lost to Croton Democrats Brian Pugh, Ann Gallelli, and Maria Slippen; but afterwards Calcutti brought a complaint against the Dems with the Fair Campaign Practices Committee, alleging that the Dems had made false allegations that Croton United was actually bankrolled largely by the Croton Republicans.

The Committee found that the Dems had indeed engaged in unfair campaign practices, but the election results still stood. (The Chronicle, in its continuing coverage of village politics, has found that many Dems continue to allege or to believe that Croton United was a front for the Republican Party, an allegation that we have found to be false.)

Left to right: John Brijeski, Virginia Calcutti and Bob Anderson as Croton United candidates for village board, 2014 election.

After these election losses, Calcutti continued to be a gadfly in Croton, often writing letters to the Gazette about village issues and clashing with trustee Ann Gallelli over the purchase of the Gouveia property (now Gouveia Park) and other matters.

In one celebrated episode, Calcutti, in a letter published in the September 11-17, 2014 issue of the Gazette, suggested that some extensive landscaping in front of the Black Cow was being carried out by the brother of the Cow’s then owner, Michael Grant, at taxpayer expense. Calcutti suggested that this arrangement might represent an example of favoritism by the village, what she referred to as a possible “friend thing.”

According to a letter published by frequent Gazette letter contributor Paul Steinberg in the October 2-8 issue, the Grants retained a Manhattan law firm and demanded an immediate retraction of the Gazette letter and a “direct written apology” to both of the brothers. Steinberg, who wrote that he had a generally favorable opinion of Michael Grant, nevertheless went on to chide the Black Cow owner for “intimidating elderly ladies into silence” and suggested that he and Calcutti settle the matter over a cup of coffee.

Of course, Calcutti and her Croton United comrades went on to lose the elections the following month, and there is no record that she either issued an apology or that the Grants went on to sue her.

But she has left behind a legacy in Croton, that a write-in candidate can draw enough attention, and win enough votes, to at least influence the conversation in the village. The current write-in campaign of Gary Eisinger and Nigel Ravelo may be a similar long-shot, or perhaps, this time around, they will be serious contenders against the Croton Democrats.

Unlike Calcutti, who campaigned on a number of issues, Eisinger and Ravelo are running on one main platform, opposition to what many see as rapid “urbanization” of the village. But of course, that is a big issue in Croton right now, and Ginny Calcutti—in her own way and in her own time—may have pointed the way for today’s independent candidates.

Ginny Calcutti, 2012 (left) and 2013 (right) campaigns.

Editor’s note: We have been promised election campaign position statements by Len Simon and Maria Slippen, and will publish those as soon as they are submitted.

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