Write-in candidates challenge Croton Dems for two trustee seats in November.

Gary Eisinger and Nigel Ravelo will face incumbent Len Simon and former trustee Maria Slippen, who is running for the seat currently held by appointee Ian Murtaugh (Murtaugh is not seeking election.)

In 2017, a slate of Croton Democrats led by Brian Pugh swept village elections, beating three Croton United candidates. Over the past seven years, there have been no other challenges and no other candidates other than Croton Dems.

Until now. Although it is too late for any candidate to be put on the November 5 ballot, two write-in candidates, well known Croton residents Gary Eisinger and Nigel Ravelo, have just announced their candidacies. As indicated above, they will be at Senasqua Park this evening, beginning at 5:30 PM, to talk with residents (at 6 PM, a musical event sponsored by Baked by Susan will also commence.)

Eisinger and Ravelo are running under the banner of Voice of Croton.

The write-in campaign is in obvious response to the current Board of Trustees’s aggressive push to expand housing in the village—what opponents are calling “urbanization”—along with other issues that have long been in contention since Mayor Pugh et al. took over (we will update this story with position papers, bios, and other materials as they become available.)

Oddly, Croton Dems apparently have been pretty shy about publicizing their own candidates: Deputy Mayor and trustee Len Simon (running for re-election) and Maria Slippen (a former trustee from a decade ago now running again.)

Slippen, currently chair of the village’s Recreation Advisory Committee, is running for the seat that will be vacated by Ian Murtaugh, who was appointed to fill the late Ann Gallelli’s seat after her resignation from the Board due to illness; Murtaugh is not seeking election to the post.

Although their candidacies are posted on the Dems’s Web page, as far as we know Simon and Slippen have up to now done little or no public campaigning. Whatever their plans may have been, that will probably have to change now that they are facing opposition, perhaps unexpectedly.

Eisinger is perhaps best known to villagers as Commodore of the Croton Yacht Club, and Ravelo as a member of the village’s volunteer fire department. We expect to receive official bios, position statements, and other campaign materials shortly, and we will update this story when we do.

Croton electoral politics were once very lively and contentious. That has not been the case for many years, and even some Democrats agree that it is not healthy for the village for candidates to run unopposed. This promises to be a very eventful fall season.

Len Simon and Maria Slippen/ Croton Democrats

Last stand: Croton United 2017 candidates Greg Schmidt, Roseann Schuyler, and Bob Anderson (from left to right)

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