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Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Almost communist': Palmyra council members argue over Republican primary endorsements
A Palmyra Borough Council meeting escalated to a shouting match between officials over how the Lebanon County Republican Committee endorsed nominees for the upcoming May 20 municipal primary. Palmyra Mayor Tom Miller reached out to council members involved with the committee during the April 22 meeting about their endorsement process after social media posts saying the committee endorsed candidates for the primary. Half of the council members are up for re-election, along with the borough mayor. "Here's the reasons we brought it up because you have the Republican Committee, who you would think would discuss with all the people ... but these names got automatically put on there," he said during the meeting. Miller added that the endorsement process was "almost communist," which council member Anthony Catalani found offensive. "You got to watch your comments, because some people take offense to that and I don't appreciate it," Catalani said to Miller. Candidates on the ballot for the Palmyra Borough Council Republican Primary are Denver Wilson, incumbent Catalani II, incumbent Marcus Riddell, Tony Pearson, incumbent Jane Quairoli and incumbent council Vice President James Tesche. Candidates for Palmyra mayor are Kevin Yiengst and Miller, who was appointed this year to finish former mayor Fred Carpenter's term. According to a Facebook page called Conservative Republicans for Palmyra Borough Council, the county committee officially endorsed Wilson, Catalani, Riddell and Pearson as candidates for borough council, and endorsed Yiengst for mayor. According to the county Republican committee website, Wilson, Riddell and Catalani are district committee members, and Catalani is the chair of the Lebanon County Young Republicans. The Facebook page, which was promoted by Wilson and Riddell on public forums, states the endorsed candidates are fiscally conservative, strive for transparency on borough council for the people, and community focused. No other positions are listed as of April 24. "The Republican ballot will have 6 names for Borough Council and 2 names for Mayor," an April 17 post reads. "Only these 5 Republicans were endorsed as the true conservative Republican candidates by the Lebanon GOP." When asked if a meeting to endorse was publicized for candidates, Riddell said that he was not sure. Incumbent officials Miller, Quairoli and Tesche said that they were unaware of any meeting where they could speak to the Lebanon County Republican Committee to advocate for an endorsement. Quairoli, who previously served on the district committee said the whole endorsement process "reeks." "What would have been appropriate, and the way things have been done in the past, is when a district is going to endorse, you invite all the candidates to speak," she said to Catalani. "Then the voting is done on whether or not to endorse, and then who to endorse." Tesche added the endorsed candidates were only running on a platform of not raising taxes. During the meeting, Catalani called Miller's and other council members' questions about the endorsement process an interrogation. At several points during the discussion, he said that Miller and Tesche were scared and afraid. "I'm going to be honest with you, I can do this all night but it really sounds like some fear, and that's fine," Catalani said to Tesche. "But I'm telling you this right now, it's up to the voters ... and what we want to do is transparency, we want to keep taxes low and we want to stop with some of the spending and we just want to put the people in mind first, simple as that." As Miller called the process "secretive" and started saying that unendorsed council members were great, Catalani responded with "raise taxes, raise taxes, raise taxes." The two then got into a shouting match, which included Miller addressing Catalani's DUI arrest in October 2024. Catalani arrest: 'Complete lack of judgment': Palmyra officials address council member's DUI arrest The Lebanon County Republican Committee is hosting a candidate night at the Rothermel-Finkenbinder Funeral Home Monday, April 28, which is open to residents if they RSVP ahead of time through a website link. The event allows residents to meet endorsed committee candidates for borough council, mayor, Palmyra Area School Board and countywide candidates including Lebanon County Attorney Pier Hess Graf and Sheriff Jeffrie Marley. When borough officials asked if the unendorsed candidates could come to the event, Catalani said they "can attend, but they won't be able to speak if they are not endorsed." According to the Lebanon County Republican Committee Bylaws, the regional districts and the full committee shall convene for the purpose of considering endorsements, and does not make mention of non-committee members. The bylaws also state that "for all offices comprising electoral districts less than the entire county, or less than any Regional District, only those Committee members entitled to vote in the Primary and General Elections for that office shall be eligible to vote in the endorsement process." Miller and Catalani's argument was stopped several times by council President Beth Shearer, who gaveled them to order before addressing the residents at the meeting. "My advice to everyone who is going to vote in this election is to do your research on all the candidates," she said. The Pennsylvania 2025 municipal primary is scheduled for May 20. The last day to register to vote is May 5. The last day to request a mail-in or absentee ballot is May 13. Residents looking for more information can visit the Lebanon County Voter Registration Office website at or contact them by phone at 717-228-4428. Matthew Toth is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at mtoth@ or on X at @DAMattToth. This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Palmyra PA council members argue over Republican primary endorsements
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Constantino believes he has the right stuff to run in NY-21
PLATTSBURGH — Anthony Constantino is running for the NY-21 Congressional seat because he wants the 'best possible people in government.' 'I just like solving problems,' Constantino told the Press-Republican in a recent sit-down interview. 'I said (to myself) I'd be able to solve much bigger problems in this role and I'd … be one of the more talented people that'd be available for the job.' Constantino, 42, is a Republican from Amsterdam. He's the CEO of StickerMule there, a distributing company of 1,200 employees and growing. He is hoping the Republican Committee chooses him as the nominee for the NY-21 Special Election when it eventually occurs. The NY-21 seat is being vacated by long-time Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who was nominated by President Donald Trump for the role of United Nations Ambassador. The Senate is expected to vote on her confirmation this week. If confirmed, Stefanik will resign as congresswoman and Gov. Kathy Hochul will have 10 days to declare a special election. As the current law states, that election must happen within 70 to 80 days after that. 'READY FOR WHATEVER' But it could be delayed until the date of a primary in late June. 'I'm ready for whatever, and I'm already putting every bit of infrastructure in place to effectively campaign once I get the nomination,' Constantino said. 'I already started running ads in the district.' Constantino said if nominated and then elected, the experience of running StickerMule will undoubtedly help him learn how to manage the NY-21's large geographical size, which includes Clinton, Franklin, St. Lawrence, Lewis, Hamilton, Essex, Warren, Washington, Fulton, Herkimer, Montgomery, Schoharie and parts of Jefferson, Rensselaer and Otsego Counties. 'I know how to build massive, distributed organizations, and I think I can get the district connected and working together as a team very effectively so that people are made aware of issues more effectively, and issues are addressed more effectively,' he said. 'The way the district communicates right now is not so effective — it could be a lot better. But I have a massive organization, it's spread out all over the place and I know how to get a large organization that's distributed, working together effectively and different people being heard, which is something we need in this district … There's different problems (everywhere) and everybody needs to be heard.' An example of this already, he said, is that he services millions of customers at StickerMule, gets 5,000 to 10,000 emails a day and each one gets answered. 'I'm actually really excited about the aspect of servicing the constituents, giving them a way to get in touch with me effectively, and getting them effective responses,' he said. 'I know how to do that at scale, through my business, and I want to bring that skill set to the district. Obviously, I want to make the case that people can get more done remotely than face to face. The district's so big …' If elected to the seat being vacated by Stefanik, he said he will do his best to work with the president to get stuff done for the North Country. BORDER SECURITY He said one of the biggest issues facing the district is the Northern border and ensuring it's secure. He said he will be NY-21's biggest advocate. 'Border security doesn't just protect the United States of America. It's protecting the immigrants as well. What Democrats are doing with regards to open borders, it's cruel all around. It's hurting America, because on the Northern border, we have people coming to bring terrorism and drugs and crime,' Constantino said. 'It's hurting America, but it's also hurting these immigrants that they buy these plane tickets, they save up all their money, and they buy these plane tickets and they cross and some of them freeze to death, and they end up dead in people's backyards, and that's very cruel. It needs to stop. and I don't think anyone will be better than me about advocating to put an end to that, working with the president on that issue and making people aware it's bad all around.' INTERNET ACCESS Increasing cell service and internet in the most rural areas of the district will also be a top priority for Constantino. 'I built an incredible company because I had access to the internet … You can build massive companies from anywhere in the world now if you have an internet connection. But in order to enjoy the internet economy, you need an internet connection,' he said. 'And in far too many parts of the district, we don't have high speed internet. You need not just internet, you need fast internet. So we need to bring high speed internet to the district and also cell service … I've experienced it myself. My phone drops all the time and somebody said to me that it's a safety issue. I said: well, it is a safety issue, because you can't call 911, but it's also an economic issue because you can't conduct your business if the calls are dropping.' TRUMP SUPPORTER Constantino is also a staunch supporter of President Trump and held several rallies in support of him leading up to the 2024 Election. He said he flipped many Democratic votes into Republican votes during those events. He said during that process, he effectively marketed Trump's campaign and knows he can market himself better than any other candidate could as well. Constantino said he has 'finite resources' to campaign. This is part of the reason why he believes the Republican county chairs will choose him as the nominee. 'In my short amount of time in politics, I'm already outperforming … I also put $2.6 million in my campaign account — my own money,' he said. 'No one else put up money like I put up money — $2.6 (million) is a big number — and I want to use all my talent and resources to help steer New York in the right direction, to help build the Republican Party. I think in the event I get this seat, we're going to be able to do something really incredible. I think things are going to change really quickly and … I'm going to bring a lot of organization and excitement to the Republican Party … I'm going to build a massive organization that's going to help the party not only maintain this seat, but win other seats.'
