Tom Hatfield, the Town of Dryden Republican Committee Chairman, was just on WHCU, and I learned a lot about the Coalition for Change:
Their organization includes one Democrat, the treasurer, who Tom claims will be more visible in the next week, but hasn't previously been involved in local politics.
Every single candidate the Coalition for Change endorsed is a Republican.
Apparently content with the status quo in at least one instance, Hatfield announced their endorsement of incumbent District Attorney George Dentes.
I have to admit I'm disappointed. Early on, I'd heard that Tom Hatfield was doing this in part to get away from the right wing of his own party, and to maybe work with some Democrats, possibly Town Supervisors with different perspectives than the county, or rural Democrats who don't always get along with Ithaca Democrats. I've heard nothing about that since. Instead, we seem to have a straight Republican ticket by another name, with a Democratic treasurer.
Tom did talk about separating local politics from national politics. This seems to be much more about changing the name on the ballot than about changing politics as usual.
Posted by simon at November 1, 2005 8:57 AM in WHCU , politics (local)