Looking beyond party, choosing Lucas

Dear Editor,

It’s been a long time since I had a choice of candidates for the position of Town of North Salem Supervisor. What makes this election cycle different is that the present supervisor, Warren Lucas, has run unopposed for so many election cycles.

I take my privilege to vote seriously and proceeded to do due diligence, by following my normal problem-solving process before deciding on which candidate to vote for in this position.

A decision would be simple if I believed the political party of the candidate was paramount. But having lived for 50 years in a relatively small town of North Salem, of about 5,200 residents, I consider the political party affiliation of a candidate to be minimal in my decision. In small-town municipal elections, what matters is: candidate action, quality, character, competence and engagement. For some voters, party affiliation still matters, particularly if they don’t know much about the candidates.

As a benchmark, I value: a candidate’s record; ability to work with others including all parties; engagement in the town emergency situations and responsiveness to individual needs; leveraging and optimizing grant opportunities; responding to phone calls and always being accessible; leveraging county and state legislators, State Department of Transportation, NYSEG, etc., in expediting the resolutions for emergency and related issues; ensuring both short and long term town planning and support of open spaces and rural environment of our town.

Having evaluated Warren Lucas’ accomplishments against his job duties and responsibilities, my conclusion is that he has been and is an exemplary town supervisor. He has a record of proven capabilities.

Warren has achieved this A++ because he fundamentally cares, he has invaluable experience and he delivers outstanding results. Lucas gets my vote. Warren has proven he deserves it.

-Sal Pantezzi, North Salem