Commentary posted by Robert Lynch; March 24, 2025
Alright, now that the pictures have grabbed your attention, let’s turn our focus back home, where it belongs.
Unless something changes, and changes quickly, elections this year in the Town of Enfield could become next to boring; inconsequential. In fact, there’s an outside chance that this November’s ballot could bring us no competitive races at all.
And the absence of competition would prompt cancellation of Enfield’s June 24th Democratic and Republican primaries.
Even though it’s only March, party petitioning for the November off-year General Election is heading into the home stretch. And at this point, no competition has emerged publicly for party nominations for any Enfield Town office or for either of the two Tompkins County Legislature seats that represent portions of our town.
In fact, in District 15—southern Enfield—a well-placed Democratic official has advised that no candidate from that party has emerged to challenge one-term incumbent Republican legislator Randy Brown.
Similarly, to the north, in District 16, where incumbent Democratic legislator Anne Koreman has declined to seek a third term, only Democrat Rachel Ostlund is running to succeed her. If Republicans have a candidate in that district, he or she remains a secret.
There would have been a District 16 legislative primary if Democrat David Foote had stayed in the race. But he didn’t. Foote pulled out just about the time fellow progressive Ostlund made her political intensions known earlier this month.
For Enfield Town offices, each of the incumbents appears to be running for reelection, but no one else has declared.
Supervisor Stephanie Redmond is said to be petitioning for this, her fourth (full or partial) term to lead Enfield government. Councilpersons Jude Lemke and Cassandra Hinkle are seeking re-nomination too. Democratic Town Clerk Mary Cornell is petitioning to remain in office. Republican Highway Superintendent Barry “Buddy” Rollins is likely to run again, as well.
No Republican has yet declared for any position this cycle on the Enfield Town Board. Nor has anyone of either party declared to challenge Cornell or Rollins.
That’s all well and good for the incumbents. Congratulate them for wanting to represent us. And to newcomer Ostlund, welcome to local politics. The point of what’s written here is not to disparage any one of them. It is to state a point. Their presumptive nominations (or elections) stand for nothing if those victories aren’t won in the arena of competition. They may not be.
Progressive Democrats have a recently-formed group called “Run for Something.” No doubt, conservatives have something similar. Run for Something’s effort is to engage entry-level future leaders at the grass roots strata, to nurture their incipient candidacies, to help them achieve victory; and then to watch their aspirations flourish and grow.
Get past Run for Something’s splashy homepage; scroll to the website’s internals, and the organization’s guiding principles become instructive. They should apply to each of us, Left or Right:
Be “Bold and Fearless,” Run for Something’s guiding principles proclaim. How is that motto defined?
- “We have big dreams and are unafraid to pursue them;”
- “We have a high risk tolerance, and we’re not afraid of fighting the system when fighting is necessary. We’re not afraid of primaries either;” and
- “We’re willing to fail,” and “we’d rather fail than avoid challenges.”
No, we’re not talking about Congress or the State Legislature here. We’re talking about the town board, the school board, or the county legislature.
Nothing written here should imply that those already running for local office lack the ability or the merit to lead us. They may be the best persons we can find for their jobs. If you admire a Town lawmaker, a County legislator, the Town Clerk or Highway Superintendent, fine. Volunteer for your chosen candidate, donate to that candidate, and talk up that candidate around town or on social media. But then, find another local office you’d like to hold and run for it instead.
And to challenge an incumbent is not to demean that incumbent. Too much in politics these days is smash mouth: “I win, you lose; I’m the greatest, you are worthless,” or so it goes. Maybe they play that game in Washington. Let’s us in Enfield show everyone that we’re made of better stuff. He or she I’m running against is still my neighbor; maybe even my friend. We two can still sip coffee together… and smile at each other from across the table as we do.
And here’s a truism: Competition makes every candidate stronger, including the incumbent. Without a competitive election, there’ll be no debates or candidate forums. The media will ignore the race. An incumbent will never have a true opportunity to defend his or her record. And there’ll be no challenger to stand up and proudly inform the electorate, “I can do it better.”
Coronations continue the status quo, when change truly may be needed. And if the status quo eventually prevails amidst a competitive election, it probably means the community wants things to stay just the way they are. But unless the sides are drawn, whether on the debate stage or in the Dandy Mart, no one will ever know which way our government really wanted to turn. And that, Enfield, is not good.
Democratic and Republican Party petitioning continues from now through April third. In Enfield, 49 valid signatures are required for a Democrat to secure consideration for Town-wide office; only 32 signatures are needed for a Republican candidate (because Republican voters are fewer than Democratic voters in Enfield). County Legislative district requirements are higher because those districts represent more people. The Tompkins County Board of Elections posts the required numbers.
In New York, only registered Democrats and Republicans can compete in their respective party primaries. So if you’re an unaffiliated voter, but still wish to vie in the November fourth General Election, you’ll need to petition as an independent. Independent petitioning begins April 15 and concludes May 27. In Enfield, an independent nominating petition requires 67 valid signatures for Town-wide office, roughly twice to three times that number in County Legislature races. For other towns and in other races, the numbers will differ.
And yes, Republicans or Democrats can avoid facing a party rival in a primary by petitioning as an independent and saving the face-off until the fall.
The Washington Post says “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” But it also dies amidst apathy. Lack of political competition will do us no favor in this, our little, lovable corner of Tompkins County. Please, don’t let apathy prevail. Pick an office and run for it. Have those “big dreams” and then be “unafraid to pursue them.”
###