It Isn't Over Until It's Over

For most of the city, the Democratic primary decided the local races. Except in two instances--the Republicans running Martin Martinez for alderman in the Second Ward and twelve-term incumbent Bob Donahue for alderman in the Fifth Ward--the other parties did not field their own candidates but simply cross-endorsed candidates who are Democrats. There are candidates in the Second Ward who lost the Democratic primary and remain on the ballot on other party lines, but in the Fourth Ward the competition remains most fierce. 

In the race for the two aldermen seats, it's still a three-way race.

John Rosenthal and Rich Volo beat out Lauren Scalera in the Democratic primary, with 107 and 104 votes respectively to her 100 votes. But, thanks to the long Hudson tradition of cross endorsement, Scalera, the incumbent and daughter of long-time mayor and Hudson politico Rick Scalera, remains on the ballot on the Republican and Conservative party lines.

Things are even more complicated in the race for Fourth Ward supervisor.   

In the Democratic primary, Linda Mussmann, co-director of Time & Space Limited, challenged Bill Hughes, the incumbent who has held the office since 2008, and won by two votes--109 to 107. Hughes, however, cross-endorsed by the Republican and Conservative parties, remains on the ballot. But that's only the beginning of the complication.

Hughes, who prior to the primary was endorsed by the Hudson City Democratic Committee (HCDC), is also a member of the HCDC. In April 2017, because it was alleged that some members of the HCDC had in past elections worked to elect candidates who were not the Democratic candidates, the HCDC unanimously agreed to the following: "After the Primaries, HCDC members must not actively support a candidate running against the candidate on the Democratic line." This puts Hughes and the HCDC in an awkward situation. As a member of the HCDC, he has presumably forsworn actively supporting a candidate running against the candidate on the Democratic line, but, thanks to cross endorsement, he is the candidate running against the candidate on the Democratic line. Is he then required not to support himself or work to get himself elected? Short of that, it would seem he should resign from the HCDC, but that hasn't happened.  

Another weird twist in this race: Hughes recently challenged Mussmann to a debate, saying, "I think the people of the 4th Ward deserve to see both of us sitting side by side answering random audience questions that would allow us to demonstrate our knowledge and ability to address the problems they face." In the email informing her of the challenge, Hughes told Mussmann, "The Register Star would be the moderator and I'm asking the Democratic Party to pick location, date and time." But wait. Hughes is not the Democratic candidate yet he is inviting the Democratic candidate to a debate that would essentially be hosted by the HCDC. Mussmann, not surprisingly, declined the invitation, telling Hughes, among other things, "The old ways of having a 90-minute debate where each side plants people in the audience to ask questions and play a game of 'gotcha' is not something I am interested in doing. I will spend my time from now until election day continuing to meet the people of the newly drawn 4th ward, and to campaign in a new way, which does not include a debate with you." 
COPYRIGHT 2017 CAROLE OSTERINK