The news on the national political scene this morning is that, by the end of the day, there will be no fewer than sixteen candidates vying for the Republican presidential nomination. Meanwhile, back in Hudson, the local Republicans seemed to have dropped the ball with some of their endorsed candidates.
Gossips has learned that the Hudson Republican Committee failed to file the necessary Wilson Pakula forms for the four candidates they have endorsed who are not registered Republicans: Priscilla Moore and Robert "Doc" Donahue (both running for alderman positions in the Fifth Ward), Rick Scalera (seeking re-election as Fifth Ward supervisor), and Lauren Scalera (running for Fourth Ward alderman). On Thursday, the last day they could do so, the Republicans filed OTB (Opportunity to Ballot) petitions for Moore, Donahue, and Lauren Scalera. (No OTB petitions were filed for Rick Scalera, presumably because he has the Democrats' endorsement and is running unopposed for his seat on the Board of Supervisors.)
This means that in the primary election, which takes place on Thursday, September 10, registered Republicans in the Fourth and Fifth Wards will have to go to the polls and write in the names of these candidates--Donahue and Moore in the Fifth Ward and Lauren Scalera in the Fourth Ward--if they are to appear on the ballot on the Republican line in the general election on November 3.
An interesting aside: Last Saturday, Rick Scalera appeared and spoke, along with other Republican candidates, at Bill Hallenbeck's campaign kickoff event. The event took place two days after the OTB petitions had been filed, so Scalera knew--and probably others did as well--that he would not be appearing on the Republican line in November.
COPYRIGHT 2015 CAROLE OSTERINK
Well, an OTB petition is not for a particular candidate. It's for the office alone. It's an opportunity to write in a candidate, any candidate, for that office.
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