As Question Remains-Who Paid for Fake News Survey?
By Dan Murphy
As Tom Diana took the oath as the next Town Supervisor in Yorktown, residents offered their support for Town Clerk Diana Quast. Quast, the only elected democrat, was publicly criticized with accusations of mishandling the meeting minutes of the town board in public at a meeting last december. That accusation has been proven false, as Quast calmly tried to explain to the republican members of the town board last month.
Yorktown resident Dan Strauss, commented at the Jan. 17th Town Board meeting. “You expect respect from the people of Yorktown, but do you give us respect? Look at me, Mr. Lachertman, when I am talking to you. A naysayer is a person who criticizes, objects to or opposes something. Three months ago, you (Lachterman) said about people who opposed a new hotel in town, “if you don’t like it you can leave.” That is not respectful.”
Strauss continued, “The reason that I have not been here for a year is that I didn’t want to be in the same room with people who don’t give respect to others. But you went after the Town Clerk at the December meeting for 30 minutes. That was something that I have not seen in my lifetime. She (Quast) is a decent person,” said Strauss.
Yorktown residents are also abuzz trying to determine who paid for a ‘survey’ by text and phone to democrats and independents asking loaded questions about Quast, in an attempt to try to create support for Jenna Lennox-Belcastro for Town Clerk.
Lennox-Belcastro is the former secretary to Assemblyman Matt Slater. Some see a simple explanation in who would pay for a survey to promote Lennox-Belcastro and discredit Quast. “Who would pay to promote Slater’s Secretary other than Slater? I always found them too chummy. The promotion of his Secretary does not pass the smell test. This has all the fingerprints of Slater and his stupidity-classic bully move,” posted by TurkeyMountainMan.
Some democrats who received the survey questioned if it had the opposite desired effect. Former Supervisor Susan Siegel called it a “politicly motivated attack,” and “a phony issue.” Phil Corrao called it “an abuse of our public trust.”
Others questioned how the author of the survey, (still unknown but inquiring minds want to know and will find out), concocted the false evidence to attack Quast. The two questions in the survey, claiming that the Town Clerk has the power to approve or reject contracts with vendors, or that the Clerk has been negligent in her duties, were disproven and rejected by the residents, who saw through it and support Diana Quast, not because she is a democrat but because she is a good, honest, decent public servant.
It is this type of divisiveness from Republicans that Yorktown Democrats hope to capitalize on this fall. The Yorktown Democratic Committee (YDC) announced their nominations of Jann Mirchandani for Town Supervisor, Steve Shaw and Tom Marron for Town Council, and Diana Quast for re-election as Town Clerk.
YDC Co-Chair Marni Rabin-Marron said: “these accomplished candidates are all highly qualified and committed to making our town a wonderful place to live now and in the future. These strong candidates are dedicated to ensuring we have a local government that is responsive to the needs of all our neighbors.”
Jann Mirchandani and her husband moved to Yorktown nearly 20 years ago with their two children, both of whom are now Yorktown High School graduates. In addition to being a small business owner of over 20 years herself, Jann is a well-known and passionate advocate for small businesses and nonprofits in the community. Jann currently serves on the Executive Board of the Greater Hudson Valley Council Boy Scouts of America (BSA) as the Council Commissioner, the first female to hold this position.
Four years ago, Steve Shaw and his wife, Jennifer, moved to her hometown of Yorktown, where her family has lived for 45 years, to continue to raise their children, who are students at Yorktown High School and Strang Middle School. Steve’s career as a Project Manager and Corporate Trainer for the largest legal solutions firm in the world has brought him experience in collaboration, accountability, transparency, and compromise. Over the years he has been tasked with managing global projects for some of the largest law firms, acting as a subject matter expert in various areas, and developing and implementing internal certification programs.
Tom Marron is a 20-year resident of Yorktown. He and his wife Marni moved to Yorktown for its beauty and open spaces and are proud parents of a Yorktown High School student. Tom is an18-year teacher at MLK Jr. High School in Greenburgh.
Town Clerk Diana Quast is seeking re-election to the position of Clerk for the Town of Yorktown. Having previously served as Deputy Town Clerk in the Town of Yorktown since 2003 and elected as Town Clerk in 2016, Quast has been helping others over the past 23 years of her public service career. As a 40-year plus resident of the Town and serving the people for 20 years, Quast is eager to show voters why she should be given the opportunity to continue to do so. With constant changes to law and procedures that make the Town Clerk’s office an important office for all residents, there are initiatives and programs begun during Quast’s tenure she is looking forward to continuing and expanding
YDC Co-Chair Mark A. Lieberman said: “The election of these candidates will mark a significant change of direction for our town’s government by electing people that bring a fresh perspective, new ideas, compassion, and the energy needed to meet the challenges we face in 2023 and beyond.”
Yorktown Republicans have yet to announce their slate of candidates, but most are expecting Diana to run for Supervisor, Ed Lachterman for Council, and Jenn BelCastro for Town Clerk. Newly sworn in Councilmember Mary Capoccia will not run for election this fall.
