Sound Shore

MAMARONECK—More than two weeks after the Nov. 2 elections, candidates for the village’s Board of Trustees are still slugging it out over accusations made on the campaign trail.

A Democratic incumbent is accusing the three GOP candidates of distributing misleading campaign materials, and misrepresenting certain facts about decisions made by village Democrats. The Democrat also says these Republicans misrepresented the findings of a campaign ethics board.

Democrat John Hofstetter makes his case before The Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee today at 5:30 p.m. The GOP candidates,  Marianne Ybarra, Greg Sullivan and Mary Vozza, are scheduled to appear.

“We need to correct the record for some of the factual mistakes that the other side made,” said Tom Murphy, chair of the village Democratic party. He called the GOP’s campaign-trail accusations “nonsense.”

The chair of the village GOP countered that the Democrats’ claims against the Republicans were “bogus.”

“Our campaign was fair and extremely mild compared to the bashing they did of us,” George Mgrditchian said.

The hearing comes as both sides await final word from The Board of Elections on who officially won the six-way race. Election officials have yet to finish counting hundreds of emergency ballots cast Nov. 2, according to party officials. The count is expected to begin Friday.

The fair campaign committee, a day before polls opened, denounced a flier circulated by Republicans saying Democrats “lied” about the GOP candidates in an earlier flier. The Republicans’ pre-Election Day flier came the day after the committee found at a hearing that a flier circulated by Democrats used “inaccurate and misleading” information to attack the Republicans.

Democrats claim they never got a fair chance to defend themselves at the committee’s Oct. 31 hearing.

The hearing today will be held at 5:30 p.m. in room 310 of the Westchester Community Foundation offices, 200 North Central  Ave., Hartsdale.

Committee member Milton Hoffman said he does not expect a decision until tomorrow, at the earliest.

The new Port Chester board, specifically the returning Trustee Sam Terenzi, received a scolding for their not-so-civil discourse last night.

Terenzi has grilled the village manager, treasurer and recreation chief during recent meetings, mainly over contracting and accounting practices. His tone could fairly be described as exasperated, impatient and often sarcastic. Terenzi says he’s only looking out for the taxpayer.

“Grow up, please,” Bea Conetta said during a public comment period during the Board of Trustees meeting. She and another resident stood up to call for professionalism and respect for the staff.

“I really don’t care,” Terenzi responded. “I’m only worried about one thing, saving the taxpayer money.” Later he said that no one was taking his comments personally, and that he wasn’t about to change his style after so many years in municipal politics.

The village meetings are televised on cable and streaming online at this site.

If you missed the Port Chester trustee candidates’ forum Tuesday night, here is the handout provided by the League of Women Voters: biographical summaries of the 11 who took part in the forum. I’ll post the updated document with all 13 once it is compiled by the league.

FINAL Program for CF 5-25-10

There are now 12 hats in the ring — and counting — for six Port Chester trustee seats.

The Conservative Party has nominated one candidate, former Mayor John Branca. He is retired from IBM and from New York State (his most recent position was ETPA housing director for Westchester). He was trustee from 1983 to  1993 and mayor from 1993 to ‘95.

Another candidate, John Palma, has filed an independent petition. The non-party-affiliated candidates have until May 11 to file, so stay tuned.

All six trustee seats are open June 15, and the election will follow a cumulative voting system instituted as a result of the 2006 voting rights lawsuit. The Democrats have four nominees, and Republicans, six.

The current board has one vacancy. Of the five current trustees, two of them, Republicans Domenick Ciccatelli and Bob Sorensen, are stepping down. Running as incumbents are the other three, Democrats Dan Brakewood and Greg Adams and Republican Joe Kenner.

Port Chester is about to hold another voter education forum, starting at 6:30 p.m. at the King Street School. The special June 15 election for all six trustees is fast approaching, with deadlines coming later this month for the political party nominations.

A federal consent decree mandates this series of forums about cumulative voting — the chosen remedy for an at-large system that was deemed unfair to Hispanic voters.

Here is the schedule of upcoming forums:

Wednesday April 21, 6:30 p.m.: Spanish forum, Edison School, 132 Rectory St.

Thursday, April 22, 6:30 p.m.: Information on qualifying as a candidate, Senior Community Center, 220 Grace Church St.

Tuesday, April 27: 6:30 p.m.: English forum, Brooksville Senior Apartments, 167 and 1169 Terrace Ave.

Thursday, April 29, 6:30 p.m.: Spanish forum, St. George Orthodox Church, 360 Irving Ave.

Tuesday, May 11, 6:30 p.m.: Spanish forum, Summerfield Methodist Church, 225 King St.

Thursday, May 13, 6:30 p.m.: English forum, Park Avenue School, 75 Park Ave.

Saturday, June 5, 11:30 a.m.: English forum, Carver Center, 400 Westchester Ave.

Saturday, June 5, 2:30 p.m.: Spanish forum, Carver Center, 400 Westchester Ave.

Wednesday, June 9, 6:30 p.m.: English forum, John F. Kennedy School, 40 Olivia St.

Thursday, June 10, 6:30 p.m.: Spanish forum, El Olivar Church, 118 S. Main St.