If the failure to field a candidate in Ward 6 was a disappointment to Kingston Republicans, the blank ballot line in Ward 8 was heartbreaking to those, like Sinagra, who desperately want to unseat the long-serving Bob Senor.
“I really wanted someone out there to take on Bob Senor,” said Sinagra. “We just couldn’t find somebody to fill the bill that could do the job.”
Republicans’ distaste for Senor dates to 2007 when he jumped ship from the party and turned Democrat, citing the increasingly negative tone of the party’s efforts to unseat Mayor James Sottile. Sinagra also believes that Senor, who was widely ridiculed for his recent efforts to pass a law placing restrictions on domestic cats, was especially vulnerable, even in a ward where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a more than two-to-one margin.
“That’s one ward I really feel upset about because I feel like Bob Senor could be taken very easily,” said Sinagra.
Initially, Charles Polacco Jr., a retired U.S. Army sergeant, stepped forward to challenge Senor on the Republican line. But, Sinagra said, he was forced to drop out of the race after he got a new job in New York City. Next, the party boss turned to Joe Marchetti, a long-time gadfly on Kingston’s political scene who is well regarded in conservative circles — he organized the original Kingston Tea Party with the late Gordon Webb back in 1991. But Marchetti, who was himself eyeing a mayoral run, had set his sights higher.
He eventually accepted a spot on the Republican ticket running against Council President Jim Noble for alderman-at-large. But, Sinagra said, the Ward 8 alderman is so unpopular right now that he may be vulnerable to a write-in campaign by a candidate yet to be named.
“It was a last-minute thing and we couldn’t come up with a good candidate,” said Sinagra. “But if I can find the right person, I’m going to look for a write in.”
