Mike Hein. (Photo: Dan Barton)
There is also the outside chance that on-again-off-again Quigley might change his mind (again) and run as a Democrat against Wadnola. Now that would be a horserace.
In truth, Quigley, 59, likes being town supervisor. And he’s pretty good at it. What he doesn’t like is town GOP Chairman Jim Maloney meddling in what he sees as town board affairs. The two have talked, but hard heads tend to bounce off each other.
By the numbers
In the final analysis numbers on nominating petitions don’t much matter, except they’re the first official step in getting on the ballot. In the race for county executive this year, two-term incumbent Democrat Mike Hein’s well-oiled reelection machine blasted out of the blocks with 4,200 signatures compared to about 1,500 for Republican challenger Terry Bernardo. A thousand valid signatures are required, which leaves Bernardo’s petitions vulnerable to careful scrutiny. Hein forces have about a week to check signatures.
One could credit Hein’s incumbency and high profile for this almost three-to-one showing against a candidate who announced only a month ago. How then does one explain incumbent Kingston mayor Shayne Gallo being outnumbered by primary challenger Steve Noble by an unofficial 900 to 600? Only about 250 valid signatures from the city’s 4,900 enrolled Democrats are required.
Gallo can probably claim that he did pretty well, considering Noble is the party’s unofficial nominee and as such had dozens of city committee members carrying his petitions. Besides, everyone knows the mayor is too busy running the city to engage in politics.
