Independent petitions filed in town races

With Tuesday the deadline for filing independent petitions, a flurry of last-minute filings came in this week from five towns. Geneseo led with three independent petitions in the hotly contested races for Supervisor and town board. One petition each were filed for the town races in Lima, Groveland, Leicester and Springwater.

In Geneseo, the incumbent candidates who had already filed to be on the Conservative line, filed 241 signatures on the Common Sense line. The Democrat slate was put on the Geneseo’s Future line with 240 signatures. Independent candidate Corrin Strong filed 177 signatures to run for Supervisor on the Geneseo First line. Only 132 good signatures were needed. (For an analysis of the petitions in these races, see Corrin’s Campaign Blog).

In Lima, members of the Lima Citizens for Responsible Development Cathy Gardner and Dan Marcellus filed 123 signatures on petitions to run for town board on the Lima Citizens line. Only 78 were need to get on the ballot.

The pair are also planning to run in the Lima Republican caucus on Sept. 4. Incumbent Harold Harris will be seeking re-election, although incumbent Greg Otterbein has said he will not. The Lima Town Board was involved in the bruising battle over a proposed Super Wal-Mart last year, which the Lima Citizens opposed.

Another Republican, Bill Carey, has also announced his candidacy for the town board. The caucus will be held at 7 p.m. in the basement of the town hall. The Democratic caucus will take place in the same location on Sept. 12. So far there are no announced candidates on the Democratic side.

The Republican slates in Groveland and Leicester were also placed on independent lines. Groveland’s will be called the Citizen party and Leicester opted for Citizen’s Choice.

Finally, a hotly contested rematch is shaping up for Supervisor in Springwater. Four years ago, retired Sheriffs Deputy Norbert Buckley tied Springwater Supervisor Mark Walker at the Republican caucus, and then lost a coin flip.

This time around Norbert is taking no chance about getting on the ballot. He is already on the Independence line, the party to which he now belongs. This week he filed independent petitions to be on the Community Vision line.

The Springwater Republican caucus is Friday, and it is not known if he will challenge Walker there again. By law, a candidate is allowed to appear on no more than three ballot lines.