By Niko Balkaran
The race for Town of Newburgh supervisor has become increasingly contentious ahead of November’s election, with a proposed candidate forum falling through and campaign signs being defaced amid growing tensions between Republicans and Democrats.
Proposed Candidate Forum
A proposed forum between Manley, a Republican and Democratic challenger Stephen Krasner for Oct. 19, 20 or 21 did not move forward, with organizers saying they made repeated attempts to contact Manley about participating but received no response.
Manley acknowledged receiving an invitation but questioned the impartiality of the initial outreach by Janet Rossbach, a member of the Town of Newburgh Democratic Committee who previously managed Mary Lou Carolan’s campaign. He also alleged that she had hosted a fundraiser for Krasner and repeatedly criticized him on social media.
“Not Bipartisan at all,” Manley wrote in an email to the Mid Hudson Times.
Rossbach disputed his characterization, saying her involvement was intended to help organize a community forum rather than influence the election.
“I think he is blaming the messenger and not the mission,” Rossbach said.
Rossbach said she contacted Manley’s office several times between Sept. 17 and Sept. 22 before sending a written invitation on Sept. 22, copying Gayle Struble of the Rockland County League of Women Voters and Nyhisha Gibbs of Alpha Kappa Alpha.
In her Sept. 22 email, obtained by the Mid Hudson Times, Rossbach invited Manley and the Town of Newburgh Republican Committee to participate alongside Krasner and the Town Democrats. She also invited Manley to suggest a location and proposed that both candidates speak with Struble beforehand about how the forum would work.
She later approached Manley at a Sept. 28 workshop meeting, where she said he told her to have the League contact him directly and, after relaying the message, ended her involvement in attempting to arrange the forum.
Struble subsequently contacted Manley’s office multiple times on Sept. 29, Oct. 2 and Oct. 5, including by phone and email. She said town staff assured her that Manley had received her phone messages, but she received no response. Organizers needed confirmation by Oct. 5 to allow at least two weeks to arrange and publicize the event.
Rossbach said the idea for the forum came after she and other Town of Newburgh Democratic Committee members learned about a similar event held in the City of Newburgh. Rossbach contacted the Newburgh Free Library on behalf of the committee and subsequently spoke with representatives of the library, Alpha Kappa Alpha and the League of Women Voters about organizing one for the town supervisor race.
Rossbach said that, as she and Manley have spoken at public events and are Facebook friends, she believed that she could approach him directly about the forum. She acknowledged that someone else might have been better positioned to make the initial contact because of her political involvement but maintained that the proposed forum was intended to give residents an opportunity to hear from both candidates rather than stage a political debate.
“This was not an opportunity to have a winner and a loser,” she said. “It was an opportunity to elevate the conversation of what is going on in our town and what our prospective leaders want to do.”
Defaced Campaign Signs
Campaign signs have also become a point of contention in the Town of Newburgh supervisor race, with Facebook photos showing stickers promoting other candidates placed over Manley’s face on signs at 165 and 42 South Plank Road.
One photo shows three stickers supporting Democratic supervisor candidate Stephen Krasner covering Manley’s eyes and mouth on a large campaign sign outside a Mobil gas station. Another shows a Krasner sticker covering one eye and a sticker supporting Jen Knox covering his mouth on a separate sign.
The Town of Newburgh Republican Party addressed the incidents in an Oct. 11 Facebook post, criticizing what it described as a lack of respect for political opponents and their property.
“If these reports are accurate, it raises a serious question about the basic respect some people have for other people’s property,” the party wrote.
Krasner said he became aware of the defacement and publicly condemned it, emphasizing that his campaign does not support interfering with political signs.
“I do not condone vandalism, defacing, or removing anyone’s political campaign signs, regardless of the candidate,” Krasner said in a statement to the Mid Hudson Times. “That is not what my campaign stands for and I have reiterated that message to our volunteers and supporters.”
He said he also asked campaign volunteers to straighten Manley’s signs if they found them knocked over while installing or repairing his own signs.
Krasner said his campaign had experienced similar problems. He alleged that his wife witnessed someone pulling up his and Knox’s campaign signs along Frozen Ridge Road. When she confronted the individual, Krasner said, the person dropped the signs, verbally accosted her and drove away.
“We can disagree politically without disrespecting one another,” Krasner said. “That’s the example we should be setting for our community.”