As a lifelong Democrat, I have worked to elect Democrats in almost every election since 1972. I hold dearly the values of Franklin Roosevelt and the Democratic Party, such as devotion to bettering the fortunes of the poor and middle classes, fighting for health care as an economic and moral right, believing in the right of a woman to have control of her own body and reproductive health, for protection of the environment, and for advocating for the civil rights of all people no matter how marginalized.
You can imagine how amused I am, then, when I hear non-Democrats declare that Democrats should support someone who, when she lost the Democratic Caucus election for the nomination for Gardiner Supervisor by a vote of 105 to 46 (a margin of more than 2-to-1), decided to run as a Republican. Marybeth Majestic was denied the nomination not by a handful of Dem Committee people, but by the overwhelming majority of Democrats who came out for a long meeting on a hot July evening. That is the fact. No bull.
So, Majestic’s supporters are working hard to paint her as another “Democratic” candidate. Non-Democrats such as Town Board Member Laura Walls (not a Democrat), Glen Gidaly (also not a Democrat), John Habersberger (Republican), Richard Koenig (Republican), John Friedle (misogynist Republican), Ralph Erenzo (non-Democrat), Paul Colucci (Republican), and a chorus of other right-wingers, want Gardiner Democrats to feel good about voting for Majestic because she never changed her voting registration from Democrat to Republican. This is attempted deception worthy of the leader of the Republican Party himself, Donald J. Trump. It’s misdirection. It is just plain bull.
Aside from
wanting office so badly that she decided to run twice as a Gardiner Republican (maybe she’s a Democrat-Republican?), I know of no evidence that Marybeth Majestic has ever spoken out for a single Democratic cause or value. Has she ever attended a rally for reproductive rights or for civil rights? Has she ever uttered a single public word about universal healthcare? Has she stood up for the environment? Doubtful. Instead, Majestic is a vocal leader of the Gardiner “property-rights” faction: the group of large Gardiner land owners and Republican contractors and developers who have dominated the Gardiner Planning Board and whose economic interests are tied to unremitting development of open space. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, you know what it is. Suggesting that Marybeth Majestic is a Democratic candidate is both literally and figuratively false.
There is only one Democratic candidate for Gardiner Supervisor: Lisa Lindsley. Lisa is someone who is not just a registered Democrat, but a real Democrat who lives her Democratic values every single day. She is a tireless advocate for the environment and open space, an activist for economic justice and corporate accountability, and a champion of those with little status or power. Her election as the Democratic nominee makes her THE Democratic candidate for Supervisor. Her actions and leadership on her values define her status as a true Democrat.
Don’t fall for more Trumpist bull. A vote for Majestic on November 7 is a vote for a Republican. Vote Lindsley this Tuesday (on the Democratic Row A) for a Democratic Town Supervisor.
Tom Kruglinski
Gardiner Democratic Committee Member