A uphill battle

SaveMonroe primary challengers

By Bill Lemanski
MONROE-This political campaign season will include an interesting mix of primary election challengers from the grass-roots organization, SaveMonroe.

The contest is for town supervisor and two town board seats on both the Republican and Democratic lines in the Town of Monroe in the Sept. 13 primary election. The SaveMonroe team also scored a coup by capturing the endorsement and pursuing the ballot line of the Conservative Party, which has historically supported the incumbent Republicans.

Vying for the supervisor's position on the Democratic ballot line against the Democrat's endorsed candidate, Alicia Vaccaro, is Robert Purdy, a 28-year town resident who is president of SaveMonroe. Purdy is a registered Democrat and has been active in labor relations as a member of I.U.O.E. Local 891. He is a former Marine and member of American Legion Post 1088, is married with three children and has never held public office.

Purdy said he is concerned with what he claims is the uncontrolled growth and congestion in Monroe. He said the current board has not effectively addressed the issues of "massive traffic, uncontrolled growth and loss of open space." He believes school taxes are too high and the present town board has catered to special interest groups while growing complacent with town problems. He said his focus will be on "protecting the quality of life in Monroe" and that he would include town citizens to a higher degree in the decision-making process.

Incumbent Monroe Town Supervisor Sandy Leonard is the Republican candidate.

Theresa Budich and Kathy Parrella, both registered Republicans, are challenging longtime incumbent town board members, incumbents and Republican-endorsed Don Weeks and Peter Martin in a GOP primary.

Budich has been a member of the Monroe-Woodbury School Board for 11 years. She also is past president of the Special Education PTA and is on the board of SaveMonroe. A town resident for 21 years, Budich and her husband have four children. She works in the real-estate business.

"People need to take responsibility and our current board doesn't want to," Budich said. As an example, she said that Meadow Glen, a former undeveloped meadow on Larkin Drive, was re-zoned by the board from light industry to residential. She claims that the rezoning has reduced the ratable value of the property.

Parrella has been a town resident for nearly 25 years. Although she has never held public office, Parrella has been active in civic affairs as co-founder of The Preservation Collective, a community planning organization, and as a member of the board of directors of Orange Environment, Inc.

She said she shares her colleagues' view of uncontrolled growth in the Monroe area.

Parrella is married, has two children and is an information technology professional, specializing in project management and systems integration.

The team's platform states that the candidates "promote smart and sustainable growth;" support "protecting the Town and its residents;" support bringing services up to 2005 standards;" and seek to "stabilize property taxes."

The SaveMonroe organization has been in existence for approximately six years and has a membership of between 150 to 160 residents.

tion's mission statement is "dedicated to preserving as much open space as possible, ensuring that codes and zoning are put in place and enforced, and keeping its members informed of important issues."