You Can't Tell The Players Without A Scorecard (2005)

Bob Donnelly was the Democratic Committee chair.  He was an overt follower of Ralph Caruso.  It didn’t really matter much in 2005 because Woodbury was in the habit of only electing Republicans.

Back then the Woodbury Town Board was made up entirely of Republicans, but Caruso's control was tenuous.  Two board members Supervisor Sheila Conroy and Councilwoman Lorraine McNeill, were completely independent.

Two more, Colleen Campbell and Gerri Gianzaro, who had up ‘til then voted Ralph’s way, were breaking away from him.  This left Ralph with only one puppet on the board: Michael Aronowitz.

So Ralph, Donnelly and John Burke agreed that John should run for Supervisor as a Democrat.

John's running mates were Darlene Reveille and Amidee (Bo) Haviland.  They knew they could tell Darlene what to do, but Bo was a loose cannon, all over the place in his positions. So Ralph hedged his bets by having Henry (Hank) Sullivan run as an independent. 

Despite the fact that Bo shared the Democratic ticket with John, John put Sullivan's sign on his lawn.  

When Democrats complained John took down Sullivan’s sign leaving only his own and Darlene's.  If he put up a sign for Bo it wasn't visible.

The day before the election Ralph and John put out a flyer lying about Sheila Conroy's record (see link).

John won, but independent minded Republicans Gianzaro and Mike Queenan beat Ralph’s candidates, leaving Ralph with only Burke and Aronowitz on the board.

Next: 2006.

Ralph Caruso, Party Guy (part 2)

Woodbury Democratic Committee

This is the real joker in the deck.  

Under Democratic Chairmen Bob Donnelly and then Manny Mangual, Caruso has had tremendous influence over the Democratic Committee.

With new Chairwoman Willa Freiband things may change.  That will depend in large part on how she is able to deal with Ralph's puppets on the committee and the large number of shadow members who never show up, but give their proxies to Ralph's people.

In the next few posts we'll present some highlights from the past ten years.

The Uncle Plans To Enter The 21st Century

At the suggestion of a favorite nephew the Uncle is hoping to figure out how to move this blog to Facebook.

Samantha Koyak Armstrong, expect a phone call.

Where's Part 2?

Sorry for the delay, but as I review the past ten years of Woodbury politics I am reminded (stunned) by how convoluted and corrupt it's been. In pretty much all cases that's due to Ralph Caruso.

I've been spending time double checking the facts and coming up with proof. 

Also, it should be worth hearing from the Woodbury Democratic Committee which meets tonight (Monday) at 7:45 in the Senior Center.  Try to come.  It will be interesting to listen to Tommy Burke and Bill Mullooly try to explain double crossing their own party.

Ralph Caruso, Party Guy (part 1)

In the previous post (see below) I said that Caruso controlled three and a half of Woodbury's political parties.

What does that mean?


# 1. Woodbury Republican Committee
When he became Town Supervisor Ralph gave up the chairmanship and installed his first lieutenant Don Siebold.  Ralph still controls the majority of the members and makes all the decisions.

# 2. Preserve Woodbury
aka
Citizens to Preserve Woodbury
aka
Committee for the Preservation of Woodbury
aka
The Perversion Party
Chairman: Ralph Caruso

# 3. Woodbury Conservative Party
Years ago, under Hank Sosa, the Woodbury Conservative Party was an independent group that refused to do Caruso's bidding.  But Hank is gone and Warren Martin is now the chair and the party exists merely to give Ralph's Republicans another line on the ballot.


But what's that "half" party all about?

Ah, tune in tomorrow

The Reign Of Confusion

This might get a little confusing.  

That's not an accident.  

The harder this is to follow the happier Ralph will be, so we're going to have to go slow.

In September there will be a Republican primary to choose two candidates to run for the town council and members of the Woodbury Republican committee.

In November we'll all go to the polls to elect a town supervisor, two town council members, a village  mayor and two village trustees.

There will be seven different parties running candidates.

Ralph Caruso controls three and a half of them.

Pay attention, there'll be a quiz.

Lovely Nap, But Time To Wake Up

The political beasts of Woodbury are starting to act up again, so it's time the Uncle got out of bed and got back to work.

Now, where are those coffee filters?