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Westfield politics look shady

In the upcoming November election for Westfield Town Board, the incumbent candidates for the councilman and town supervisor positions are running unopposed again, and the incumbent town supervisor has been cross endorsed by both major parties.

According to the Chautauqua County election results website, the current town supervisor has run unopposed every time except for the 2011 election. This web site also shows that there has been one contested election – 2009 – for the Town Board positions since 1999 which is the last year that results are available. The only Democrat on the Town Board ran unopposed for re-election in 2013.

Understanding that I am a registered Republican, and all three of these candidates are also Republicans, you would think I would be happy with the news but it causes me to wonder about a few things.

What is wrong with the Democrats? They again cannot or refuse to field candidates for these positions even though there is a more than qualified candidate for town supervisor in Debra Puckhaber, who is a Democrat, expressed her interest in running on the Democratic ticket and should have their endorsement.

So what is truly going on here? One must ask who behind the scenes is truly shaping the choices available and why there is a vacuum regarding new leadership in this community?

Competition is what elections are supposed to be about, giving the people a choice, but what is happening in regard to the town supervisor feels like a royal edict and coronation, maintaining the status quo and the same people keeping things the way they have always been, leading us nowhere.

So again, I wonder about what is going on behind the closed doors of these public offices, and you should too.

It suggests that these outcomes were predetermined, limiting our choice for real leadership in this community.

No wonder voters choose not to participate, which is bad for everyone. I think it’s time to wake up the silent majority and take back our community. I’m sounding the alarm. More to come!

Barry Underwood is a Westfield resident.

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