Most of the night went as planned. The caucus selecting Democratic candidates for village positions took all of fifteen minutes with incumbents Mayor Jeff Kaplan and Trustee Ray Younger capturing nominations with some brief endorsements from party members.

One newcomer to village politics was Wallkill policeman Francisco Oliveras. Mr. Oliveras, who served on the Ellenville Police Department as a part-time officer for two years, received his nomination without contest.

For the most part, the meeting was a quiet affair with only twenty people in attendance – most of them there to be nominated or to nominate someone else. When the Democratic caucus for town positions began, the numbers inside the Pioneer Fire Company swelled to well over a hundred as current Town Supervisor James Dolaway was being challenged by Town Councilman John Gavaris.

Each candidate's speech emphasized what each felt was his strength; Dolaway pushed his record and experience whereas Gavaris asked for the assembled crowd to see him as helping Wawarsing to progress and develop in the future. In the end, the only contested nomination for the entire Democratic slate concluded with Dolaway winning the nomination by a vote of 65 to 34.

As the votes were being tallied the caucus committee went through the rest of the positions and made quick work of each of them. None of the other town positions were contested.

Below is the full Democratic slate for the Town of Wawarsing and Village of Ellenville. Look in next week's edition for follow-up on the Democratic caucus as well as coverage of the Republican caucus.

Democratic Candidates for the Town of Wawarsing and Village of Ellenville:

Town of Wawarsing:

Supervisor: James V. Dolaway (i)
Councilman: Greg Wood
Councilwoman: Teresa Hyatt
Town Clerk: Jane Eck (i)
Highway Superintendent: Anthony "Tony" Paes

Village of Ellenville:

Mayor: Jeffrey Kaplan (i)
Trustee: Ray Younger (i)
Trustee: Francisco Oliveras

(i) denotes "incumbent"

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