AMENIA — Despite being listed as a candidate for a town council seat, Glenn Caldarelli said that he is not running.
"I’m on the ballot only because it’s too late for me to pull out," Caldarelli said. "Initially, I had received a lot of promises of help from [the Democratic Party] and they did not help. They did not support me at all in any respect. In fact, they were supposed to give me petitions to get me on the ballot and I have not even gotten that."
Caldarelli, who lost the primary election back in September, said that he does not have enough money to compete against other candidates that are supported by groups such as ImagineAmenia.
"How are candidates going to decide on issues when all of them are being bought?" he said. "Just in the primary alone, they must have spent around $80,000 for advertising just for two seats. It’s just staggering all the amounts of money being spent for two seats, and I don’t have the financial resources to buck this kind of stuff."
Susan Gregory, president of ImagineAmenia and chairman of the local Democratic Party, denied that ImagineAmenia spent $80,000 in advertising for the primary election.
"That’s not true at all," Gregory said. "He did work hard and submit petitions, but he declined to have his name listed on the Democratic line during the primaries. He had well over 80 signatures, but I don’t know why he is upset with the committee."
Gregory declined to say how much the group has spent in advertising for the candidates they support.
ImagineAmenia vice-president and treasurer Betty Rooney also denied that the group spent $80,000 in advertising.
"I wish we had $80,00 in our group," Rooney said. "This rumor is so far from the truth. People are throwing out ridiculous amounts of money as figures and they’re all untrue."
Gregory said that the party did not make any endorsements until two weeks ago.
"No one was supported before the primary elections, so I’m not sure why he said he didn’t get any support," she said. "I wish he had spoken to me about this. I like Glenn and his family has been in Amenia for a long time."
In the meantime, Caldarelli is throwing his support to fellow candidate Joel Pelkey, and he hopes the public does the same.
"He is my fellow fireman, and he’s going to need all the support he can get," he said.
Caldarelli is listed on the ballot under the Working Families party line, along with Pelkey.
