Seneca County NY Democratic Committee

The Seneca Falls Democratic Committee is seeking candidates to run for two seats on the Seneca Falls Town Council and for the two at-large positions to represent Seneca Falls on the Seneca County Board of Supervisors.  Democratic committees in other towns across the county are likewise in search of candidates to run as town council members, town supervisors, highway superintendents, county clerks and town justices. Elections for Seneca County Treasurer and Seneca County Coroner will also be held this year, and Democrats seek interested candidates for those positions as well.

Rachel Weil, the chair of the Seneca Falls and Seneca County Democratic Committees, notes that a lot of people who care passionately about their local community have been reluctant to run for elected office. She hopes to change their minds. “If you want to see more resources put into mental healthcare or services for the elderly, if you are concerned about the landfill and toxic algae in the lakes, if you want to see more affordable housing or infrastructure improvements or help for small businesses,” she notes, “now is a great time to get involved.” Currently, the overwhelming majority of elected positions in local government in Seneca County are held by Republicans, many of whom ran in uncontested races.

Weil emphasizes that no previous experience in politics is required to run for office, and that the Democratic committee helps candidates with financial assistance, training, and campaign volunteers. “It certainly takes commitment and effort,” says, “but our communities need people to run so that the public has a genuine choice. Even if you don’t win, it can be rewarding, and you can expect to make friends along the way.”

Potential candidates must be residents of the town in which they run. To be supported by the Democrats, they must support the values and priorities of the Democratic party. That is, a candidate should care about protecting the environment, support the rights of women and minorities, respect workers and unions, and believe that public money should be used to promote public goods like housing, healthcare, and education.

Anyone interested in running for office as a Democrat in Seneca Falls should contact Rachel Weil (racheljweil58@gmail.com) to learn about the offices and nomination process. Residents of Lodi interested in running for office there should contact Anne Derousie (advent8909@gmail.com ). Residents of Fayette should contact Cindy Lorenzetti (315-521-4144), residents of Ovid should contact David Wood (dwood19007@aol.com), residents of Tyre should contact Larraine Mahoney (larraine.mahoney@gmail.com), residents of Varick should contact Susan Ottenweller (sdottenweller@gmail.com ) and residents of Covert should contact Ben Guthrie (bguthrie@ottcmail.com). Persons interested in running for the county-wide offices of county coroner or county treasurer, or residents of other towns in Seneca County, should contact Rachel Weil (racheljweil58@gmail.com ).

July 1, 2024

Today the United States Supreme Court overthrew the central premise of American democracy: that no one is above the law. 

It decided that the president of the United States, possibly the most powerful person on earth, has “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution for crimes committed as part of the official acts at the core of presidential powers. The court also said it should be presumed that the president also has immunity for other official acts as well, unless that prosecution would not intrude on the authority of the executive branch.

This is a profound change to our fundamental law—an amendment to the Constitution, as historian David Blight noted. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said that a president needs such immunity to make sure the president is willing to take “bold and unhesitating action” and make unpopular decisions, although no previous president has ever asserted that he is above the law or that he needed such immunity to fulfill his role. Roberts’s decision didn’t focus at all on the interest of the American people in guaranteeing that presidents carry out their duties within the guardrails of the law. 

But this extraordinary power grab does not mean President Joe Biden can do as he wishes. As legal commentator Asha Rangappa pointed out, the court gave itself the power to determine which actions can be prosecuted and which cannot by making itself the final arbiter of what is “official” and what is not. Thus any action a president takes is subject to review by the Supreme Court, and it is reasonable to assume that this particular court would not give a Democrat the same leeway it would give Trump. 

There is no historical or legal precedent for this decision. The Declaration of Independence was a litany of complaints against King George III designed to explain why the colonists were declaring themselves free of kings; the Constitution did not provide immunity for the president, although it did for members of Congress in certain conditions, and it provided for the removal of the president for “high crimes and misdemeanors”—what would those be if a president is immune from prosecution for his official acts? The framers worried about politicians’ overreach and carefully provided for oversight of leaders; the Supreme Court today smashed through that key guardrail. 

Presidential immunity is a brand new doctrine. In February 2021, explaining away his vote to acquit Trump for inciting an insurrection, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who had also protected Trump in his first impeachment trial in 2019, said: “Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office…. We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation, and former presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one.”

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