Dear Editor,<\/p>\n
Last week, a reader blamed a local candidate\u2019s recent loss in the 23rd Congressional Democratic primary on alleged failures of Democratic Party leadership. As Chair of the Party, I would like to respond to the reader\u2019s concerns. <\/p>\n
Notwithstanding personal endorsements, the Tioga County Democratic Committee (TCDC) chooses not to endorse candidates in contested races. This is a long held policy of the committee and it has never been our practice to make an exception based solely on a candidate\u2019s residency. As proud as we were to have a \u201cnative son\u201d in the mix, we felt it was important not to squelch the incredible level of interest shown to our entire slate of candidates.<\/p>\n
That said; our policy certainly did not require members to sit on the sidelines. In fact, each primary candidate had an opportunity to meet with the committee and recruit volunteers. As a result, TCDC members were engaged in campaign activities for a variety of candidates, and together with fellow Democrats and activists across the district, succeeded in building a foundation of support that will have tangible results for the winner, Tracy Mitrano. They can and should be proud of their hard work.<\/p>\n
Finally, while I would certainly love to see more Democrats step up and run for office, and while I am never happy to see a candidate in either party run unopposed, we have fielded some wonderful Democratic candidates for various town and county offices since my election in 2014. Those include candidates for County Legislature, County Clerk, Town Supervisor, Town Clerk, Highway Supervisor, Town Justice and Town Council. This year, in addition to our congressional candidates, I am happy to say we have candidates for Candor Town Council, Richford Town Justice and County Legislature, District 1. <\/p>\n
The recruitment of qualified candidates has always been a priority for our committee and despite the county\u2019s relatively small population and the committee\u2019s limited financial resources, our leadership has a proud history of offering assistance to local, state and federal campaigns. <\/p>\n
While Mr. Della Pia\u2019s loss was surely disappointing to his dedicated and hard-working supporters, it is important to understand our efforts in 2018 were no exception. <\/p>\n
Sincerely,<\/p>\n
Diane Lechner<\/p>\n
Chairwoman<\/p>\n
Tioga County Democratic Committee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Editor, Last week, a reader blamed a local candidate\u2019s recent loss in the 23rd Congressional Democratic primary on alleged failures of Democratic Party leadership….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters"],"yoast_head":"\n