Democrats welcome Cuomo, applaud longtime faithful

By Dan Hust
FERNDALE — Saturday’s 92nd annual Jeffersonian packed the spacious lobby of the CVI Building in Ferndale, where hundreds of Democratic faithful greeted NYS Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and lauded 10 longtime local Democrats.
“Sullivan County is excited and grateful to have him with us tonight,” remarked Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther.
“He’s doing an awful lot of good work,” added Congressman Maurice Hinchey.
Cuomo, who is widely expected to be a future NYS gubernatorial candidate, arrived with bad news.
“This state is facing real economic challenges,” he told the crowd, adding that raising taxes is not a solution. “We have to reduce the size of government and make it better.”
People who have been working toward that goal for longer than Cuomo’s been alive were honored that evening by the Jeffersonian’s organizer, the Sullivan County Democratic Committee.
Chosen because of their decades upon decades of service, the following ten residents were spoken of fondly by neighbors and officials from their townships:
• Sal Indelicato – supervisor and longtime committeeman of Cochecton
• Charlie Cohen – three-decade committeeman in Fallsburg
• Verb Konviser – 55 years as a Fallsburg committeeman
• Arline Lipsky – more than two decades serving as a Fallsburg committeewoman
• Alice Walter – upwards of 40 years as a Fallsburg committeewoman
• Albert Schick – longtime Fremont committeeman
• George DeSio – 45 years as a Mamakating committeeman
• Gloria Rothstein – Mamakating committeewoman over several decades
• Christene Myers – Highland committeewoman since 1986
• Donald TerBush – longtime Neversink committeeman
The evening also served to spotlight Democratic candidates, including state Supreme Court candidate Judge James Gilpatric.
The Kingston City Court judge and Ulster County native is vying to be elected to the bench in the Third Judicial District, and he expects to spend much of his time overseeing cases in Sullivan County.
“This is something I always aspired to do,” he said. “I wanted to be the judge I wanted for my clients and me.”
He’s already spent 16 years as a judge in Ulster County and more than a quarter of a century as an attorney, having represented thousands of people in a variety of courts.
“I attack things with a passion,” he remarked with a smile.
For more information on Sullivan County’s Democrats, log on to the committee’s brand new website: sullivandemocrats.com.