Dykoff Offers Congratulations After Nasty Primary Race

by Patricia A. Miller

Township Committee Mark Dykoff took time out of the June 11 Township Committee meeting to congratulate all who participated in the recent Republican primary election.

“Congratulations to all the participants and good luck in the general election,” he said during committee comments.

That included Mayor Gary Quinn - who earlier this spring said he would not be running with Dykoff because of an incident at Gille Park last September.,

Quinn has said Dykoff was part of a faction in the local Republican Club tried to pack the club membership earlier this spring in an effort oust him as one of the GOP candidates for the two Township Committee seats up in the November election.

The faction included Dykoff, Schubiger and newly-elected school board member David Bidwell, who bought in more than 40 new members for the meeting. Club members eventually decided to let five members run as individuals.

Quinn and running mate Tim McDonald won the primary.

Quinn had already decided not to run with Dykoff after he punched then-Township Committeeman David Most at a Republican club picnic last September. Dykoff was issued a summons for simple assault. The matter was eventually heard in Manchester Township Municipal Court, where Most agreed to drop the charges if Dykoff publicly apologized to him.

“I don’t think I can run on a ticket with someone who punched another committeeman,” Quinn said at the March 26 Township Committee meeting.

Dykoff started off by congratulating former Lacey police officer James K. Le Tellier, who came in last in the primary.

“He did a hell of a job,” he said.

Then he congratulated Board of Education member Eric Schubiger and running mate Thomas Crowell, who came in third and fourth.

“They did pretty good for the first time running,” Dykoff said.

Dykoff lastly congratulated McDonald and Quinn, who came in second and first, respectively.

Quinn and Dykoff were former running mates in previous elections. But all that soured with the incident at Gille Park last September. Township Committee members selected Quinn to serve a second term as mayor this year, bypassing Dykoff.