Quinn, Dykoff Spar At Lacey Township Committee Meeting

by Patricia A. Miller

It’s no secret in town that Mayor Gary Quinn did not want to run with his former running mate Mark Dykoff in this year’s race for the Republican nomination for the two Township Committee seats.

Quinn made it official at the March 26 Township Committee meeting.

He began by disagreeing with Board of Education member Eric Schubiger’s claim at a recent board meeting that township officials were partially to blame for the school district’s downgraded credit rating, since they deferred school taxes.

Quinn said Schubiger was ”kind of pointing fingers at this governing body.”

The school district’s credit rating is due to the district administrators ”spending more than they are bringing in,” the mayor said.

“You have to start at the top,” Quinn said.

Standard and Poor’s in February lowered the Lacey Township school district’s long-term rating due to its overall weakened financial position, according to a company assessment.

The ratings for the district’s general obligation debt dipped from ”AA” to ’A’ and could possibly drop even lower if things don’t improve, the report said.

Quinn had the township’s chief financial officer go over the township’s payments to the district. The payments were made on time except for June and July. Former Chief Financial Officer Adrian Fanning and schools Business Administrator James Savage had an agreement that the taxes could be deferred doing those months since state aid to the township did not arrive until late August, he said.

Schubiger’s remark was political, since he is one of the Republican candidates running in the June primary, Quinn said.

“This is an election year,” Quinn said.

And that’s the reason other factions in the Republican Club tried to pack the club membership recently in an effort to oust him, Quinn said.

“It turned into a rather nasty situation,” he said.

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.

The field of five who will run in the June primary includes Quinn, Dykoff, Schubiger, LeTellier and Thomas Crowell.

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 last night.

Dykoff angrily asked why Quinn had brought his name into the discussion about Schubiger’s remarks.

“Why did you find it necessary to mention you’re not my running mate?” Dykoff said. ”I’m just wondering. It sounds like you are blaming Mr. Schubiger.”

Crowell said during the public portion that he didn’t think the Township Committee meeting was the appropriate forum for Quinn’s remarks.

“I am going to run with Mr. Schubiger,” Crowell said. ”We have an agenda. The petitions will be filed within the next 48 hours.”