Richard Diefenbach Running as Republican Candidate for New Castle Town Board

New Castle Republicans now have a candidate in the running for a council seat on the Town Board, giving the endorsement to Richard Diefenbach.

Diefenbach, a Chappaqua resident, is concerned about bringing more dialogue and participation between the town and residents.

"There's a lot of frustration," he said, adding that people want to have their voices heard.

He believes that the board can take measures to be more engaging and transparent with constituents, and believes that it is important to have them involved in providing input. Noting the advantage that Democrats have had in local politics, he explained that he also wants to offer a different perspective.

Diefenbach received the endorsement of the New Castle Republican Committee last week, coming after an endorsement from the Independence Party. Locally, he is on of the board for New Castle Community Media Center (NCCMC) and owns RPD Media Associates, LLC, which creates video and online marketing tools for businesses. Earlier in his career, he worked for Fox News (describing his background, he explained that it was on the channel's news side, not with its opinion talk show hosts) CBS News and ABC News. He has also been active at the Church of St. John and St. Mary. He has a wife, Laura and a son, Michael.

His foray into the politics is the first time in his recent history, but he has had interest before. While attending the Catholic University in Washington, DC, he worked on the staffs of Sen. S.I. Hayakawa (R-CA) and Sen. Charles Percy (R-IL).

Diefenbach's entry means that the two council seats up for election are being contested. Rob Greenstein, known locally as a critic of the Chappaqua Crossing development, for council last week as an independent. This came Planning Board Chair Susan Carpenter for Supervisor, Deputy Supervisor Elise Kessler Mottel for re-election to her council seat and New Castle Democratic Committee Co-Chair Jason Chapin for the other council seat.

Editor's Note: The original version of this story did not list S.I. Hayakawa's state for when he served in the U.S. Senate as California, which has been updated. Diefenbach's background in television news has also been clarified.