In Light of Election Controversy, Scarsdale Forum Committee Seeks to Amend Rules

In the days nearing , a unique situation arose that challenged the village's long-standing non-partisan system. Tensions ran high as the Citizens' Nominating Committee (CNC) choices for one trustee seat and the mayoral seat were challenged by an .

The write-in candidates received 27 percent of the total votes cast in the election, indicating that many voters were displeased with the nominations of Bob Harrison for village board and Miriam Flisser for mayor.

Allegations were made that members of the CNC, comprised of 30 voting members (five from each of Scarsdale's six neighborhoods) and four non-voting members, had leaked information about the committee's candidate vetting process to Scarsdale10583.com and The Scarsdale Inquirer.

On March 18, 2011, The Scarsdale Inquirer credited anonymous sources who said that Sharon Lindsay and Robert Selvaggio had been interviewed by the CNC, but did not acquire the majority vote. Lindsay and Selvaggio were the write-in candidates for mayor and trustee, respectively.

For some members of the Scarsdale Forum, of which the CNC is a component, confidentiality breeches give the public reason to lose faith in the non-partisan system.

"Breaching confidentiality does not encourage candidates to come forward, nor does it encourage our citizens to be forthright in viewing the candidates that we interviewed," said B. Kathleen Munguia, vice-president of the Scarsdale Forum and representative of Heathcote on the CNC.

She said the leak of details surrounding the nominating process "may have affected the way people perceived the process this year."

Bruce Wells, chairman of the CNC during the last election season, said that he expected the controversy to negatively affect the CNC's future efforts.

"I am disappointed in members of the CNC that divulged confidential information. Unfortunately, this will impair the CNC from functioning at an optimal level going forward for the next two years," Wells said. "If candidates and other sources can not trust the CNC to keep information confidential, then people will be less forthcoming in submitting their name for consideration and for offering insight on the candidates before the CNC."

Both Wells and Munguia this year sat on the 11-member Scarsdale Forum Non-Partisan Procedure Committee (NPPC,) which last month released a report which proposes several revisions to the forum's Non-Partisan Resolution, which was originally adopted in 1930 with provisions allowing amendments.

The proposed amendments to the resolution have not yet been submitted to other members of the Scarsdale Forum, who must vote on whether to adopt the measures.

The report includes seven areas of concern:

1. The NPPC proposes the adoption of a confidentiality policy and creating a "process for dealing with breaches." The policy would allow voting and non-voting members of the CNC to report confidentiality breaches to the Scarsdale Forum's Procedure Committee, which would review the allegations. The NPPC also wants to establish sanctions which, according to the report, could include public censure, expulsion from the CNC or making a guilty party ineligible to serve on the CNC for at least three years after their term is up. The proposal would also require all members of the CNC to agree to the confidentiality policy.
2. The NPPC wants to establish guidelines for "conducting due diligence" by CNC members, which would include ensuring that CNC members do not contact potential nominees "except for casual conversation between friends/acquaintances." Exceptions would be made to this rule pertaining to potential nominee qualifications for office, as outlined in the proposed amended CNC guidelines.
3. The NPPC seeks to clarify the rules for the "Nominator of Potential Nominees," particularly clarifying that a CNC member who nominates an individual isn't consequently deemed that person's "advocate or campaign manager."
4. The NPPC wants to clarify various rules regarding the CNC's voting procedures, such as the order in which voting occurs, processes for when CNC members abstain from voting for a particular seat and allowing the CNC chair to take measures to break possible tie votes.
5. Amendments to guidelines for potential nominees are also proposed by the NPPC. They would include more stringent guidelines for potential nominees making public statements regarding the candidate vetting process, and allowing potential candidates to continue work with "organizations and activities in which such person has participated."
6. The NPPC advises to continue allowing the Scarsdale Forum to appoint impartial, non-voting personnel to "assist with the mechanics of the CNC administration."
7. The NPPC wishes to implement "strategies to better educate the community about the non-partisan system."

While some members of the community have called the village's non-partisan system undemocratic, elitist and subject to corruption, the report concludes with a statement regarding the evolution of the system.

"However it may evolve, [the non-partisan system] should balance the desire to preserve our valued electoral process with the need to respond to uneasiness that threatens to undermine this proven process,"  the committee said. "The greatest danger to our system is likely not whether candidates address our citizens in public, but rather the departure from time-tested customs and rules, as well as the fundamental loss of the concept that the 'office seeks the candidate.'"

After the report was released, Robert Selvaggio--who received 139 write-in votes last spring, ultimately losing to elected Trustee Bob Harrison--wrote a letter to the editor of Scarsdale10583.com detailing his critiques of the report and of the non-partisan system in general.

"A Scarsdale Forum critique of the 'non-partisan process' is no different than a chef's evaluation of the cooking he has performed for decades. Both can argue that had they not liked the taste of their cooking they would have changed it long ago," he wrote.

Selvaggio criticized the secrecy of the CNC vetting process, stating that disillusioned voters might become less frustrated and more engaged in the system if more light were shed on the nominating process.

Illuminating the CNC process, he wrote, "energizes the honest citizens already serving, encourages others to serve, and engenders confidence in our elected servants and in the political process."

Displeasure with the CNC nominations of Flisser for mayor and Harrison for Trustee sparked a five-fold increase in voter turn out last spring when compared to the 2010 election. In 2010, only 184 residents voted, but this year 1,022 did so.

Up for debate is whether or not residents should fix the non-partisan system by engaging in it, or instead advocating for adoption of a process that more easily allows for contested elections.

"I know many people are questioning whether or not [the CNC's] goals are really happening," said Munguia. "My answer is that people need to get involved so we can assure that that happens."