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Politics & Government

Clarkstown Democrats Hold Convention

The new executive board is announced.

When Nicole Doliner was voted back in as chair of Clarkstown Democratic Committee Thursday night and spoke about what she’d like to see going forward, she used the word "harambee."

Doliner said it means “with unity we do things together.” She learned the Swahili word while in Kenya with the Peace Corps, Doliner added.

“I think that rings true about what the president’s message is, is that we need to work together,” she said. “United, together, we’re going to work together and pull this country -- which I think is already starting to inch out of this economic depression little by little -- but I think it’s going to turn around, but it’s only going to turn around when we work together.”

She was sworn back in as chair Thursday night when the Clarkstown Democratic Committee held its convention at Clarkstown Town Hall. The county Democrats were supposed to hold their convention Thursday night as well, but moved it back to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday Oct. 3 at Clarkstown Town Hall, according to Kristen Zebrowski Stavisky, chair of the Rockland County Democratic Committee.

Doliner said that not only will members of the Clarkstown committee work to spread the message of their candidates from now until election day, they’ll also try to get people to register to vote.

“It’s a little surprising, but there are a lot of people who aren’t registered to vote, and not just young people,” she said. “Sometimes we think that as soon as someone is eligible to vote, they run to register because it can be exciting, but that’s not the case.”

Doliner said that when committee members go door-to-door, they take voter registration forms with them. They also take a stack of voter registration forms with them when they go to events, such as this Sunday’s Congers-Valley Cottage Italian Festival.

A few local Democrats spoke at the convention, including State Sen. David Carlucci, who said that if the committee works together to back their candidates, they can get them elected. He cited his own election to the state senate, which earlier Doliner also referenced by saying most people didn’t think Carlucci had a shot at winning the election. 

“This is the foundation that gets change activated and two years ago, Nicole was saying, nobody thought I had a chance,” he said. “But the people in this room thought I had a chance, and you worked with me and we put up signs, we knocked on doors, we got those petitions and we did it.”

Also at Thursday’s meeting, the rest of the committee’s executive board was announced:

  • Chair - Nicole Doliner
  • Vice Chair - Linda Zebrowski
  • Associate Chair - Rhea Vogel
  • Recording Secretary - Sandra Siegel
  • Corresponding Secretary - Lynne Hilowitz
  • Treasurer - Ed Duer
  • Law Chair - Ricardo McKay
  • County Delegates - Stephen Papas, Stephanie Hausner, Justin Sweet and Jesse Malowitz

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