BREAKING NEWS: New Sheriff Candidate, GOP Committee Wars
It’s been a very busy morning at the Board of Elections office, with many new candidate filings– and a few surprises– for this year’s elections before tonight’s 9 p.m. filing deadline.
NEW SHERIFF CANDIDATE: Just when we thought the ballot couldn’t get any more crowded, William T. Gerczak, of Rising Sun, filed Monday as a candidate in the Democratic primary for Sheriff. According to a Cecil Times check of court records, there is a Baltimore City police officer by that name who has appeared in court in prosecution of drug cases in the city. No home phone was listed nor did he give any phone number in his filings with the state Board of Elections. The Democratic primary is already crowded with Chris Sutton, a current corporal in the Cecil County Sheriff’s Department and unsuccessful candidate in 2006, and Robert “Skip” DeWitt, a long-time deputy and the son of popular former county sheriff Jack DeWitt.
SCHOOL BOARD: Donna Zane, a member of the county’s first elected school board who had said she would not run again, suddenly filed for re-election Tuesday morning, according to state election records. Zane, of Rising Sun, filed in the 4th district school board race in which Bill Herold, a controversial member of the old appointed school board, has declared his candidacy for election. Also running in that district is Thomas Wesley of Elkton, a retired school principal. Another late entry, June S. Reasin of Conowingo, filed July 1.
REPUBLICAN CENTRAL COMMITTEE: It’s been a minute-by-minute update as allies of State Senator E.J. Pipkin (R-36) and Del. Michael Smigiel (R-36) troop on in to the elections board to file for the 9 slots on the county’s Republican Central Committee. County Commissioner Jim Mullin, R-1st, from the Earleville area, filed this morning, as did Mike Dawson, a Republican candidate for county commissioner in the 4th District. Both Mullin and Dawson are strongly aligned with the Pipkin-Smigiel camp.
In addition, the Cecil County Young Republicans Club, another bastion of the Pipkin-Smigiel powerbase, has fielded three other candidates for the GOP committee. One of those candidates, Michael W. Dunn of Rising Sun, has also filed in the Republican primary for 3rd District County Commissioner. Dunn is a longtime legislative aide on the payroll of Del. Smigiel.
As the day wears on, we’re sure there will be even more candidates filing in what is shaping up as a power struggle between the current Central Committee and the Pipkin-Smigiel forces trying to gain control over the party structure in Cecil County.
Cecil Times will continue to file updates as news events unfold throughout the day.
