Just in time to cover the local mayoral elections of the village of Port Chester. I bring to you, respectfully, daily information which will cover the campaigns of Port Chester's Mayor, Dennis Pilla, and his challenger, current village Trustee Bart Didden.
There is a lot to report on these two subjects. However, Mr. Didden wins the prize. In the past couple of years, Mr. Didden has put himself on the national headlines with his infamous involvement in the racist flyer he co-authored, yet masterminded in 2007, with then Trustee, John Crane, and then Board of Education President, Dominic Bencivenga. Mr. Didden is infamously know as the village racist.
The flyer was sent out anonymously in Greenwich in the eve of the 2007 mayoral election between then Trustee Dennis Pilla and Trustee Dominic Cicatelli. In the flyer, Mr. Didden asks the non-hispanic white voters to come out in full force of Mr. Cicatelli, because he alleged that the "Hispanics were running the show already." He also directly attacked Blanca Lopez and Cesar Ruiz not only because they supported Mr. Pilla but because, as Hispanic leaders, they represented the largest minority of the village of Port Chester, Latinos.
Although Mr. Didden denied his involvement publicly to the Journal News, it wasn't until he was under oath, that he admitted to his role in this flyer. His admission and evidence of racial appeal was the turning point to the lawsuit occurring at that time when the Department of Justice was suing the village of Port Chester for its election system.
For more information, here is a copy of the judge's findings thanks to the local weekly newspaper in Port Chester, the Westmore News.
http://www.westmorenews.com/images/ruiz.pdf
