MONROE — A group of Monroe residents upset over the way it says the current Monroe Town Board conducts business, treats residents and has handled the issues related to the former Cinema 6 Movie Theater has formed a new political party with the goal of unseating the incumbents whose seats are available this fall.
‘In the public eye’
The new party is called “United Monroe,” and was formed April 25 during a meeting at Planet Pizza.
“We had a tremendous showing, there were a lot of new faces,” said Emily Convers of Monroe, who has already announced her candidacy for town supervisor. “This election is all about Monroe. We are forming a coalition third party and our supporters come from all parties. What we’re running on is accountability, civility and transparency, or ‘ACT.’”
Convers said she felt those three words are important because the current town board “evidenced by so many of their decisions, has shown they are not accountable for their actions. They are anything but civil in their town board meetings. They do more business behind closed doors than they do in the public eye.”
Convers - who is married with two sons - has lived in Monroe for almost six years. She is a former project manager in the wireless communications industry, negotiating contracts and managing site acquisition consultants and engineers. She worked for T-Mobile, Nextel, AT&T and Sprint (PCS) and ran her own consulting company.
Currently, she works as a full-time mother and is a member of the PTAs at her sons’ schools. Convers has also served as one of the organizers for the grass roots group, “Save the Monroe Movie Theater,” which recently filed an appeal in the suit seeking the overturning of the town’s purchase of the movie theater at auction last November.
Running for town board seats along are Monroe residents Neil Dwyer and Dennis McWatters. While Convers is a registered Democrat, Dwyer and McWatters previously ran on the “Republicans for a Better Monroe” ticket in 2011 and are currently registered Republicans.
Convers wants Supervisor Sandy Leonard’s job. But the election is months away and as of press time, no other residents - including Leonard, a Republican - have expressed a public interest in the position.
Neil Dwyer
Dwyer and McWatters want the seats currently occupied by Town Councilmen Rick Colon and Gerard McQuade, both Democrats. Only Colon indicated that he running for re-election, as he was among the group of town Democrats speaking at a May 8 committee meeting at the Monroe Senior Center.
Dwyer - who is married with one son - has lived in Monroe since 1987 and has owned Dwyer & Leavenworth, Inc., a residential remodeling company, based in Monroe, since 1983.
His community involvement includes serving as Cub Scout Pack 340 assistant leader; Boy Scout Troop 440 assistant leader; past finance chairman of Sacred Heart School Monroe; a member of the Burke Catholic Development Committee; treasurer of the Burke Catholic Parent Club; and was involved with the Spirited Spokes Charity Bike Run. He is also a parishioner of Sacred Heart Church in Monroe.
Dennis McWatters
McWatters - who is married also with one son - has lived in Monroe for more than 33 years. He is retired from 41 year career at Citibank, most recently holding a vice president position. He currently manages the operations and accounting unit of a sales company in New Windsor.
He has served on the Monroe Village Board of Trustees, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals, the Town of Monroe Planning Board and, since January 2012, the Town Zoning Board of Appeals.
Convers said United Monroe’s Web site will be launched shortly, adding town residents and Village of Harriman and Village of Monroe residents can expect to see the new political party having a visible community presence in the coming months.
Each will need 500 signatures
She urged residents interested in the United Monroe ticket to refrain from signing petitions to put candidates on either the Democratic, Republican or Independence party slates if they are interested in the United Monroe line up.
“We have to wait until July to get signatures,” Convers said. “The major parties have an advantage, they get to get their petition signatures for their candidates a month earlier than third parties do. We want to urge anyone who wants to support our campaign to not sign any petitions that come to their door for the major parties as that would preclude them from signing our petition. We’re going to need upwards of 500 signatures in July for our candidates.”
Convers was hopeful the movie theater issue would serve as the symbol for the need for change in town leadership.
“We want them (the town board) to know it’s time for a change,” Convers added. “The people we’ve spoken with do not feel represented by this town board. If elected, Dennis, Neil and I commit to doing business in front of the public eye and with the public’s input. I want people to understand this is a coalition party. We’re galvanizing people from all political parties to come together as one and vote for a ‘united’ Monroe.”
- Nancy Kriz