CLIFTON PARK — In the local realm of politics, campaigns for highway superintendent don’t usually rise to this level of contention.
Yet the primary race between Republican incumbent Dahn Bull and his highway employee Michael Traider has. The primary run, which began with early voting on Saturday and runs through Tuesday, June 27, is so not ugly between candidates. Rather it’s Republican party leaders who are working to oust Bull and replace him with Traider, a political newcomer who has only recently become involved in the town’s GOP committee.
Early voting
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday June 24 and Sunday June 25.
Noon to 8 p.m. Monday and Wednesday
Where: Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library, 475 Moe Road, Clifton Park, although voters can also cast a ballot at Saratoga Springs Recreation Center on Vanderbilt Avenue and the Board of Elections office on High Street, Ballston Spa.
Primary day is Tuesday, June 27. (No voting Monday, June 26)
Bull, a 37-year-old, three-term superintendent, said Republicans want him out of office because the party perceives him as a threat to 12-term Supervisor Phil Barrett. He also said that the party thinks it has found a compliant candidate in the 20-year town highway employee Traider whom Bull describes as “a nice guy” who is not up for the job.
“My opponent lacks the judgment and experience to be a leader in this organization,” Bull said. “You have to say ‘no’ a lot and stand up to do what is right. As a highway superintendent, you are put in tough situations, you need to be strong.”
Traider, a 51-year-old highway department motor equipment operator, admits he has little to no political experience. But, he said in an email, that Republicans should elect him “to restore credibility to the department and end the politics and drama the town has experienced internally…
Read the full article here