Cortland County Democratic Committee Condemns Republican Incumbent on Democratic Line For Preble Town Supervisor

The Cortland County Democratic Committee (CCDC) has condemned the nomination of republican incumbent Jim Doring, who will also be on the democratic line for Preble Town Supervisor this general election in November following a democratic caucus. The CCDC says the caucus was held back on June 30th in the Town of Preble where over 60 democrats attended.

The committee says though, the caucus did not focus on uniting behind a democratic candidate, but instead on the ongoing issue of banning short-term rentals on Song Lake. That’s when the CCDC says a “highly irregular” step was done in the caucus of endorsing a Republican over a nominated democratic candidate.

“The Committee maintains a clear and consistent stance against cross-endorsing Republican or
Conservative candidates, particularly when a Democrat is running. In this case, Republican incumbent Jim Doring—who failed to secure the nomination from his own party—was nonetheless endorsed by the Preble Democratic caucus, over Democratic candidate Peter
Thorman.”

The Cortland County Democratic Committee said in a release.

The Cortland County Democratic Committee says Doring’s values and his previous public statements are “fundamentally at odds” with democratic principles. The committee cited one of those examples from a letter to the editor in the Cortland Standard where Doring criticized the Homer Central School District providing school meals for students at no cost. In the letter, Doring wrote “It is the responsibility of the parents to feed their own children. The whole scheme reeks of an ever-expanding, socialistic nanny state.”

During the caucus on June 30th, Peter Thorman was nominated by Democrat Betty Ann Pitman and Jim Doring was nominated by Democrat Daniel Jezer, who is the husband of Democratic Caucus Chair, Rhea Jezer. Both Daniel and Rhea voiced their strong support for Doring for Town Supervisor, the CCDC says.

“It is shameful to have a Republican running on the Democratic line over a Democratic nominee,” said Bekkie Bryan, Chair of the Cortland County Democratic Committee. “It is especially egregious that this particular Republican was given the Democratic line over a single issue—keeping Song Lake private—while ignoring the hypocrisy, which had already been pointed out to his Democratic supporters, of endorsing someone who opposes basic public services like providing school meals for all children.”

The Cortland County Democratic Committee says that endorsing any Republican, is incompatible with the mission of the Democratic Party. They went on to say the Committee “fully and unequivocally rebukes the nomination of Jim Doring” citing that private interests were in mind instead of the public good of Preble or the integrity of their own political party.