Story by Julie Carasone
When Dave Saleh accepted the job as part time Batavia City Court Judge, he had to step down as Republican party Chairperson. This past Thursday, the City of Batavia Republican Party elected Richard Richmond as their new Chairperson.
Richmond has been a registered Republican since he was 18 years old.
“I have voted in every city, county, and national election with two exceptions and I am 64 years old. I have been with the republican party as a member for the past 7 years,” Richmond says.
Richmond considers himself an ordinary citizen as far as what is going on in the city, and has always been a political person. Before becoming the Chairperson, Richmond held the positions of treasurer, 5th ward chairman, 3rd ward chairman, vice chair for Dave Saleh and now the elected Chairperson.
Adam Tabelski is Richmond’s Vice Chair.
“I am proud to have Adam as my Vice Chair. Again, he knows all aspects of city/county government, in the past he was a mayor and if I need any advice or help, I can always go to him.”
The Treasurer is Laura Landers.
“As a Treasurer, I went into it new,” says Landers.
“Laura makes it looks easy. She is a CPA, a professional woman in finance. She is another person on the committee that I can count on.”
Andrea Clattenburg, is our parliamentarian. “Anything to do with our by-laws, she has the final say. She knows our bi-laws inside and out.”
“I find it interesting that 25% of our city Republican committee are strong Republican women. I am going to go to them for advice. I want to know what the women’s issues are within the party. We are proud to say as a party, that 1/3rd of the City Council are republican women, Kathy Briggs, Patty Pacino and Rosemary Christian.
The Republicans also set the standard for women in the county with two women serving as president in the past on city council, Marianne Clattenburg, who is now Vice Chair in the Legislature and Chris Fix.
“My primary focus is the City of Batavia and getting our candidates elected. We try to choose the best candidates to put on the ballot and serve the City of Batavia. Our elected representatives are not our leaders. They are there to do the will of the people and work for us,” said Richmond
As to people getting involved, “The most effective way to get your story or concerns to the council, is to go to the council meetings, which they hold every month. Every person in the city of Batavia can go there and speak on the issues that they are passionate about. Our committee will be reaching out to the people for the City of Batavia. We encourage them to run for public office and get on the committee. We want to hear from the City of Batavia.”
“We also encourage people to join clubs or organizations if they don’t want to run for office, but still want to have a voice. Organizations such as GLOW Women Rise, Genesee County Republican Women’s Club, those are the women that can be engaging and having a dialogue with other women. That’s a good start and that would be my best advice. If you have a passion, and I have a passion of politics and I want to serve the community, is to get more involved,”explained Richmond.
For more information you can go to their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/City-of-Batavia-Republican-Committee-167213536770486/
There will be an informational meeting hosted by the Genesee County Republican Club on Thursday, February 6, 2020 at 7:00p.m. at Stafford Town Hall discussing the new Bail Reform Law.