The Sidney Democratic Committee met last night in the Board Room at the Civic Center and first on the agenda was Richard Rich, one of three very strong Democratic candidates for Supreme Court Justice in the 6th Judicial District of New York.

Rich generously spent time discussing not only his own candidacy but that of all three Democrats on the ticket. A spirited question and answer session followed, and the conversation ranged from the various sorts of cases usually heard by the State Supreme Court to constitutional questions about the Bush Administration’s detention and torture of foreign nationals on foreign soil.

Following Mr. Rich’s presentation, the meeting continued with a recap of last month’s County Committee reorganization meeting, and voter outreach and candidate recruitment in Sidney. As a first step, the committee started planning a pre-holiday party in mid-November for Sidney Democrats (probably to be held at the Sidney Memorial Library).

We also made plans to start a rotating schedule to attend and monitor Town Board meetings to stay on top of what is happening with town government (particularly since the local press is strangely silent on the subject), and to work on filling the four remaining vacant seats on the Committee.

In all, a longer-than-average but very successful meeting.

The next meeting of the Sidney Committee will be held on November 14th at 7 p.m. in the Board Room of the Sidney Civic Center.