By Chirs Mckenna
Two recent Democratic congressional candidates and a Republican town supervisor are considering running in a special election for Ulster County executive to replace 10-year incumbent Mike Hein when he leaves to oversee a state agency.
Hein, a Democrat, was named commissioner of the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance on Friday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and plans to resign his county office once the state Senate confirms his appointment.
As long as that happens in the next four months or so, Ulster must hold a special election within 90 days of the resignation to fill the office until Hein’s term concludes at the end of 2019.
There would be a second election in November for a four-year term as county executive.
Because of the tight time frame, candidates for the special election would be chosen by Ulster County’s Democratic and Republican committees through nominating conventions, rather than through the usual political process of filing petitions and holding primaries if necessary.
Pat Ryan, who finished second out of seven Democratic contenders in a primary last year for New York’s 19th Congressional District seat, has given the most definitive statement on the coming race, declaring his candidacy in a statement on Saturday and promising on Monday that he will refuse campaign contributions from corporations and limited-liability companies.