Debate Follows Write-In Campaign
By Stephanie Mariel Petrellese

The circumstances surrounding Eileen J. Collins' failed attempt to oust Deputy Mayor John Mauk from his seat on the Board of Trustees via a write-in campaign are still being discussed weeks after the March 18th election.

"I have integrity and I have dignity," she said at the April 7th meeting of the Garden City Board of Trustees. "But I have a right to challenge, and I did."

Some argue that Collins, a resident in the Western section, violated the Community Agreement by challenging Mauk, a resident and nominated candidate of the Estates section. The agreement, adopted in 1919 and not legally binding, allows for two trustees to be nominated from each section. If Collins had won, the Estates section would have only had one representative on the Board and the West would have had three.

Collins claims she has been the subject of e-mails full of fallacies and innuendos. "This is going to stop," she said. "If people are going to go after me with lies, I am going to come back."

Collins said the executive members of the Committee to Save St. Paul's never approached her with the idea to run for trustee. "That's a lie," she said. "It never happened." She said Peter Negri was in Florida when she decided to challenge Mauk and she does not speak with Ed Keating. Collins said she did have a private conversation with Thomas Poole, who simply offered his vote.

Collins said she was encouraged to run for trustee after several people said more diversity was needed on the Board. There are currently no females serving as trustee and she claims people told her they want to see someone other than an attorney or banker.

She said she thinks she would do a better job than Mauk and disagrees with his position on St. Paul's. Collins is against rental units on the property and thinks there should be public space, as well as condominiums and affordable senior housing for those aged 55 and over.

"Forget the Community Agreement right now," she said. "We live in the United States of America. The Constitution could be amended. I am not saying amend the Community Agreement, but I'm saying look at it."

Deputy Mayor John Mauk disagrees. In an e-mail to the Garden City News, he responded to her comments:

"Mrs. Collins told all of us at the Board meeting that her failed write-in campaign to remove me from the Board was justified because she opposes my efforts regarding St. Paul's. People run against each other for office all the time because they differ on important issues. I've been challenged previously for that reason in my own POA. The manner of Mrs. Collin's action, however, sets it apart. It was in total violation of the Community Agreement, and in disregard of the choice made by voters in the Estates section of the Village.

"Mrs. Collins and her supporters sought to capitalize on the fact that very few people vote in the General Election, because they expect the candidate choices made in their POA's to be honored. That's the very essence of the Community Agreement, and if it was not generally followed, fewer than 100 voters could easily skew an election to their liking. It would be interesting to run against Mrs. Collins in a direct, open and fair election. But the secret nature of this write-in effort was nothing less than an attempt by a few people to steal the election while no one was looking. I don't think it can be viewed any other way.

"Mrs. Collins also castigated the writers of recent letters to the newspaper at length for suggesting that the write-in campaign was orchestrated by the Committee to Save St. Paul's (CSSP). I can understand why the committee's leadership would want to disassociate themselves from this failed effort by their former Executive Director. I take Mrs. Collins at her word. Nevertheless, given the past willingness of some of the committee's leadership to go to extraordinary lengths to personally attack people who do not agree with their own views about St. Paul's, I think it is understandable why the letter writers assumed this was yet another effort by the CSSP to remove me from the Board and keep me from speaking out on St. Paul's. The group's supporters have their fingerprints all over this."