Dow bests Stamper for Dem Elections nod

By a weighted vote of 56%-42%, attorney Ken Dow secured the Columbia County Democratic Committee’s blessing tonight to serve as the party’s Elections Commissioner for the next two-year term.

After a reportedly contentious debate, Dow was selected by secret ballot over CCDC vice chair Erin Stamper.

Dow was understood to be principally backed by the Kinderhook, Claverack, Ghent and Hillsdake Democrats, while Stamper drew votes primarily from Hudson, Germantown, Stuyvesant and Austerlitz. Two other candidates came forward but garnered marginal support.

The recommendation of Dow now has to be approved by the Columbia County Board of Supervisors, which previously rejected the CDC’s renomination of incumbent Commissioner Virginia Martin. (The BOS has just recently made the Commissioner positions full-time, with nearly double the previous salary.)

Normally, the two major parties allow each other to select their elections reps unimpeded. But Martin had prior bad blood with the Republican majority— and also was closely associated along with her since-departed Republican counterpart, Jason Nastke, with the messy 2019 County election cycle, which was marked by confusion, faulty ballots and delayed results. 

Dow will be returning to a job he held more than a decade ago, prior to Martin, and as such has already been vetted and employed by the County Supervisors. Since that time, he has worked for the State Legislature as well as privately practicing municipal law.

Stamper has been employed in the #3 Democratic spot at the BOE since the abrupt departure last year of disgraced former Hudson Police Chief Jimmy Dolan, who had been unexpectedly hired by Martin. It is not clear whether Stamper will wish to continue to serve in that capacity under Dow.