Greene County Democratic party co-chair asked to resign

HUNTER―Upheaval has intensified within the Greene County Democratic Party amidst a demand for the resignation of county co-chairperson Lori Torgersen by two town committee leaders.

David Kukle and JoEllen Schermerhorn, heads of the Hunter and Lexington town committees, respectively, have submitted a letter via email to Torgersen claiming, “a case of flagrant party disloyalty by you.”

The May 27 letter outlines alleged, “blatant disloyalty by you… toward your fellow Democratic legislator, Mr. [Larry] Gardner,” in the years 2016-2018 when Torgersen and Gardner served together on the county legislature.

Kukle and Schermerhorn, in their letter, also asked that a copy be forwarded to members of the executive committee before a May 28 full membership meeting in Cairo, which they say was, oddly, not done.

In a subsequent phone interview, Kukle said he was told that the letter was not shared because it could not be accessed as an email attachment by the party secretary.

Kukle, however, says he was informed that the party secretary was purportedly, “instructed by [Torgersen] not to forward the email.”

“This is not the way we wanted to go,” Kukle said, noting he had anticipated the letter being discussed in-house at the May 28 meeting, which was attended by the Mountain Eagle.

“It’s very disappointing,” the letter was not disseminated prior to that meeting, Kukle said.

“But, if this is the only way for the public to know about this, it’s the way we have to go,” he added.

Torgersen has not responded to a May 28 email, her preferred contact method, asking if she had received the letter and if she wished to comment. She was also asked if the letter had been disbursed.

The request for Torgersen to step down comes in the wake of Gardner’s resignation from the town of Hunter Democratic committee.

Gardner became embroiled in controversy during the November 2025 election for town supervisor in Windham after publicly supporting the Republican candidate, Thomas Hoyt, over the Democratic nominee, Connor Exum.

Gardner, a former 40-year member of the legislature, was also the longtime town attorney for Windham and maintained a law practice there.

The call for Gardner to step down came in a November 18, 2025, letter from the Windham town committee to the Hunter town committee and the county party’s co-chairpersons, Marc Czermerys and Torgersen.

Windham town Democrats, in their letter, wrote that “the core issue is the manner in which Mr. Gardner chose to act.”

“At no point did he approach the Windham Democratic Committee to raise concerns, offer advice, or seek dialogue,” they wrote.

“Rather than communicating as a fellow Democrat, Mr. Gardner bypassed the committee entirely. This blindsided our team, contradicted our work and damaged our credibility at a critical moment,” Windham Democrats wrote.

Gardner did not initially step aside, writing a lengthy missive to Democrats, stating his support of the Republican, “was not an aberration from my consistently loyal conduct, but was rather my reaction as a loyal Democrat,” declaring that it was motivated by a “mindless choice.”

“In a nutshell, the mindless choice was to run an Anarcho-Syndicalist as a Democratic candidate for supervisor,” Gardner wrote.

Another vote for Windham town supervisor is slated for November 2026, prompting Windham town Committee Chairperson Kathy Stone to write a follow-up letter to the executive committee and co-chairpersons.

Referencing the 2025 vote, Stone wrote, “Mr. Gardner used his standing as a Democrat to lend credibility to a Republican campaign while our committee was in the field fighting for our nominee.”

“That is a betrayal of every volunteer, donor, and voter who trusted that our party would stand behind its own candidates,” Stone wrote.

“Mr. Gardner's continued membership in the Hunter Democratic Committee sends a troubling message, that there are no consequences for actively working against Democratic candidates,” Stone stated.

Gardner relinquished his committee spot on April 20, 2026, three days before the issue was expected to be raised at a countywide meeting.

“I will, on my own terms, not by reason of any demand, but for the benefits enumerated below, resign from the Democratic Committee,” Gardner wrote.

Among those espoused benefits was having, “a now much better informed Greene County Democratic Committee… freed of this issue, but not yet of its current leadership,” Gardner wrote.

In the years 2016-2018, Gardner and Torgersen, while each representing a mountaintop legislature district, were on opposite sides of a heated legislative debate over the construction of a new county jail.

The divide spilled over into the 2018 election as Gardner sought to extend his 40-year career in District 7 while Torgersen, not seeking re-election to District 6, backed an eleventh hour write-in candidate challenging Gardner.

In his committee resignation letter, Gardner detailed purported actions by Torgersen surrounding his successful re-election and the write-in challenger.

Gardner claimed Torgersen and other Windham Democrats, organized by Torgersen, “didn’t merely support [the write-in] candidacy against the Democratic candidate, they actually recruited [the write-in candidate] and created [the write-in candidate’s] campaign.”

The write-in candidate, “did not participate in a Democratic primary… did not gather signatures for an Independent nominating petition… and was otherwise not a candidate of any party,” Gardner wrote.

Gardner had asked that Torgersen recuse herself from anything related to the Windham committee’s request for his resignation.

He referenced a letter written by Torgersen in October of 2018, announcing she would not seek re-election when she, “fired a broadside at all of the members of the Greene County Legislature, both all Republicans and, besides herself, all four other Democrats,” Gardner wrote.

Torgersen’s letter was “distributed widely by email and provided to all local news media, accusing all other legislators, including me [and other legislative Democrats], of "nefarious motives,” "lacking integrity" and having lost our "ethical way,” Gardner wrote.

Torgersen, in an April 10 letter sent to Democratic colleagues wrote, “the matter before the committee remains straightforward: a sitting Democratic Committee member publicly and formally endorsed a Republican candidate in a contested race involving a Democratic nominee,” further stating:

“Addressing that concern thoughtfully and transparently is part of maintaining the integrity and credibility of our committee.

“I did not organize or direct the write-in campaign. That effort was undertaken independently by a resident of Mr. Gardner’s district in response to a policy disagreement regarding the county jail project.

“My involvement was limited to personally expressing support for that Democratic candidate to some of my own contacts.

“Supporting a Democratic candidate in a write-in effort is not the same as publicly endorsing a Republican candidate against a Democratic nominee,” Torgersen wrote.

Kukle and Schermerhorn, in their May 27 letter to Torgersen, wrote:

“As an elected Democratic legislator, you publicly, in your own written words, supported a candidate as a write-in to challenge the Democratic candidate for District 7 in the General Election.

“You stated that you would support that candidate in opposition to Mr. Gardner, the incumbent Democratic candidate already on the Democratic line.

“The lack of professionalism stems not only from this act but also from a failure of communication with the Hunter, Lexington and [town of] Halcott Democratic Committees—not only by you, Ms. Torgersen, but also by close associates who were aware of your intent to sabotage our District 7 candidate.

“We respectfully ask that, for the good of the party, you take it upon yourself to resign immediately,” Kukle and Schermerhorn wrote.

Kukle, in a subsequent phone interview, said, “it appears that [Torgersen] would like to have a double standard when issues involve her.”

“Mr. Gardner's letter as a citizen [supporting the Republican candidate] pales in comparison to her unethical behavior of party disloyalty as an elected county official at the time,” Kukle said.