PULCHER OUT, SUCCESSORS LINE UP


Mike McCagg
ccSCOOP News

05-21-11 - Stockport Supervisor Leo Pulcher will not seek reelection this fall, opening the floodgates to candidates in a politically charged town.

Pulcher told ccSCOOP recently that he has decided to not seek reelection because of family health concerns. Specifically, his wife has been battling a serious illness.

“If I weren’t up for reelection, I would probably resign,” said Pulcher, who has held office for a decade. “Family comes first.”

Pulcher, a Republican, has held office for several years, succeeding the late Linda Funk, who in turn succeeded her husband John Funk, who died in office.

Pulcher is chairman of the town county government committee and has overseen the discussion on whether the county needs a full-time administrator. On the town level, while Stockport has less than 3,000 resident residents, it has become increasingly politically active.

In fact, a vacancy on the Town Board earlier this year drew 13 applications, one for about every 220 residents in the town. Matt Murrell, the son of former Republican Hudson Supervisor Ben Murrell, was appointed to the seat by the board.

Murrell, a Republican committeemen, is now considered by political insiders in the town to be a front runner to succeed Pulcher, though at least two others have thrown their name in the ring. Those include political novice Jeff Seymour, fire chief of the Stockport Fire Company, and Ernie Belanger.

The candidates will be seeking a four-year term.

Key issues in the town have been cost overruns associated with the creation of a new town park in Columbiaville and the development of Holmes Estates at Columbia Springs, an approximately 112-unit housing development planned for the hamlet Stottville. The project is the largest to surface in the county in a decade.