Democrat Files for York Dist. 1 Supervisor Contest

By Sam Thrift Sunday, July 03, 2011

There are going to be more options for York County voters in November, with a Democratic candidate filing for the District 1 seat on the Board of Supervisors.

Tony Joseph Jr., a 27-year-old intelligence analyst for the Air Force, will run against the winner of the August 23 Republican primary, either incumbent Walter Zaremba or Mitchel Thomas. Joseph said that the lack of leadership and transparency in the county’s decision-making process are among the top reasons he decided to run.  

“I think it’s gotten stagnant. There’s not just one side to the debate,” Joseph said. “No one agrees that much - even Republicans. I don’t understand how there can be so many 5-0 votes. We tried to count all the 5-0 votes on the website, and we just stopped because there were so many.”

Joseph believes that having a seat on the board that represented a different viewpoint will help stimulate democratic debate when it comes to making larger decisions. He is concerned that people will infer from his ‘Democrat’ title that he will make radical choices.

“People associate Democrats with certain things in this area, with taxing and spending. But in my case that’s just not true,” he said. “I have some things that I’m not liberal on. I have an open mind on a lot of things. I like to debate people who don’t agree with me. I’m a big consensus guy.”

Understanding that voters may not warm up to his political party, he decided the best way to campaign, and the most cost efficient, would be to meet with the people face-to-face.

“I’m going to go door-to-door so people get to know me,” Joseph said. “I’m going to be honest. I don’t have $20,000 in my account to spend on campaigning. Hopefully the message will catch on.”

Joseph said mistakes like the Marquis shopping center are examples of the current “rubber-stamp leadership” that showed a lack of transparency and poor choices. Joseph mentioned in his press release that shopping center was projected to have 250 stores by 2011. It currently has five.

He singled out Zaremba as not being honest during the transaction because he was quoted saying there was no secrecy in the York County government. But when it came to the Marquis there were private meetings with the former developer.

“Walter says there was no secrecy, but they were meeting secretly with the Marquis. That’s unacceptable. You shouldn’t be actively keeping the public out. It doesn’t seem right to me,” Joseph said. “Residents of York County deserve better from their elected leaders.”

Joseph moved to Yorktown to be a military consultant after being honorably discharged from the Air Force. He met his wife Melissa, a fellow Air Force veteran who now serves the military as a civilian, while he was studying at American Military University. He earned a BA in intelligence studies and a masters in political science.  Joseph has a stepdaughter and he and his wife are expecting a son later this month.

He decided to run when he began hearing concerns about the direction of the county government from people in the community. Joseph said that he plans on raising his family in York County, and wants to make sure it becomes the community the residents believe it can be.

“I just want people to know that I have an invested future in this county. We’re going to be here for a while and the future of my family depends on this county,” he said.

“I want people to know that there’s another choice out there. I think that people are ready for a change.”

Click here to learn more about Joseph and his candidacy.