Scott renews his quest to unseat Calves as Bedford Supervisor

Don Scott

Ellen Calves

By JEFF MORRIS

For the second year in a row, Bedford Supervisor Ellen Calves is running for reelection. But this time, she has an opponent — and a familiar one at that.

On June 1, Calves announced she will seek reelection on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines. Meanwhile, Don Scott responded to a question from The Recorder by confirming that he is also running for supervisor, on the Republican line, though without any announcement.

Calves ran unopposed for a third term as supervisor in November.

The reason that Calves has to run again so soon is a change in state election law, which moved elections for a number of local offices outside of New York City to even-numbered years. The legislation was signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in December 2023, and went into effect on Jan. 1, 2025. That meant that the two-year term to which Calves normally would have been elected in 2025 will instead expire at the end of this year.

The electoral calendar change was initiated by Democrats in Albany, but was actually opposed by most local area officials, who lobbied unsuccessfully against it.

History of ballot appearances

Calves and Scott are no strangers to the Bedford ballot.

Scott had been the Republican and Conservative candidate for supervisor in 2013, and lost to Chris Burdick, running on the Democratic, Working Families and Independence lines. Burdick is now a member of the State Assembly. Ironically, Scott was initially elected to the Town Board in 2014 to fill the final year of Burdick’s term after Burdick became supervisor. He served as a Town Board member from 2015 through 2019, after being reelected to a full four-year term in 2015.

Scott was then defeated when Democrats swept the board elections in November 2019. First winning a board seat in that election was none other than Calves.

In November 2021, Calves, the supervisor candidate on the Democratic line, defeated Scott, who was running for supervisor on the Bedford United and Republican lines.

In 2023, Calves ran unopposed for another term as supervisor and was reelected. Scott also ran again, but for a Town Board position rather than for supervisor, and only on the Republican line. His bid was not successful.

Why are they running?

“There is still important work ahead, and I remain committed to thoughtful, transparent leadership that reflects the values and priorities of our residents,” Calves said. 

She said priorities for another term would include upgrading the Katonah playground and implementing a long-term parks and pools capital plan, advancing redevelopment planning for the Route 117 commercial corridor, expanding walk and bike paths between hamlets, improving efficiency and customer service in town permitting and review processes, enhancing youth engagement through the THRIVE prevention program, expanding open space preservation, supporting public art initiatives, improving clean water infrastructure, and pursuing acquisition and redevelopment of the Bedford Hills train station to support restaurant use.

Her campaign website is www.friends-of-ellen-calves.com.

Scott called his campaign “intentionally unconventional.”

“Bedford deserves a choice,” Scott said. “I am running for town supervisor because uncontested elections are not healthy for any community. This campaign will not look like a normal campaign. Instead of spending money on consultants, mailers, and political theater, we’ve spent our time building civic tools, answering questions, and creating new ways for residents to engage with local government. You do not have to vote for me to believe Bedford should have a contested election.”

Scott’s campaign appears to be relying heavily on AI tools to provide information and answer questions. His website, www.donforbedford.com acknowledges that with the statement, “We’re not hiding it. AI helped build this site and refine the approach. We think being open about that is more useful than pretending it didn’t happen.”

Stuck in committee

It should be noted that there is a bill, introduced in the State Assembly in 2021 and 2023 and reintroduced in 2025 and 2026, that would impose a term limit of four years on town supervisors. Co-sponsored by Republicans David McDonough and Joe DeStefano and Democrat MaryJane Shimsky, the bill has been in the Assembly Local Governments Committee for two years.