No mayoral foes in three towns

By: Aileen Streng | Inside NoVA
Published: March 07, 2008

Although town elections will not be held until May 6, the mayors of Haymarket, Occoquan and Quantico have virtually been decided.

Only one mayoral candidate for each of the three towns submitted the necessary paperwork with the Prince William County Board of Elections by the 7 p.m. Tuesday filing deadline.

Unless there are successful write-in campaigns, Haymarket Mayor Pamela E. Stutz and Occoquan Mayor Earnest W. "Earnie" Porta will be reelected to their current positions. Quantico Vice Mayor Iris Ross Tharp is running unopposed for the office of Quantico mayor.

However, the seats on those town councils, as well as the three open seats on the Dumfries Town Council, are far from being determined.

A total of 32 people have filed for 19 elected positions.

"I think it's great when you have this much competition. This will be an interesting year all over the county," said Diana Dutton, administrative elections manager for the Prince William County Board of Elec-tions. "In each race you have more than just the number of vacancies to choose from.

"There should be some people out there campaigning," she added.

Dumfries

Unlike the three other smaller towns in the county, Dumfries staggers the four-year terms of its six council members and its mayor.

The office of mayor is not up for a vote this year. However, the seats of incumbents Brenda L. Via, Stephanie M. Bradley and Rafael Lopez will be voted on in May.

Via and Bradley are running for reelection. Also running for one of the three open seats are Dorothea D. Barr, Nancy H. West, Sean Robinson and Willie J. Toney.

There are 2,212 registered voters in Dumfries. The town's population is about 5,000.

Haymarket

A total of 11 residents have filed for the six seats on the Haymarket Town Council.

There are 678 registered voters in Haymarket, which has a population of about 1,000.

Occoquan

Six Occoquan residents, including three incumbents, are running for the five seats on the Occoquan Town Coun-cil.

There are 584 registered voters in Occoquan out of a population of about 800.

Quantico

Interest in the Quantico Town Council also is high with nine town residents running for five seats.

While incumbent mayor Albert "Al" Gasser is not running for mayor, he is running for the council, along with incumbents Mary Lou Angell DiMarzio, Russell V. "Rusty" Kuhns, Mitchel P. Raftelis and William J. Unrine. Also running are Kevin P. Brown, Florence "FoFo" Petkoson and Nyla Kay Si-dler.

There are 272 registered voters in the town of Quantico, which has a population of about 560.

Staff writer Aileen Streng can be reached at 703-878-8010.

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