Submitted by the Cicero Democratic Committee

The Cicero Democratic Party has selected its candidates for Cicero Town Board in this year’s election. The three candidates include Judy A. Boyke, who is running for Cicero Town Supervisor, and Nate Riley and Joyce Villnave, both of whom are running for Cicero Town Councilor. The Cicero Democratic Party unanimously nominated these candidates. They will campaign together to present their plan for a fairer and more transparent Cicero town government that strives to improve the quality of life for every Cicero resident. If elected, they will seek to provide increased visibility to Cicero residents and restore integrity to town government.

Judy Boyke, a familiar face and voice for the residents of Cicero, is a candidate for Town Supervisor (D, WFP). Judy is a lifelong resident of Cicero, and is married with three grown children, seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. She is a currently serving Cicero as an elected town councilor and liaison to the town planning and zoning board of appeals.

Boyke was previously elected as town supervisor, serving from 2010-2011. She retired from General Electric/Martin Marietta Company after 33 years, and is currently a private business owner and a New York state licensed Realtor. She has previously served as director of the Greater Syracuse Board of Realtors, and chair of the Professional Board of Ethics. Judy is involved with several organizations, including the South Shore Association where she is currently president of the Auxiliary, the Divine Mercy Choir, the Cicero Historical Society, and the Oneida Lake Association.

As a resident, Boyke helped lead a petition in 2017 to challenge the town board’s decision to spend $10 million on the construction of a new highway garage. The petition successfully brought the issue to referendum, allowing Cicero residents the right to vote on the $10 million expenditure. That vote was the first time in the history of the town of Cicero that a permissive referendum was ever challenged and won. Boyke said her efforts were directed to represent the rights of the residents to have a voice in their town government. Boyke said fiscal responsibility has always been her top priority in her ongoing efforts to represent the residents of Cicero.

Nate Riley, candidate for Cicero Town Councilor (D, WFP), is an attorney with 10 years’ experience practicing in appeals, civil rights and disability law. Riley said he wants a more transparent and accountable Cicero town government that responsibly grows our community. Riley seeks to adopt a 27th Amendment for the town of Cicero that will prevent town board members from giving themselves pay raises with your tax dollars. He further seeks to reform both the Cicero ethics board and planning board by adopting a fair, merit-based system for appointing board members from all political backgrounds to these critical positions within the town. Finally, he favors a fiscally responsible plan to fix the potholes on our roads because Cicero Town government currently places a Band-Aid on less than 5 miles of road each year.

As a young attorney in Chicago, Riley worked under the direction of the Hon. Judge Clifford Meacham to root out political patronage in county government. He later served as a law clerk to the Hon. Judge Randye Kogan. When he moved to Cicero in 2014, he took a job with a disability rights firm, successfully representing disabled children, adults and veterans that could no longer work or afford the care their disabled children needed. Riley currently fights for poor people in Onondaga County that have no money to pay a lawyer as part of the Appeals Program at Hiscock Legal Aid Society. In the fall, he works as an NCAA and Section III high school football official. He lives in Cicero with his wife, Dr. Ellyn Riley, PhD, of Syracuse University, and their only child, Keira, who attends Cicero Elementary.

Joyce Villnave is a candidate for Cicero Town Board Councilor (D). Villnave has lived in Cicero since 1990. She is a systems consultant for Onondaga-Cortland-Madison BOCES, where she has been employed for seven years. Joyce is a longtime political activist, participating on various committees and offices since high school through her time at Onondaga Community College, including the American Postal Workers Union, Central New York Labor Council, the Central New York Chapter of NOW, the Working Families Party and the Cicero Democrats.

Villnave is running for Cicero Town Board because she is concerned about the direction the town has been heading for the last several years. Joyce sees that our current elected officials are irresponsibly putting us deep in debt, and are allowing uncontrolled and unplanned development and building in the town. She wants to rein in the budget, to assure that future development is positive and sensible, and to provide visibility to town government for all citizens.

Villnave’s past professional experience includes positions as a legal secretary, customer service representative at DHL, a data conversion operator for the United States Postal Service, and a buyer/expediter for General Electric (now Lockheed Martin Marietta).

Additional information about the Cicero candidates and their platform will be available on the Cicero Democrats website, Cicerodems.org. For current information on issues, follow us on Twitter at @CiceroDems, and on Facebook at the Cicero Democratic Committee.