hill country observerThe independent newspaper of eastern New York, southwestern Vermont and the Berkshires

 

News & Issues December 2017-January 2018

 

Election 2017

 

Here are the results from major local races and ballot issues in the Nov. 7 general elecction in New York and Massachusetts. Winning candidates are in bold type. A brief summary follows the results for each county.
The results shown are final, official tallies certified by local election officials, except in the case of the New York statewide ballot questions and the 3rd Judicial District race. In those cases, the numbers provided are election-night tallies that do not include absentee ballots.

 

MASSACHUSETTS

 

BERKSHIRE COUNTY

State representative -- First Berkshire District
John Barrett III (D) ............................. 4,976 (77.1%)
Christine M. Canning (R) .................... 1,479 (22.9%)

 

North Adams mayor
Thomas Bernard ................................ 2,404 (70.1%)
Robert Moulton Jr. ............................... 1,023 (29.9%)

 

Barrett, who served as North Adams mayor for the better part of three decades before being ousted in 2009, easily won the race to represent northern Berkshire County in Boston. The contest in the First Berkshire District was a special election to fill the seat of longtime Rep. Gailanne Cariddi, who died in June.


Barrett prevailed in a four-way Democratic primary in October. The district covers nine municipalities from Lanesborough north to the Vermont border and, like the rest of Berkshire County, is heavily Democratic.


In the nonpartisan race for North Adams mayor, Bernard, a political newcomer known for his past roles at Mass MoCA and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, handily defeated Moulton, a longtime city councilor and local business owner. Bernard had run far ahead of Mouton and two other candidates in a preliminary election in September.


Four-term incumbent Mayor Richard Alcombright, who had defeated Barrett in 2009, chose not to run again and had endorsed Bernard as his successor. Bernard campaigned on a call for economic development through improvements to the city’s schools and infrastructure.

 

NEW YORK

 

STATEWIDE BALLOT QUESTIONS

Question 1: A Yes vote would have called a convention to revise and amend the state constitution. If voters had said say yes, they would have elected delegates to the convention in November 2018 and voted again in 2019 to approve or reject any constitutional revisions proposed by the convention. The question will next appear on state ballots in 2037.
Yes .................................................... 558,324 (16.7%)
No .............................................. 2,775,125 (83.3%)

 

Question 2: A Yes vote was to amend the state constitution to “allow a court to reduce or revoke the public pension” of a public official who is convicted of a felony that “directly relates” to the public official’s duties.
Yes .............................................. 2,380,935 (72.9%)
No ..................................................... 883,139 (27.1%)

 

Question 3: A Yes vote approves creation of a land bank to allow towns that need small amounts of protected forest land for essential public works projects to exchange equivalent amounts of land without having to come back to the Legislature to seek voter approval for each transaction.
Yes .............................................. 1,662,413 (52.1%)
No .................................................. 1,527,102 (47.9%)


State Supreme Court, 3rd Judicial District
(Columbia, Rensselaer and five other counties)
Peter G. Crummey (R, C, I, RF) ........ 95,117 (48.5%)
Julian D. Schreibman (D, WF) ....... 100,900 (51.5%)


COLUMBIA COUNTY

Sheriff
* David P. Bartlett (R, C, I, RF) ...... 10,979 (55.4%)
Peter Volkman (D, WE, WF)................ 8,842 (44.6%)

 

Coroner
Roy Brown (R, C, I) ............................. 8,287 (43.6%)
Andrea Coleman (D, WE, WF) ......... 10,740 (56.4%)

 

Claverack supervisor
Laura Miller (D, i) .................................. 771 (39.9%)
* Kippy Weigelt (R, C, I) ..................... 1,161 (60.1%)

 

Greenport supervisor
Kathy Leck Eldridge (D, WF, I) .............. 670 (52.2%)
* Edward F. Nabozny (R, C, RF) ............ 613 (47.8%)

 

Hudson 2nd Ward supervisor
Willette M. Jones (WF) ........................... 124 (39.5%)
Abdus Miah (D, R, C, I) ........................ 190 (60.5%)

 

Hudson 4th Ward supervisor
* William Hughes Jr. (R, C) .................... 165 (40.0%)
Linda Mussman (D, WF, I) ..................... 247 (60.0%)

 

Stuyvesant supervisor
Edward “Ned” Depew (D, WF) .............. 273 (38.5%)
* Ron Knott (R, C, I) ............................ 436 (61.5%)

 

Bartlett won a second four-year term as sheriff in the most high-profile countywide race, defeating Volkmann, the Chatham village police chief, in a race that focused on recent violent crimes related to opioid use in the county.


Only five seats on the 23-member county Board of Supervisors were contested, and Democratic challengers defeated Republican incumbents in Greenport and in Hudson’s 4th Ward.


RENSSELAER COUNTY

 

County court judge
Philip J. Danaher (R, C, RF) ............. 18,201 (47.1%)
Jennifer G. Sober (D, G, I, WE, WF) ... 20,421 (52.9%)

 

County executive
Wayne G. Foy (G) ..................................... 565 (1.4%)
Steven F. McLaughlin (R, C, I RF) ... 19,685 (50.5%)
Andrea J. Smyth (D, WE, WF) .......... 18,736 (48.1%)

 

North Greenbush supervisor
* Louis J. Desso (R, C, I, WF, RF) ...... 2,095 (52.9%)
Ronald M. Sinico (D, G, WE) .............. 1,863 (47.1%)

 

Poestenkill supervisor
Keith A. Hammond (D, WF, I) ............... 687 (47.8%)
* Dominic J. Jacangelo (R, C) ............... 749 (52.2%)


Sand Lake supervisor
William H. Hoffay (R, C, I) .................. 1,475 (48.1%)
Nancy W. Perry (D, WF) ..................... 1,590 (51.9%)

 

Schodack supervisor
* Dennis E. Dowds (D, WF).................. 1,827 (45.3%)
David B. Harris (R, C, I) .................... 2,203 (54.7%)

 

McLaughlin, a state assemblyman now in his fourth term in office, narrowly prevailed in the hard-fought race for county executive, defeating Smyth, the director of a nonprofit organization for children.


McLaughlin earlier had bested the county Republican organization’s preferred candidate in a bitter September primary. He will succeed the incumbent Republican, Kathleen Jimino, who did not seek another term. His victory sets the stage for a special election in 2018 to fill the remainder of his Assembly term.


Only four town supervisor seats in the county were contested. Voters in Sand Lake chose Perry to succeed Democrat Flora Fasoldt, while voters in Schodack chose Harris over Dowds, an incumbent running as a Democrat after previously being elected as a Republican. Republican incumbents prevailed in North Greenbush and Poestentkill.

 

SARATOGA COUNTY

 

Charlton supervisor
*Alan R. Grattidge (R, C, I) .................. 816 (54.5%)
Albert W. Wilson (D) ............................... 681 (45.5%)

 

Malta supervisor
William F. Breheny (D) ........................ 1,504 (37.6%)
* Vincent R. DeLucia (R, C, I) ............ 2,496 (62.4%)

 

Mechanicville mayor
* Dennis M. Baker (R, C, I) ................... 743 (62.5%)
Anthony J. Sylvester Sr. (D) ..................... 446 (37.5%)

 

Milton supervisor
Barbara A. Kerr (RF) ........................... 1,341 (34.7%)
Scott T. Ostrander (R, C, I) ............... 2,529 (65.3%)

 

Moreau supervisor
Theodore T. Kusnierz Jr. (R, C, I) ........ 1,919 (59.6%)
Michael P. Linehan (D) ....................... 1,303 (40.4%)

 

Saratoga Springs charter revision
“Shall the new city charter proposed by the city charter commission be adopted?”
A Yes vote would have replaced the current form of city government, in which each of the five members of the City Council have administrative control over a portion of the city’s day-to-day operations, with a more typical system of a mayor and a legislative city council with a professional city manager to oversee all of the city’s operations.
Yes ......................................................... 4,447 (49.9%)
No ..................................................... 4,457 (50.1%)

 

Saratoga Springs mayor
Mark E. Baker (R, C, I, RF).................. 4,181 (45.9%)
Meg Kelly (D, WE, WF) ...................... 4,921 (54.1%)

 

Saratoga Springs county supervisor (two seats)
Patricia A. Friesen (D, WF) ................................ 3,808
Tara N. Gaston (D, WE, WF) ........................... 4,057
Joseph A. Levy (G) ................................................ 260
John F. Safford (R, C, I, RF) ............................... 3,783
* Matthew E. Veitch (R, C, I RF) ...................... 4,873


Saratoga Springs public safety commissioner
Donald J. Braim (R, C, I, RF) .............. 4,317 (49.1%)
Peter R. Martin (D, WE, WF) ............. 4,475 (50.9%)

 

Saratoga Springs city judge
Andrew C. Blumenberg (R, C, RF) ....... 3,371 (38.1%)
* Francine Vero (D, WF, I, WE) .......... 5,488 (61.9%)

 

Wilton supervisor
Nancy E. Dwyer (D, i) ........................... 1,867 (43.2%)
* Arthur J. Johnson (R, C, I) .............. 2,457 (56.8%)

The most hotly contested races were in Saratoga Springs, where a proposal to revamp the city’s system of government appears to have failed by a mere 10 votes out of more than 8,900 cast. (Supporters were pursuing a recount as of late November.)


In other contests in Saratoga Springs, the city’s political balance of power remained unchanged, with Kelly prevailing in the race to succeed her fellow Democrat, Mayor Joanne Yepsen.


In town supervisor races elsewhere in the county, Republicans picked up an open seat in Moreau, where Democrat Gardner Congdon stepped down, and retained the open seat in Milton.


WARREN COUNTY

Glens Falls mayor
Richard P. Cirino (G, i) .......................... 477 (15.3%)
Timothy E. Guy (R) ................................ 619 (19.8%)
Dan Hall (D, I, WE) ........................... 2,031 (64.9%)

 

Glens Falls councilman-at-large
Robin M. Barkenhagen (G, i) .................. 967 (34.5%)
Jane R. Reid (R, I) ............................. 1,834 (65.5%)

 

Glens Falls 1st Ward county supervisor
Jack Diamond (D) ................................. 195 (52.7%)
Nancy L. Underwood (R, I, RF) ............. 175 (47.3%)

 

Glens Falls 4th Ward county supervisor
Karen Judd (R, I) ..................................... 126 (36.2%)
William A. Loeb (D, WE) ...................... 222 (63.8%)

 

Queensbury town supervisor
Rachel Seeber (R, C, I, WE, RF) ......... 3,150 (41.6%)
* John F. Strough III (D) .................... 4,414 (58.4%)

 

Queensbury county at-large supervisor (four seats)
* Douglas Beaty (R, C, I RF) ........................... 5,061
Brad Magowan (R, I, RF) ................................ 4,657
* Matthew Sokol (R, I, RF) .............................. 4,309
David Strainer (D, C) ......................................... 4,154
Michael Wild (R, I, RF) ................................... 4,670

 

In Glens Falls, Hall, the city’s councilman-at-large, easily won his bid to succeed Mayor Jack Diamond, who was barred by term limits from running again and instead sought and won a county supervisor seat.


The bigger surprise came in the suburban town of Queensbury, where the incumbent Democratic supervisor, Strough, handily defeated Seeber, who initially had seemed a formidable challenger.
Although the town is predominatey Republican, Seeber’s candidacy suffered after a scandal in which Republican officials tried to keep the public from finding out that a party-backed town council candidate was unwilling to serve if elected. Besides the supervisor seat, Democrats wound up gaining two of the four town council seats.

 

WASHINGTON COUNTY

Cambridge supervisor
* Catherine Cassie Fedler (D, i) .......... 457 (72.7%)
Beaver Watkins (C) ................................. 172 (27.3%)


Dresden supervisor
Paul D. Ferguson (R, i) ........................ 135 (60.3%)
* George D. Gang (D) .............................. 89 (39.7%)

 

Easton supervisor
Phil Nicholas (D, i) ............................... 271 (39.0%)
* Daniel B. Shaw (R) ............................ 423 (61.0%)

 

Salem supervisor
Evera Sue Clary (D, i) ......................... 491 (55.2%)
Bruce M. Ferguson (R) ...................,....... 399 (44.8%)

 

White Creek supervisor
James Griffith (i) .................................... 280 (44.2%)
* Robert E. Shay (R) ............................ 354 (55.8%)

 

Whitehall supervisor
John W. Rozell (R) ................................ 559 (65.5%)
Peter J. Telisky (D) .................................. 294 (34.5%)

 

In the six contested supervisor races among the county’s 17 towns, only two resulted in a change of party control. Voters in Dresden ousted a Democrat, Gang, in favor of Republican challenger Paul Ferguson. In Salem, voters chose Clary, owner of the art and antiques center McCartee’s Barn, over Bruce Ferguson, who was town supervisor for the better part of two decades before being voted out in 2007.
— Compiled by Fred Daley

 

C -- Conservative Party
D -- Democratic Party
G -- Green Party
I -- Independence Party
i -- independent (no party)
R -- Republican Party
RF -- Reform Party
WE -- Women’s Equality Party
WF -- Working Families Party
* -- incumbent