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Republicans retain majority on the BOS
Some argue county issues may have impacted supervisor races
By Francesca Olsen
Plenty of new faces will take their seats in the Supervisors’ Chambers next year, as Tuesday’s election showed a heavy trend toward removing incumbents, though the Board of Supervisors’ Republican presence remains a majority.
Voters in the towns of Ancram, Kinderhook, Austerlitz and Livingston voted heavily against their incumbent supervisors. In Ancram, Democrat Art Bassin came out ahead by about 50 votes, pending an absentee ballot count, beating incumbent Republican Tom Dias.
Kinderhook’s voters elected Republican Pat Grattan in a landslide vote. He will replace current supervisor, Democrat Doug McGivney, in January. Austerlitz moved to oust incumbent Democrat George Jahn for Republican Jeff Braley, and in Livingston, incumbent Democrat Phil Williams lost in a landslide to Republican Kevin McDonald.
Come January, the Board of Supervisors will retain a Republican majority. Depending on races in Claverack and Stuyvesant that are too close to call until absentee ballots are counted, the BOS makeup will end up with between nine and 11 Democrats to between 13 and 15 Republicans.
This is about the same makeup as the 2009 Board of Supervisors, comprised of ten Democrats and 13 Republicans. However, the weighted vote will be different next year, especially because of the change in Kinderhook’s leadership. Kinderhook carries 433 votes due to its large population.
If incumbent Republican Valerie Bertram wins the race in Stuyvesant, and Democrat Robin Andrews wins the race in Claverack after absentee ballots are counted, the votes on the board will be heavily weighted on the GOP side, with 2,202 votes to the Democrats’ 1,333. It takes 1,768 votes to adopt resolutions or to have a quorum on full board night. This is a significant difference from the 2009 weighted vote count — where the Republicans still had the majority at 2,049 votes, but the Democrats had a higher vote count, with 1,486.
County Republican party chair Greg Fingar said he was “absolutely delighted” by the election results.
“I couldn’t be happier. I can’t say enough about my executive committee and in general, the Republican committee ... they did an amazing job, and a lot of hard work, and it all paid off,” he said. “We put a great deal of effort into Kinderhook and Livingston ... both of them paid off with dividends.”
Were county issues a deciding factor?
As numbers were pinned to the wall late Tuesday night at the Board of Elections, there was some speculation in the waiting crowd about whether incumbent supervisors were unseated as a result of their positions on county policies like moving the Department of Social Services to the old Ockawamick school in Claverack, or even as a result of their support of Board of Supervisors Chairman Art Baer, R-Hillsdale.
Baer said he didn’t think so.
“In a lot of the towns, I think, decisions were made on local issues and the county issues didn’t play a role at all,” he said, adding that in towns where major issues were most important, like Claverack regarding Pine Haven and Ockawamick, county issues probably played more of a crucial role.
“As a Republican, I’m very pleased overall with the outcome,” he said. “That the Republicans have retained control of the board is a very positive thing ... I look forward to continuing a cooperative coalition government involving both parties as we go forward into 2010.”
Hudson Mayor Richard Scalera said he was happy with Hudson’s election results, but countywide, wasn’t surprised by the choices voters made.
“I was more surprised at the margin of victories,” he said. “A lot of good people lost their jobs, basically because they were on the wrong side of the issues.”
Scalera said he wasn’t surprised to hear Baer didn’t think supervisors’ stance on county issues made the difference.
“That shows there is a genuine disconnect between the chairman and the voters,” he said. “His supporters went down. It’s unfortunate ... a lot of people lost their jobs because they gave support to the chairman, and in some cases, it was unyielding support.”
Both county Republican and Democratic party chairs said they didn’t think supervisors’ stances on county issues or their support of the chairman was an explanation for how things turned out, but their reasons varied.
“I think that’s too easy an explanation. Some incumbents won, so it couldn’t have been an anti-incumbent explanation,” said county Democratic party chair Chris Nolan. “I think the supervisors are elected on a town level ... county issues are peripheral.”
Republican chair Greg Fingar didn’t discount that county issues could have played a roll in some supervisors’ downfalls.
“I think it probably had some influence on the election,” said Fingar. “Some of the more controversial issues that have been in the papers over the past months ... I’m sure it had some influence.”
When asked whether he thought any supervisor’s support for the chairman had been a voting issue, Fingar said, “I think that’s a little strong. I think some of the issues that have been facing the board ... may have had some influence on the election, but I think that’s strong.”
Nolan’s response was along the same lines.
“I don’t want to make it into an explanation,” Nolan said. “I think things are much more complicated than a simple explanation ... the problem is that our county structure of government has the county legislators elected by towns. It’s the issues in the towns, and the personalities in the towns. The other party definitely tried to make an issue of these things ... there was certainly a lot of money, a lot of influence brought from outside the county to target specific people ... I think a lot of games are being played.”
To reach reporter Francesca Olsen call 518-828-1616, ext. 2272, or e-mail folsen@registerstar.com.
Voters in the towns of Ancram, Kinderhook, Austerlitz and Livingston voted heavily against their incumbent supervisors. In Ancram, Democrat Art Bassin came out ahead by about 50 votes, pending an absentee ballot count, beating incumbent Republican Tom Dias.
Kinderhook’s voters elected Republican Pat Grattan in a landslide vote. He will replace current supervisor, Democrat Doug McGivney, in January. Austerlitz moved to oust incumbent Democrat George Jahn for Republican Jeff Braley, and in Livingston, incumbent Democrat Phil Williams lost in a landslide to Republican Kevin McDonald.
Come January, the Board of Supervisors will retain a Republican majority. Depending on races in Claverack and Stuyvesant that are too close to call until absentee ballots are counted, the BOS makeup will end up with between nine and 11 Democrats to between 13 and 15 Republicans.
This is about the same makeup as the 2009 Board of Supervisors, comprised of ten Democrats and 13 Republicans. However, the weighted vote will be different next year, especially because of the change in Kinderhook’s leadership. Kinderhook carries 433 votes due to its large population.
If incumbent Republican Valerie Bertram wins the race in Stuyvesant, and Democrat Robin Andrews wins the race in Claverack after absentee ballots are counted, the votes on the board will be heavily weighted on the GOP side, with 2,202 votes to the Democrats’ 1,333. It takes 1,768 votes to adopt resolutions or to have a quorum on full board night. This is a significant difference from the 2009 weighted vote count — where the Republicans still had the majority at 2,049 votes, but the Democrats had a higher vote count, with 1,486.
County Republican party chair Greg Fingar said he was “absolutely delighted” by the election results.
“I couldn’t be happier. I can’t say enough about my executive committee and in general, the Republican committee ... they did an amazing job, and a lot of hard work, and it all paid off,” he said. “We put a great deal of effort into Kinderhook and Livingston ... both of them paid off with dividends.”
Were county issues a deciding factor?
As numbers were pinned to the wall late Tuesday night at the Board of Elections, there was some speculation in the waiting crowd about whether incumbent supervisors were unseated as a result of their positions on county policies like moving the Department of Social Services to the old Ockawamick school in Claverack, or even as a result of their support of Board of Supervisors Chairman Art Baer, R-Hillsdale.
Baer said he didn’t think so.
“In a lot of the towns, I think, decisions were made on local issues and the county issues didn’t play a role at all,” he said, adding that in towns where major issues were most important, like Claverack regarding Pine Haven and Ockawamick, county issues probably played more of a crucial role.
“As a Republican, I’m very pleased overall with the outcome,” he said. “That the Republicans have retained control of the board is a very positive thing ... I look forward to continuing a cooperative coalition government involving both parties as we go forward into 2010.”
Hudson Mayor Richard Scalera said he was happy with Hudson’s election results, but countywide, wasn’t surprised by the choices voters made.
“I was more surprised at the margin of victories,” he said. “A lot of good people lost their jobs, basically because they were on the wrong side of the issues.”
Scalera said he wasn’t surprised to hear Baer didn’t think supervisors’ stance on county issues made the difference.
“That shows there is a genuine disconnect between the chairman and the voters,” he said. “His supporters went down. It’s unfortunate ... a lot of people lost their jobs because they gave support to the chairman, and in some cases, it was unyielding support.”
Both county Republican and Democratic party chairs said they didn’t think supervisors’ stances on county issues or their support of the chairman was an explanation for how things turned out, but their reasons varied.
“I think that’s too easy an explanation. Some incumbents won, so it couldn’t have been an anti-incumbent explanation,” said county Democratic party chair Chris Nolan. “I think the supervisors are elected on a town level ... county issues are peripheral.”
Republican chair Greg Fingar didn’t discount that county issues could have played a roll in some supervisors’ downfalls.
“I think it probably had some influence on the election,” said Fingar. “Some of the more controversial issues that have been in the papers over the past months ... I’m sure it had some influence.”
When asked whether he thought any supervisor’s support for the chairman had been a voting issue, Fingar said, “I think that’s a little strong. I think some of the issues that have been facing the board ... may have had some influence on the election, but I think that’s strong.”
Nolan’s response was along the same lines.
“I don’t want to make it into an explanation,” Nolan said. “I think things are much more complicated than a simple explanation ... the problem is that our county structure of government has the county legislators elected by towns. It’s the issues in the towns, and the personalities in the towns. The other party definitely tried to make an issue of these things ... there was certainly a lot of money, a lot of influence brought from outside the county to target specific people ... I think a lot of games are being played.”
To reach reporter Francesca Olsen call 518-828-1616, ext. 2272, or e-mail folsen@registerstar.com.
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jfromkinderhook wrote on Nov 5, 2009 8:04 AM: