There were lots of close political contests across the Catskills in yesterday's primary election. Here are the results in the hottest races.
DELAWARE COUNTY
In the race for Delaware County Family Court Judge, Conservative voters overwhelmingly chose Porter Kirkwood over Gary Rosa 68 to 30, but Independence voters preferred Gary Rosa to Porter Kirkwood 94 to 70. Heated accusations have been flying between the candidates about ethics violations this past week, as we reported yesterday.
In Harpersfield, Jim Eisel, the long-serving chairman of the Delaware County Board of Supervisors, won his first-ever primary with 89 Republican votes. That was 23 more votes than Ed “Rusty” Pick, who got 66. Pick also has the Democratic party’s endorsement.
In Middletown, the incumbent supervisor Marge Miller won the contest with the town’s code enforcement officer, Carl Patrick Davis, in the Democratic primary, getting 108 votes to Davis’s 90. There was one write-in candidate. Miller has accused of Davis of misconduct regarding mileage reimbursement requests, while Davis says that investigations into his behavior have found nothing wrong.
In Walton, the incumbent supervisor, Bruce Dolph, lost the Republican primary to village trustee Charles Gregory, who got 170 votes to Dolph’s 137. There were two write-in votes. Gregory has accused Dolph, who is Delaware County’s budget director, of putting the needs of Delaware County over the needs of the town of Walton.
For more Delaware County election results, click here.
GREENE COUNTY
In the town of Windham, incumbent supervisor Stacy Post lost her write-in campaign in the Conservative primary against Robert Pelham, who got five votes out of the eight votes cast. Three write-in votes were cast.
Post was indicted for installing secret eavesdropping devices in town hall earlier this year. She will appear on the general election ballot under her own party, the “Have a Voice” party, in November, running against Pelham.
For more Greene County election results, click here.
SULLIVAN COUNTY
Kathy LaBuda, the longest-serving member of the county legislature, barely held onto Sullivan County’s District Two Legislative seat against Lumberland town supervisor Nadia Rajsz, with a margin of only three votes. LaBuda got 194 votes to Rajsz’s 191, and Rajsz won the vote in several towns, including Lumberland and Highland.
In the Sullivan County town of Bethel, incumbent supervisor Dan Sturm won a sweeping victory over former supervisor Ira "Moose" Liff, who pleaded guilty to workers comp fraud during his brief term as supervisor in 2004. Sturm got 207 votes, while Liff got 106.
In the Democratic primary for the county’s District 7 Legislative seat, which serves the town of Fallsburg, 228 votes were cast for write-in candidates. Joe Perrello, a former Fallsburg town council member and the owner of a Brothers 11 Auto Body in South Fallsburg, has been running an aggressive write-in campaign in the primary, which he appears to have won. The current occupant of the District 7 seat is Eugene Benson, who was found to have too few valid signatures to run as a Democrat for his own seat by the Sullivan County Board of Elections earlier this year.
For more Sullivan County election results, click here.
ULSTER COUNTY
Incumbent Richard Parete lost the Democratic primary for Ulster County’s District 18 Legislative seat, which covers Hurley and Marbletown, to Douglas Adams, 112 votes to 165. There was one write-in vote.
In the Republican primary for the county’s District Three Legislative seat, incumbent Dean Fabiano beat back a challenge from Jason Kovacs, 119 to 53. There was one write-in vote.
Finally, Shandaken Town Supervisor Rob Stanley won the town’s Republican caucus with 45 votes, according to John Horn, the vice chairman of the Ulster County Republican Committee. Stanley was being challenged at the caucus, which took place last night, by former town supervisor Robert Cross, who got 29 votes. Seventy-five Republicans voted, Horn said.
For the two open Shandaken town council seats, Don Brewer got 57 votes, Russ Roefs got 47 and Randy Ostrander got 28. For the two open town assessor seats, Jeff Feldman got 51 votes, John Horn got 50 and Fionna Tanzillo got 24, Horn said.
