Oppenheimer says, “After a long and hard fought campaign and a deliberate counting of the votes,
it is my honor to once again have the privilege of representing the people of Westchester in the State Senate. It is particularly gratifying in a year where I faced a very well financed opponent. I want to thank my many supporters, volunteers, and constituents for their hard work and faith in me, without whom, this victory would not have been possible.
It is with deep humility and great purpose that I accept this responsibility to work on behalf of the people of Westchester; and vow to continue my record of success on education reform, cost-cutting, and service to the community. From strengthening our schools, to growing our economy and easing the burden on families and businesses, there are great challenges to meet the needs of these difficult times. I look forward to working with Governor-Elect Cuomo and my colleagues in the Legislature to meeting these challenges and giving the people of my district and all New Yorkers a government that works tirelessly for them and delivers results.
I am honored that the voters have allowed me to continue to serve and I extend my best wishes to Bob Cohen and his family."
After counting about 8,000 paper ballots from the November 2 election, Bob Cohen trails by about 600 votes. Republican Cohen conceded and said he will not pursue a costly recount.
The unofficial results for the office of State Senator of the 37th
District, with 281 of the 283 districts reported, indicates incumbent
Suzi Oppenheimer (D, WF) as winner with 50.37% or 41,525 votes, and
Bob Cohen (R, IND, C) with 40,899 or 49.62%.
Unofficially, Oppenheimer lead by nearly 600 votes. The final count of votes is not in yet because there are many affidavit ballots that still have not been counted.
September 2010 North Castle registered active voters as reported by Board of Elections:
Democrat 2,944 Republican 2,835 Non 2,078 Independence 259 Conservative 118 Other 22
Total 8,256 Source: Town Clerk's Office
Nov. 2, 2010 As election inspectors arrived at Town Hall on election night, all 11 districts reported incumbent Anne Curran as winner of North Castle's Town Clerk. Curran stands with her Deputy Town Clerk, Barbara Pesquera, at the Town Clerk's office as they oversee election results.
Primary Election
According to Anne Curran, Town Clerk and town election official, there were several glitches in opening the new voting machines during the September 14th Primary Day. Several of the town's optical scanning machines experienced simple technical difficulties which required them to be reset at the opening. The districts' election inspectors were not trained to handle this, which caused a delay. Curran says, "Voters that didn't have machines available first thing in the morning voted on affidavit ballots." Apparently, this problem was experienced statewide and the Board of Elections chalked it up as a learning experience.
Mark Your Ballot
The new Optical Scan Voting Machine
The New Voting Machine will be Easy if You Know How to Use It
New optical scanning machines will be in place for voting in the September 14, 2010 Primary. Rather then pull the arm to close the curtain, upon check in everyone will receive a printed paper ballot with an optional privacy sleeve. The next station will be a kiosk with several sections for privacy and count tops to fill in the ballot.
The ballot will have a square next to each candidate. Your choice is to be filled in completely (no checks or X's) by only using the provided pens, known as a Ballot Marking Device (BMD). Westchester County Board of Elections instructs "If you make a mistake, DO NOT try to erase the mark. Return the ballot to the Election Inspector and request a new ballot."
The voter feeds the ballot into the machine herself. A message will alert you if there is an error. An error could be: an ambiguous mark, an over-vote when you select more then the allowed number of candidates, a blank ballot with no detected choice, or a misread ballot from a fold, tear or incorrect insertion. Any of these errors will trigger an error message that will appear on the LCD display of the machine. After being scanned, the accepted ballot will drop into a locked boxed. A spoiled ballot will be locked in a pouch and the voter must start over.
As in the past, each of North Castle's 11 districts will have one voting machine and at the end of the night the tallies from each contest will be printed. North Castle's Town Clerk Anne Curran advises residents to visit the Town Clerk's office where a voting machine will be available for demonstration Monday - Friday 8:30 - 4:00pm. No appointment is necessary.
December 10, 2010 Republican Robert Castelli has retained the 89th Assembly District seat, winning a narrow victory for a full term.
“It has been a long fight to retain this seat, but the honor of serving the people of the 89th Assembly District is well worth the effort put forth to win,” Castelli said.
In court today, New York State Supreme Court Justice Lester Adler denied a motion by Castelli’s opponent to block certification of the race and order a manual hand recount of all ballots in the 89th Assembly District. Justice Adler also ordered the Westchester County Board of Elections to certify the race with Castelli as the winner.
On Election Day, Castelli held a slim lead of +72 votes with a turnout that was one of the highest in the State for an Assembly Race.
After a count and recount that lasted over five weeks, the Board of Elections today certified the race, stating that Castelli won race with 21,263 votes to 21,151 votes for his opponent.
Castelli, the newly-elected Assemblyman, faced off against White Plains City Council President Thomas Roach, a nine year incumbent.
“I expected this to be a hard race, and went into it without any illusions,” Castelli said. “We needed to fight for every single vote, and we did, and the end result was a victory.”
Castelli and his opponent managed to maintain a civil discourse throughout the campaign. Roach called Castelli earlier this afternoon to concede.
“I congratulate my opponent on a hard fought race and the civil discourse and debate that was the hallmark of our race, and look forwards to working with him once again for the betterment of the people of White Plains and the 89th Assembly District,” Castelli said.
According to the official statement of votes cast in Westchester County at the General Election of November 2nd 2010, for the office of Member of the Assembly 89th District that appeared in the Westchester County Board of Elections Statement of Canvass that was transmitted to the New York State Board of Elections, the final results are as follows:
Thomas M. Roach, Dem. received: 19,100
Robert J. Castelli, Rep. received: 18,851
Thomas M. Roach, Ind. received: 995
Robert J. Castelli, Con. received: 2,347
Thomas M. Roach, Wor. received: 1,056
Robert J. Castelli, Tax. received: 65
TOTAL: 42,414
Updated DEC. 10, 2010 Unofficial Election Results
Unofficial ElectionTally of North Castle's Town Clerk votes 4,059 Local North Castle Town Clerk Term 1 year, Salary $92,000 Anne Curran # D, IN, C, WF Winner 57.72% 2,343 Gina Sinon R 42.27% 1,716 Votes: D: 1,909 R: 1,716 C: 192 IN: 183 WF: 59 __________ State Legislature 37th Senatorial District Term 2 years, Salary $79, 500
Dec. 6, 2010 Suzi Oppenheimer + D, WF declared winner with 50.37% or 41,525 votes. Bob Cohen R, IN, C receives 49.62% with40,899 votes. ___________ State Assembly One Assemblyman will be elected from New York state's 150 Assembly Districts 89th Assembly District Margin of only 112 votes
Dec 10, 2010 Robert J. Castelli + R, C, TXP is declared winner with 50.13% or 21, 263 votes. Thomas M. Roach Jr. D, IN, WF 49.87% with 21,151votes. __________ State Governor Term 4 years, Salary $179,000
Andrew Cuomo D, IN, WF * Joint Ballot for Lieutenant Governor: Robert Duffy D, Ind Winner 62%
Carl Paladino R, C, TXP * Joint Ballot for Lieutenant Governor: Gregory J. Edwards R, C 34% ______
Attorney General Term 4 years, Salary $151,500 Eric T. Schneiderman D, WF Winner56% Daniel Donovan R, C 44% _____
Comptroller Term 4 years, Salary $151,500 Thomas P. DiNapoli D, WF 51% Harry Wilson R, IN, C 49%
Justice of the Supreme Court, Ninth Judicial District Term 14 years, Salary $136,700 (Vote for Four) 85% Districts reporting
Lawrence Ecker D, IN, C, WF 20% Matthew J. Byrne R, IN, C, RTL 17% Linda Christopher D, WF 17% Colleen D. Duffy D, WF 17% James Maisano R, IN, C 17% Gerry Klein R 12% J. Emmett Murphy D, R, IN, C 0% ________
County Westchester County Court Judge Term 10 years, Salary $136,700 Barry E. Warhit D, IN, WF Winner 56%94,476 Douglas J. Martino R, C, RTL 44% 74,609
_________
Westchester Family Court Judge Term 10 years, Salary $136,700 (Vote for Four) 72% precincts reporting Nilda Morales Horowitz D, IN, C, WF Winner 17% Hal Greenwald D, C, WF Winner 15% Michelle I. Schauer D, WF Winner 14% David Klein D, WF Winner 14% Patricia O'Callaghan R, IN, C 12% William Edwards R, IN, Ind 10% Edward P. Borrelli R, C 10% Mary N. Clark R, IN, RTL
_______
Westchester Surrogate Court Judge Term 10 years Salary $136,700 Anthony A. Scarpino, Jr. D, R, IN, C, WF Winner
________
National US Representative 18th Congressional District Term 2 years, Salary $179,000 Nita M. Lowey+ D, IN, WF Winner 62% James Russell R, C 38%
_______
U.S. Senator Term 6 years, Salary $165,200 Charles Schumer + D, IN, WF Winner 67% Jay Townsend, R, C 33% _________
U.S. Senator (unexpired term) Term 2 years, Salary $165,200 Kirsten E. Gillibrand D, IN, WF Winner63% Joseph J. DioGuardi R, C, TXP 37%
+ Incumbent by election # Incumbent by appointment * Lieutenant Governor is elected on a joint ballot with the Governor
Key to Party Abbreviations
D Democratic R Republican IN Independence C Conservative WF Working Families Ind Local independent parties-listed on the ballot TXP Taxpayers RDH Rent is 2 Damn High TRP Tax Revolt LBT Libertarian GRN Green APP Anti-Prohibition FDM Freedom Right to Life
ELECTIONS 2010
Changes in the GOP
Oct. 20, 2010 At a recent executive committee meeting of the North Castle Republican Town Committee, the GOP group elected its new officers for the upcoming terms. Unanimously elected chairman was Rosemary Bellantoni by a full quorum at the most recent reorganization meeting. Other executives present were elected to the following positions: Vice Chairman Gail Lombardi Norris, Treasurer Anita Cozza and Secretary Sue Coppola.
Also in attendance was former GOP Town Chairman Loronda Murphy who recently resigned amid charges of grand larceny, which were unrelated to her position on the North Castle Republican Committee. In her capacity as the former chairman, Murphy was present at the recent meeting in order to provide, she said, "the executive committee members with important history and background information."
On October 9th, several officers of the North Castle Republican Committee were called by a local media representative and questioned if the North Castle Republican Party is as divided, fragmented and not unified as reported by Councilmen Diane Roth and John Cronin.
Party Chairman Rosemary Bellantoni said, "I assure you that not only has our committee grown, but we are also are moving forward with some very valuable people who will be contributing to fill the three vacant district leader positions." She said that the local GOP's immediate goal is to elect the Republican candidates running for county and local offices.
In the upcoming election for Town Clerk, Bellantoni clarified that this is not the first time that the seat of Town Clerk has been contested. At least three other terms were contested, when Kathleen Baroni, Anne Marie Kelley and Ann Leber held the office. "We are in full support of our Republican candidates including Gina Sinon running for Town Clerk and are campaigning with her."
The previous month of September had brought changes for North Castle's Republican Party. The party is made up of 22 Republican district leaders for North Castle's 11 districts. After officers of the committee spoke with surrounding communities, they requested the resignation of all of its district leaders who are either running for office or are elected officials. According to Cozza, upon research of past amendments, "We were under the assumption that a proposed amendment did not allow GOP district leaders to hold an elected office."
Years ago, according to Bellantoni, an amendment to the bylaws was presented that stipulated that "in the event a member of the Republican Town Committee is elected to a public office, he shall resign from the committee." Since this proposal was never incorporated into the bylaws, the committee will now review and reconsider adopting it. That amendment was proposed by Bud Stone when he was chairman in the late 1980s, but was not incorporated in the bylaws due to a fatal accident.
"Although these are the rules that best suit the party," Cozza continued, "there is no reason they local elected Republican officials can't remain a member of the party and attend meetings so as to stay informed and to express an opinion, but not to have a vote."
According to Bellantoni, this policy has been in effect for some time. Recent Republican district leaders' resignations have included North Castle Town Supervisor William Weaver, Town Councilmen Diane Roth and John Cronin, Candidate for County Judge Doug Martino and Receiver of Taxes Patricia Colombo.
According to Cozza, "With the exception of Cronin and Roth, there was no problem with the resignations because they understood the principle and rationale behind it. People who are presently serving the committee should not have any conflicts with either the Democratic or Republican Party and should focus on running for office."
Bellantoni mentioned the past influence of North Castle Republicans such as Jack Lombardi, North Castle town supervisor for 44 years, former Receiver of Taxes Mildred Wago, former Town Councilman William McClure and former Town Clerk Kathleen Baroni. "They attended past meetings, but never voted."
Councilmen John Cronin and Diane Roth recently spoke with the local press about the fracture within the Republican Party caused by Murphy's continued involvement. Roth says she herself still remains a Republican, wishes the Republican Committee well, and intends to concentrate her efforts on a full agenda for the town. Councilman Cronin did not respond to our questions. Bellantoni said, "Their claims are unsubstantiated, erroneous and shocking." As a former chairman, she says she has never seen such disloyalty to the party before.
Several outspoken Republican residents appear to want to restructure the current GOP slate of officers. Several names have arisen to be considered for Town Republican Party Chairman, including resident and failed candidate for Supervisor and Board of Education Frank Benish. As district leader, Benish says, "The party is currently not viewed in a positive light."
Furthermore, Benish believes that that reputation would be a strain on future candidates and thinks that positive action should be taken to clean up the party‚ reputation as soon as possible.
Superintendent Weaver remarked that he is glad that the committee has chosen new officers to oversee the North Castle's Republican politics. About the reported accusation of his meeting with Murphy, he says, "Anyone can visit me at Town Hall, but we don't talk politics in the office." He continued, "I learned from Jack Lombardi not to mix politics with the job of running the town."
Weaver noted that there are a lot of issues to be worked on, including the town's finances. Weaver believes Councilman Roth and Cronin are vying for political stature. He said his goal is to make a change in order to get the community back on track.
