Things stay the same in Brookhaven
Incumbents win all seven Town Board races
13 comments below
Not much changed on Election Day in Brookhaven.
Incumbents held on in all seven Town Board races, giving Republicans the majority for two more years.
"It's a testament to the majority," said Brookhaven Republican chair Jesse Garcia. "The voters said they are happy with what we've done. At the end, the voters validated the Republican majority and its work."
Democrats had hoped to steal a pair of seats in Eastern Brookhaven — Jane Bonner's 2nd District seat on the North Shore and Keith Romaine's 6th District seat on the South Shore — but came up short in both races, according to preliminary results released by the Suffolk County Board of Elections. Ms. Bonner defeated Democratic challenger John Leonard by 1,164 votes with 55 percent of the total vote, while Mr. Romaine fought off Democratic challenger Ron Lupski and Independent Joe May in a four-point win.
"Anything they could have thrown at us they did," Ms. Bonner said of the Democrats' effort in the two districts. "None of it stuck."
Said Mr. Leonard: "I'm disappointed, but I also know that our team ran as good a campaign as we could, so I have no regrets."
Voter turnout was down in both districts despite a strong push from Democrats hoping to turn out the vote. More than 4,800 fewer votes were cast in the two districts this year than there were in the 2007 general election.
"I think Democrats stayed home," said Brookhaven Democratic chair Marsha Laufer speaking to a Sun reporter at the Democrats' election night gala at the IBEW union hall in Hauppauge.
Incumbent Republicans Tim Mazzei and Kathy Walsh both won re-election bids for their Town board seats, as did Democrats Connie Kepert and Steve Fiore-Rosenfeld.
Since the start of councilmanic districts, only one incumbent council person has lost an election.
Town Supervisor Mark Lesko, highway superintendent John Rouse and town clerk-elect Patricia Eddington all won townwide races. Democrats have now won nine of the past 10 townwide Brookhaven elections, despite enrollment statistics that favor Republicans.
But Democrats have not had as much success in council district races, winning the majority just once since the inception of councilmanic districts. Republicans have led the town 94 of the past 100 years.
Mr. Lesko said he was disappointed in the results for Democrats across Long Island Tuesday, but happy to know his party did not lose any seats in his township.
"We at least held the line in Brookhaven and I'm happy for that," Mr. Lesko said. "But it's a tough night."
Mr. Lesko's opponent Martin Haley said the supervisor admitted in Mr. Haley's concession call that "there's a message out there for Democrats."
"He sees it coming," Mr. Haley said, speaking with Republican supporters at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Holtsville.
On the county side, local incumbent legislators Dan Losquadro (R-Shoreham) and Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches) won in landslides. Republicans gained two seats in the Suffolk County Legislature, with incumbent Democrat Brian Beedenbender losing his seat to Republican Thomas Muratore.
The GOP will now control seven seats on the 18-member Legislature.
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13 comments found
JANE BONNER WON - BE SUPPORTIVE : 11/5/2009
In case some of you did not read my comment which I posted on election night, Jane Bonner received 6,974 votes (55%) to John Leonard's 5,810 votes (45%). Jane won by a confortable margin. 200 more voters would not have changed the result. For those of you complaining about the light voter turnout, please remember that in terms of registration, Brookhaven has more enrolled Republicans than Democrats. When you add in the Conservatives (Jane's Party), If there had been a 100% voter turnout, John Leonard would have been substantially defeated by a much higher margin and even Mark Lesko may have bitten the dust. The results are in and Jane has won. Be gracious in defeat. If people stay home, they are either too lazy to votr or satified with what they have. I am sure that John Leonard will be embarrassed to read some of these comments attacking Jane. The election is over. 2011 will be here before you know it. All of you liberals should go down to Town Hall and give Jane a hug. You will be better persons for it .
: 11/5/2009
Well, Rocky Point will now reap the rewards of sewers, a Project by Fairfield Properties, Jane did take their money didn't she.. and gee, our taxes have already gone up....it's a shame that only 200 or so people didn't get out and vote...such a close call....
Suffolk DNC is to BLAME - not voters! : 11/5/2009
Vetting...seems to be a big problems when it comes to the Suffolk DNC. Place a man who's a life long republican and run him for a prime Dem position. Don't admit to his history upfront, allow his opponent to "discover" this info spreading it throughout Brookhaven. Now upon hearing and seeing the truth, how are we to trust this guy or the Suffolk DNC? The DNC sullied the reps of all those who supported him and his campaign. Seriously, do you think we're idiots? A few years ago you tried the same thing by taking another GOP who lost his seat allowed him into the DEM party sacrificing other positions only for him to lose in a landslide as well. Suffolk DNC - wake up! VET your candidates, stop covering up facts that will eventually come out and give the voters a little credit. It's always us versus them - thankfully the voters can see through the smoke and mirrors. You're not fooling anyone.
Close one : 11/5/2009
10 points? News 12 reported 2 points. Thats not a far spread especially when the majority of the people did not vote.
election : 11/5/2009
She won fair and square and 10 points is not a slim margin, it is 2 more points than her first run. For an off, off election turnout was pretty good. You guys have sour grapes all around. H
: 11/4/2009
Ok, so Jane won, but did the entire district vote, no, and less than 2 years ago if I might add. She won by a very slim margin which shows that she really isn't as popular as she thinks she is....or has been pumped up to be. My suggestion is for Jane to go to college and educate herself....because the buck stops here for her...she can't go any further without a good solid education to back up her so called claims...
WOW! : 11/4/2009
Talk about sour grapes. How can someone on here accuse a former prosecutor who by the way won the election by a land slide of being a criminal? Maybe you should stop hiding behind a computer screen and ask him in person about your conspiracy theory. Just be careful though. People who live in glass houses should never throw stones. You must be hiding from something if you have to come up with such bogus allegations on here.
: 11/4/2009
MARK LESKO may have won the election, but he still has to face charges of illegally receiving money from the WORKING FAMILIES PARTY ! THE STORY, in a nutshell, is that the Working Families Party, uses an off-shoot company of theirs, called DATA & FIELD SERVICES, to "funnel" money, to endorsed candidates, for alleged "campaign services" to candidates. The candidates "pay" for these campaign "services". Alleged "campaign money violations" occur, when there is no documentary proof, that actual services, were performed, by the Working Families Party "shell company", for the candidates, and there is no evidence, that the "shell company" actually performed the services. Here is how the Lesko Campaign "improperly paid for" these campaign services... Confusion between the two entities seems to be pretty standard. Also in February, the campaign of Mark Lesko for Brookhaven town supervisor drew headlines for writing $124,000 in checks to the WFP that it said was actually intended to go to DFS. WFP seems to have cashed the checks before realizing that the money needed to be refunded, which they were. That money was part of a total of $169,000 the Lesko campaign paid to DFS. The campaign manager for Lesko's race, Lisa Wieber, would not comment on what services the campaign received for those payments, indicating that a communications director would call back on her behalf, though no one ever did. An April 5 report in Newsday on the WFP's involvement with the race, however, noted that there were 30 paid WFP operatives working in Brookhaven for most of the race, growing to 100 in the final days, with Wieber calling the WFP 'crucial' in identifying 7,000 out of 24,000 voters assumed to be Lesko supporters. Unclear from public reports is how much less support, if any, the Rose campaign received for the $45,000 spent with DFS in the Council race than what the Lesko campaign received for the close to four times as much it spent in the Brookhaven race for an election that was decided just five weeks later. Without that level of disclosure, there is no way to prove that the $45,000 was a fair market price, was overpriced, or was undervalued. The same is true for other clients. http://www.cityhallnews.com/newyork/article-828-city-hall-special-investigative-report.html?current_page=3 CITY HALL NEWS SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORT, Inner workings of secretive WFP for-profit company and multiple candidates' operations revealed, By Edward-Isaac Dovere, AUGUST 3, 2009 LESKO'S FIRST OFFICIAL ACT AS SUPERVISOR, SHOULD BE, TO CLEAN UP THIS MESS ! IF HE DOES NOT...HE IS JUST LIKE ANY OTHER "POLITICAL WEASEL", THAT HAS INHABITED THE TOWN SUPERVISOR'S OFFICE ! COME CLEAN, LESKO ! COME CLEAN, BEFORE YOU DISGRACE THE OFFICE !
STOP THE SOUR GRAPES ! : 11/4/2009
The last two comments represent "sour grapes." It was a hard fought election and not every candidate can win. We should be sending our congratulations and good wishes to the victors. I am certain that almost everybody who voted for John Leonard will join the supporters of Jane Bonner in thanking both candidates for a hard fought campaign in the best tradition of American Democracy. The extreme leftists who have been attacking Jane Bonner on this website apparently share the sentiments of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and cannot do anything but curse America and the democratic process. If you keep up the personal attacks on Jane, please be advised that her friends and supporters will be hear to answer you for the next two years.
What a shame : 11/4/2009
What a shame that the people did not get off their backsides to go out and vote. It was an extremely poor turnout. I can only imagine how many people will complain throughout the next 2 years about Jane that didn't even vote. Here is a quote from the article that says it all: "But Democrats have not had as much success in council district races, winning the majority just once since the inception of councilmanic districts. Republicans have led the town 94 of the past 100 years." Some people just are not smart enough to look past party affiliation. After all look how Obama won Commander in Chief. He pushed for those who didn't even have a clue on what they were voting for to vote for him. What we witnessed yesterday is a similar situation on a much smaller scale. However what's done is done. She did win and I hope that she is actually able to represent the people well and I hope that for this term she will realize that she needs to represent all of the people not just the select chosen few.
: 11/4/2009
Obviously, people just didn't care to vote. 4800..less, Maybe Jane should start with her Gen Eds at Suffolk Community College with her Part Time Job....and learn what it's like to be a real politician.... "Voter turnout was down in both districts despite a strong push from Democrats hoping to turn out the vote. More than 4,800 fewer votes were cast in the two districts this year than there were in the 2007 general election."
CONGRATULATIONS JANE BONNER : 11/3/2009
To supplement the article, JANE E. BONNER received 6,974 votes (55%). John leonard received 5,810 votes (45%) . Congratulations to John Leonard for a hard fought campaign. Congratulations to Jane Bonner and her supporters for a great victory. God Bless you all and God Bless America!
Nailbiter of an Election : 11/3/2009
Best of luck to Mr. Leonard.
