GOP thrilled things are staying the same in Brookhaven
Incumbents win all seven Town Board races despite push from Dems
11 comments below
Addressing a crowd of Republican supporters inside the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Holtsville Tuesday night, town supervisor candidate Martin Haley spoke of GOP victory.
No, Mr. Haley had not won his race with incumbent Supervisor Mark Lesko. In fact, Republicans won just four of nine town races this Election Day, and they even failed to secure any of the three townwide posts up for grabs.
But the GOP did hold onto its majority, despite an expensive and exhausting effort by Democrats to steal the 2nd and 6th district Town Board seats from Republican-backed incumbents.
Mr. Haley said the most telling sign that Republicans had a more impressive showing than Democrats Tuesday came from his concession phone call to Mr. Lesko.
He said the supervisor told him in their conversation that "there's a message out there for Democrats."
"He sees it coming," Mr. Haley said.
"It's a testament to the majority," said Brookhaven Republican chair Jesse Garcia. "The voters said they are happy with what they've done. At the end, the voters validated the Republican majority and its work."
The focus for Democrats was in securing Conservative Jane Bonner's 2nd District seat on the North Shore or Republican Keith Romaine's 6th District seat on the South Shore, but they 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.
"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.
Since the start of councilmanic districts, only one incumbent council person has lost an election. That was in the 2005 4th District race, when Democrat Connie Kepert secured former Republican Councilman James Tullo's seat on the board.
Ms. Kepert won her third consecutive victory with 54 percent of the vote over Republican Rick Cunha. Mr. Cunha, a Farmingville builder, came within 850 votes of Ms. Kepert's tally, a large improvement over the Republicans' 2007 showing in the district.
Incumbent Republicans Tim Mazzei and Kathy Walsh also won re-election bids for their Town Board seats, as did Democrat Steve Fiore-Rosenfeld.
Mr. Lesko, Highway Superintendent John Rouse and town clerk-elect Patricia Eddington all won townwide races Tuesday. 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."
gparpan@northshoresun.com
And the winners are ...
Town Supervisor
Mark Lesko (D)
33,995 votes to 26,877
56 percent
Town Board
District 1
Steve Fiore-Rosenfeld (D)
6,196 votes to 4,039
61 percent
District 2
Jane Bonner (C)
6,974 votes to 5,810
55 percent
District 3
Kathleen Walsh (R)
4,398 votes to 3,079
59 percent
District 4
Constance Kepert (D)
5,328 votes to 4,489
54 percent
District 5
Timothy Mazzei (R)
6,345 votes to 3,909
62 percent
District 6
Keith Romaine (R)
5,059 votes to 4,589 (D) and 70 (I)
49 percent
Town Highway Superintendent
John Rouse (D)
32,715 votes to 28,323
54 percent
Town Clerk
Patricia Eddington (D)
30,315 votes to 29,145
51 percent
Closer look at the numbers
* Town Supervisor Mark Lesko received a larger percentage of votes Tuesday than former Supervisor Brian Foley did in either of his two town elections.
* There were nearly 14,000 fewer votes cast in this year's six council district races than in the 2007 general election, although absentee ballots added to the Board of Elections' official results could change the numbers some. The supervisor's race drew more than 16,000 fewer voters to the polls than in 2007.
* The council district that saw the fewest voters turn out at the polls was the 3rd District, where just 18 percent of voters pulled the lever Tuesday, the lowest turnout in any race since the inception of councilmanic districts.
* Democrats Connie Kepert and John Rouse joined Republican Kathy Walsh as the only three incumbents in Brookhaven to win by a smaller percentage in 2009 than they did in the 2007 general election. Mr. Rouse slipped the most, dropping nearly five percentage points.
The North Shore Sun is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. The North Shore Sun does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not The North Shore Sun. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Service and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website.
11 comments found
JANE'S SUPPORTERS POST : 11/10/2009
To the person who claims that a previous posting in praise of Jane Bonner may have been posted by Jane herself, please remember that Jane got 6,974 votes. The comment could have been posted by any one of the people who voted for her. In fact, it could have been posted by somebody who admires Jane and who does not live in Council District 2.
election : 11/9/2009
All you haters and Leonard lovers can go back to your caves and lick your wounds. 10 points is a really nice margin. Get over yourselves. She won fair and square.
: 11/9/2009
Sounds like you posted that yourself Jane.
JANE BONNER IS THE GREATEST! : 11/7/2009
The campaign is over. JANE BONNER WON! John Leonard lost. He threw every piece of negative garbage at Jane that Lesko and Laufer could coach him to say. It did not matter. Jane is here until 2011 when the liberals can try again to unseat her. In the meantime, we are sick of remarks about "patronage Jane" , Fairfield Properties and the temporary closure of Shoreham Beach. The voters have decided in 2009 that your issues were not that important to warrant the removal from office of our great Councilwoman, JANE E. BONNER. If we have to listen to your continued whinning about Shoreham Beach, conservatives will petition the Town Board to confine you to Shoreham Beach in a tent for the next two years. During your confinement you will be required to write out 1 million times: "Jane Bonner does not have the power to close Shoreham Beach. Shoreham Beach was temporarily closed by a unanimous vote of the Town Board. Kathy Walsh voted to temporarily close Shoreham Beach. Mark Lesko appointed her as his Depputy Supervisor with a $50,000.00 per year salaray increase. If the temporary closure of Shoreham beach was so bad, Mark Lesko, Kathy Walsh, Brian Foley, Tim Massei, Connie Keppert, Steve Fiore-Rosenfeld, Keith Romaine should all join Jane Bonner and say a prayer forgiveness of their mortal sin." All of you liberals should drive down to Town Hall, give Jane a big hug, and tell her that you wish her a successful two year term.
Negative? : 11/7/2009
Is it a negative campaign when one is pointing out the truth? Apparently the truth hurts at times. I gather someones phone is ringing off the hook due to the truth that has been uncovered.
Integrity? : 11/7/2009
Jane Bonner doesn't know the meaning of integrity. Afterall she isn't called patronage Jane for nothing. She also wouldn't have pushed for the closure of Shoreham Beach like she did if she was representing the entire district. How about the Fairfield situation? Guilty as charged.
Negative Campaigning : 11/6/2009
With a registered Independent in my household, I can attest to the fact that Leonard's campaign materials were 90% negative attacks against his opponent. These not only turned off the Independent in the house, but made the rest of us more determined to see that Jane Bonner would be re-elected. Neative campaigning came from and was paid for by Leonards campaign. Enough said. So glad he lost and we have a person of Integrity representing us at Town hall.
election : 11/6/2009
Give up, Jane won fair and square because of her hard work, whether you like it or not. More sour grapes...maybe they will turn it to "whine" so you can drown your stupidity.
honorable : 11/6/2009
Both Lesko and Leonard ran honorable campaigns. The majority of the negativity was from supporters that were anti Jane Bonner. If you have any clue of what is really going on you would realize that the negaitive publicity was actually the truth against Bonner. Apparently several people are not up with what is going on (i.e. didn't Obama get elected somehow?) or they just flat out do not care. If you have ever held a conversation with Jane Bonner you would realize the elevator doesn't go to teh top floor at times. As far as working in a bi-partisan fashion nobody has done it better than Supervisor Lesko. It is a few key board members that need to stop the nonsence and actually work for the people! Do you hear that Jane?
MARSHA LAUFER SHOULD QUIT : 11/6/2009
In 2007 the Democrats controlled to Town Board. In an act of political malpractice, Marsha Laufer refused to support the re-election of Carol Bissonette in Coucil District 6 and dumped her in favor of a recently converted former Republican. The result was that the Democrats lost control of the Town Board. In 2009, she dumped a very popular Town Clerk, Pamela J. Betheil, from the ticket (Lesko had a hand in that also) and attempted install one of her stooges. Richard Schaffer stepped in and demanded that Pat Eddington get the nomination for Town Clerk and overruled her. Now Marsha Laufer wonders why the Democrats stayed home. She should look in the mirror.
Conservatism : 11/6/2009
The Town Democrats had better stop being partisian and start being real with the people's money. Leonard and Lupski ran terrible hate filled and mean spirited campaigns for which they should be ashamed.
