Donald Trump following the news that he had won the 2016 Election and will become the 45th President of the United States (Damon Winter/The New York Times)

The 2016 Election is in the books and it’s turned out to be a major victory for Republicans across the country as well as in the Southern Tier.

In the race for U.S. president, upstart Donald Trump pulled off one of the biggest surprises in election history by defeating former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Trump won enough support in key battleground states to tilt the total number of electoral votes his way, and by early Wednesday morning he had secured more than 270 votes – which is the minimum amount needed to win the presidency.  While Trump garnered more electoral votes, both candidates had about an equal share of popular votes with each approaching 60,000,000. The total number of votes cast won’t be known for a couple more weeks, after an official canvas of the votes as taken place and all electoral votes are counted.

REED WINS REELECTION TO FOURTH TERM

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

Chautauqua County’s representative in Congress, Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY 23), was able to secure a fourth term in office after defeating Democratic Challenger, Naval Captain John Plumb (D-Lakewood).  Reed picked up just under 150,000 votes in the district, which spans the Southern Tier of New York from Chautauqua County east to Tioga County. Plumb picked up just over 108,000. The margin of victory for Reed was 58 percent to 42 percent.

“We are humbled by the outpouring of support from volunteers and voters,” Reed said following the win. “I care deeply about this place we call home. I am proud to have earned your trust. I am excited to continuing working for our families.”

“We will put our record up against anyone’s because we have always fought to make sure New York got its fair share,” continued Reed. “Thank you for standing with us.”

• LISTEN TO REED ELECTION NIGHT PRESS CONFERENCE CALL

In his concession speech, Plumb also thanked those who supported his campaign.

John Plumb

“This has been a long uphill battle, and I’m very proud to say that I’ve woken up every day of this campaign to fight on our behalf. Unfortunately, the votes have been counted and today did not go in our favor,” Plumb said during his concession speech in Jamestown.

“I’m proud to say that we ran the race I wanted to run. The race we all want our politicians to run. We ran our race with integrity and honor, and with a focus on the communities we seek to serve. Those are the values I ran our campaign with, the values that run deep in the Southern Tier, Western New York, and the Finger Lakes. Those are the principles we should always strive for no matter what challenges we face. Thank you all for supporting me throughout this journey,” Plumb added.

In Chautauqua County Reed picked up an unofficial total of 27,400 votes to Plumb’s 19,900 (also 58 percent to 42 percent), with between 3200 and 4000 absentee ballots left to be counted.

Reed was just one of 238 Republican who were elected or won reelection to the House on Tuesday, given the party a 40-member advantage over the Democrats.

Meanwhile in the Senate, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-Brooklyn) easily won reelection over Republican Challenger Wendy Long by a margin of 70.4 percent to 27.5.

Despite predictions from some national media outlets that the Democrats would take over Congress’s upper legislative chamber, the GOP was able to maintain its control and will likely have 52 members come January, to the Democrats 48 members.

YOUNG, GOODELL CRUISE TO REELECTION

Senator Cathy Young and Assemblyman Andy Goodell

The area’s two representatives in Albany also won reelection.

In the State Senate race, Cathy Young (R-Olean, 57th District) easily defeated challenger Lee Hyson (D-Frewsburg). Young received 87,000 votes from across the 57th district – which comprises all of Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany Counties, along with the southern portion of Livingston County. Hyson, meanwhile, only managed to pick up just under 18,000 votes, giving Young an 83 to 17 percent margin of victory.

Nearly half of all of Young’s votes came from Chautauqua County, where she picked up an estimated 40,000. Hyson picked up just over 8,000.

While some races are still to close to call, state GOP officials are claiming victory in maintaining control of the state senate, meaning Young will continue to serve as chair of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, as well as serve as one of the top ranking Republicans in state politics.

Over in the Assembly race, Assemblyman Andy Goodell (R-Jamestown) won his fourth term in office, easily defeating challenger Jason Perdue (D-Jamestown) – 35,000 to 12,200 (74 to 26 percent).

SWANSON, SULLIVAN WIN IN SPECIAL COUNTY ELECTION

Chautauqua County Acting District Attorney Patrick Swanson (D-Fredonia) won in the race to fill out the remainder of the DA’s term – which expires at the end of 2017. Swanson defeated Jason Schmidt (R-Fredonia) 25,207 to 21,447. Swanson was appointed to the DA’s office at the start of 2016 after former DA David Foley left the post to assume the role of Chautauqua County Court Judge.

In the special election for Chautauqua County Family Court Judge, Michael Sullivan (R-Fredonia) defeated Sally Jaroszynski (D-Falconer) by a margin of 61 to 37 percent. The election took place to fill out the remainder of the term of former judge Judith Claire, who retired from the post earlier this year.

COUNTY LEGISLATURE TERM LENGTH REMAINS AT TWO YEARS

Voters in Chautauqua County voted down a proposition to amend the county charter and increase the term length for legislators from two years to four years. The proposition was defeated 26,783 to 16,287 – a margin of 62 to 38 percent.

STATE SUPREME COURT RACE TOO CLOSE TO CALL

And in the election to appoint two new Justices to the New York Supreme Court 8th District (which includes Chuatauqua County), the Buffalo News is reporting Wednesday that Republicans Mary L. Slisz and Daniel J. Furlong narrowly led a four-way race late Tuesday, but the outcome may depend on the districts in Erie County where ballots had not yet been tabulated.

Slisz, a Buffalo lawyer, and Furlong, confidential law clerk for retiring Justice Joseph R. Glownia, built pluralities in the seven Western New York counties outside Erie County. Both also ran for seats on the court in 2014.

Unofficial totals late Tuesday showed Democrats Lynn Wessel Keane, the Orchard Park town justice, and Grace M. Hanlon, former first assistant district attorney in Chautauqua County, ahead in Erie County by sizable margins, but it was not clear whether that would offset the vote for Slisz and Furlong elsewhere.

Chautauqua County Executive Vince Horrigan.

MAYVILLE – Chautauqua County executive Vince Horrigan is holding three public hearings today on local laws, which were approved by the county legislature in July.

This afternoon Horrigan will hold a hearing at 1 p.m. on a local law involving the number of votes needed to take money from the county’s fund balance after it falls below a certain level, proportionate to the full county budget.

At 1:30 p.m. Horrigan will hold a hearing on increasing salaries for three county offices – the County Clerk, County Sheriff and County Executive – which would go into effect following the next local election for each of those three offices.

And at 2 p.m. he’ll hold a public hearing on an amendment to increase the term length for the county legislature from two to four years. Even if signed by the executive, that amendment must still be approved by a public referendum during this fall’s general election.

All the hearings will take place in the office of the county executive inside the Gerace Office building.

Chautauqua County Legislator Terry Niebel (white shirt) explains why he won’t support a proposed amendment to extend legislator term lengths from 2 to 4 years during the July 27 meeting of the Chautauqua County Legislature. The amendment was approved 16 to 1 with Niebel casting the lone “no” vote.

MAYVILLE -Voters in Chautauqua County will have the opportunity to decide if they want to have their representatives in Mayville serve four-year terms rather than two-year terms.

During Wednesday’s Chautauqua County Legislature meeting, lawmakers voted 16 to 1 in favor of a local law that would switch terms from two years to four years. Under rules of the county charter, the amendment must still be approved in a public referendum in order to go into effect.

Only one lawmaker voted against the amendment. North county legislator Terry Niebel (R-Dunkirk) said he’s against the idea of extending terms for several reasons, including his feeling that two-year terms represent a government that is closest to the people it represents, and also the fact that actually extending the term length might drive people away from running, as opposed to drawing them to it.

He also said that data from recent elections disproves the argument that legislators focus too much on running for reelection and not enough time on actual county business.

“One of the arguments that we hear quite often is that with two year terms legislators are running for reelection and with four-year terms they can concentrate more on their legislative duties, but actually this argument runs contrary to facts,” Niebel said. “In 2013, ten (out of 19) legislators ran unopposed: five Republicans and five Democrats. In 2015 that number had risen to eleven (out of 19) legislators running unopposed: eight Republicans and three Democrats…. So as you can see, running for reelection is not a problem for well over  50 percent of the members of this body.”

Niebel was the only legislator to vote against the amendment, which passed by a vote of 16 to 1 (legislators PJ Wendell of Lakewood and Mark Tarbrake of Jamestown were absent).

Even though all other legislators supported the amendment, several stated before the vote that they were personally against the idea, but still felt it should go before the public so it could have a final say in the matter.

“Personally I’m not in favor of a four-year term, for a lot of the reasons that legislator Niebel gave – Congress, state assembly, state senate, they’re all two years,” Said Chuck Nazarro (D-Jamestown). “I also support that it holds us accountable to the people who put us in office. It gives them an opportunity to grade us every two years… But I think it’s good for the public to have a voice in deciding this issue.”

“There are certainly pros or cons, but I think what we’re discussing tonight is are we going to let the voters decide on this,” said George Borrello (R-Irving). “Voting in favor of this is voting to put it on the November ballot. In the time between now and then discussions can occur and people will have the opportunity to discuss with each other and with us the pros and cons, and then hopefully they can make an informed decision.”

In addition to the term length amendment, lawmakers approved another amendment that increased the County Executive’s salary from the current amount of $85,000/year to $92,500.  The County Clerk’s salary is seeing a proposed increase from $53,000 to $55,500. And the County Sheriff’s salary would go from $82,500 to $85,000.

It was a approved 15 to 2 with legislators Ron Lemon (R-Frewsburg) and Bob Scudder (R-Fredonia) voting against it.

“At this time, with the way things are economically it’s just best to hold the line at where we are at until we get beyond what county executive Vince Horrigan has called a ‘structural deficit’ that we’re trying to take care of,” Lemon said. “I don’t think it’s prudent for us to be given anybody raises. If we are going to give raises it should be across the board and not just for particular offices – but I’m not in favor of that either at this time.”

Last month the legislature introduced three separate amendments to the Chautauqua County Charter, which have been recommended by the County Charter and Administrative Code Review Commission.

• READ THE AMENDMENTS

One of the charter amendments involves increasing the term-length for the 19-member legislative body from two to four years, starting January 2018. If the legislature were to approve the amendment during this month’s meeting, it would then go up for a county-wide public vote on this year’s general election ballot.

The amendment has already received the support of many members of the legislature, including current Chairman Jay Gould (R-Ashville), who told WRFA last month that a lack of contested races in recent elections has led to the recommended change. Others have pointed out that running for reelection every two years takes time away from legislators doing the actual business of the county.

Jamestown City Council President Gregory Rabb, who also serves as Political Science professor at SUNY JCC, tells WRFA that he’s opposed to extending term-lengths for county legislators from two to four years.

Not everyone is in support of the amendment. Current Jamestown city council president and SUNY JCC political science professor Greg Rabb says that there is a very important reason why the legislative branch has traditionally had a two-year term and extending it would be damaging for representative democracy.

“The legislative branch is supposed to be closest to the people,” Rabb explained during a recent interview on WRFA’s Community Matters program. “Not to get too theoretical, but if you look at the U.S. Constitutional and Article 1, the Congressional article, the House – the branch closest to the people – is supposed to have a two-year term. The president is supposed to have a four-year term and then the Senate – which was originally to be chosen by the state legislature – was to have a six year term. So there was a need for one of the branches at all times to be as close to the people as possible.”

Rabb said that the concept outlined in the Constitution has since been included in many state and local governments, where the legislative branch has shorter terms in order to remain close to and accountable to the people.

“So from a political science perspective, my objection to a four-year term would be, ‘Who’s going to be closest to the people?’ I think it’s a mistake to pull that branch away from the people,” Rabb said.

Rabb also said that he’s not even sure why the legislature is considering the amendment since there hasn’t been any outcry from the public regarding term lengths.

“What I would say to my friends in the Chautauqua County Legislature is get me a drug treatment facility in Jamestown. Turn Route 60 into a four-lane highway. And get the state to start subsidizing public education so low-income people can afford it,” Rabb said. “They want issues? I have three big issues and I’m sure other residents do too. And instead of working on [those] they’re going to focus their time on this bologna that’s not going to affect anybody? Come on. This is why I want them to have two-year terms… nobody’s clamoring for this four-year stuff. I’ve never had a constituent say to me, ‘Why don’t you guys have four-year terms?'”

Another local official who hasn’t endorsed the proposed change is County Executive Vince Horrigan, who was asked about the amendment during a recent interview with WRFA.

“I understand the idea. It is challenging to run every two years plus it takes a while to learn the business, but I would say this: my experience was that when I ran for county executive, at the same time several legislators ran and we were able to make some significant change involving the Chautauqua County Home. Whether you liked that changed or not I think, we have to be careful that we don’t lock people in too long. I think new people that run come with fresh ideas,” Horrigan said, adding, “I won’t offer support one way or the other but I do see both sides of it.”

Others who support the amendment include the county’s Democratic Committee Chairman Norman Green, whose party currently only has four members in the 19 member legislature. Although Green says he would also prefer to see term limits put in place for lawmakers, saying he’d like to see lawmakers only serve 12 consecutive years on legislative body before being replaced. He said this would create new energy on a regular basis and allow for new ideas to come forward from our county representatives.

Besides the amendment addressing term lengths, another charter amendment to be considered during this month’s meeting include increasing the salaries for the county executive, the county sheriff and the county clerk, starting in 2018. A third charter amendment would involve increasing the amount of votes needed for using the county’s fund balance. Neither of these two amendments would require a public vote if they are passed by the legislature.

All three charter amendments, along with other business of the county, will be considered by the legislature when it meets Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. in the legislative chambers in Mayville. The meeting is open to the public.

The Chautauqua County Legislature will act next month on a three separate amendments to the Chautauqua County Charter that have been recommended by the County Charter and Administrative Code Review Commission.

• READ THE AMENDMENTS

One local law involves increasing the term-length for the 19-member legislative body from 2 to 4 years, starting January 2018. Legislature Chairman Jay Gould (R-Ashville) tells WRFA that a lack of contested races in recent elections for many of the legislature’s districts has led to the recommended change.

“It’s hard to get people to run. Last time I think there was only nine contested races (out of 19). It’s getting harder and harder to get [candidates],” Gould said.

Gould also says that he doesn’t expect everyone will be in favor of the recommended change. “There’s pros and cons both ways,” he said. “Sometimes [voters] want to get rid of somebody in two years.”

Another concern, which was laid out in a December 2014 editorial of the Post-Journal, is that legislators don’t have much time to focus on representing their district and focus on the business of the county because they have to take time out every two years to run for re-election.

Chautauqua County Democratic Committee Chairman Norman Green, whose party currently only has four members on the legislature, tells WRFA he supports a four-year term.

“I agree with the four year term, as it has become impossible to find candidates to oppose incumbents and many of the incumbents run over and over again with opposition,” Green said, adding that he would even go a step further and suggest term limits for the legislature. “I would favor term limits for the county legislators to go along with the four-year terms – say three four year terms should be enough for any one person and this would guarantee new energy and new ideas coming forward with some regularity.”

Green, who also serves as one of the county’s two election commissioners, adds that even if the terms were increased to four years, it wouldn’t result in any savings for the County Board of Elections because local elections would stay take place every two years.

Despite how the legislature votes in July, Gould says that even if approved by lawmakers the local law would still require a vote via public referendum. “The four year term would have to go to referendum. So we have to act on it now if it were to go to a public referendum in the fall,” he said.

SALARY INCREASE PROPOSED FOR COUNTY OFFICES

In addition to the possibility of changing term lengths, the legislature will also consider making changes for the salary of the County executive, clerk and sheriff.

An amendment to the charter has been introduced increasing the County Executive’s salary from the current amount of $85,000/year to $92,500.  The County Clerk’s salary is seeing a proposed increase from $53,000 to $55,500. And the County Sheriff’s salary would go from $82,500 to $85,000.

Gould says initially the charter review commission had considered an even larger increase for both the executive and clerk, considering it’s been 14 years since the last time those offices had an increase in pay.

“It was discussed [by the commission] that the pay should’ve been a little more, but it wasn’t because of financial concerns,” Gould said. “Since 2002 the sheriff has seen a couple of raises, but the county executive and clerk haven’t seen a salary increase since 2002.”

If the amendment were approved by the legislature in July, the increases wouldn’t go into effect until the start of the new term for each respective office.

A third charter amendment would involve increasing the amount of votes needed for using fund balance, should that force the fund to go below 5 percent of gross revenues. Currently a simple majority (10 out of 19 legislators) is only needed but the proposed amendment would increase that to a 60 percent (12 out of 19).

The local laws were introduced Wednesday night during the June voting session.  They will be acted during the legislature’s regular voting session next month on July 27.

Among the changes currently being considered is changing the term-length for county legislators from two to four years.

Another would involve the reapportionment process, including making a determination on who would sit on the redistricting committee and also the process for finalizing a reapportionment plan. The committee is responsible for making recommendations for new legislative district lines every ten years, based on the latest census data.

And the commission is also considering adding new language to the charter that would include the salary for the county executive, county sheriff and county clerk.

The Commission will meet at 5:30 PM, Wednesday in Room 331 of the Gerace Office Building in Mayville. The meeting is open to the public.