(Left to Right) Jason Schmidt, PJ Wendel, Andy Goodell, George Borrello, and Tom Reed

It was a clean sweep for Republicans in Chautauqua County in the 2020 Election, as all GOP candidates on the ballot appeared to have won their respective races, regardless of the record number of absentee ballots that have been cast and await to be counted.

The big winners in the county-wide races were Andy Goodell (R-Ellicott) for the 150th State Assembly District, Paul “PJ Wendel (R-Lakewood) for the special election for Chautauqua County Executive, and Jason Schmidt (R-Fredonia) in the race for Chautauqua County District Attorney. Also picking up regional victories were George Borrello (R-Irving) for the 57th State Senate District and Tom Reed (R-Corning) for the New York 23rd Congressional District.

• ALL ELECTION NIGHT TOTALS IN CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY

SCHMIDT VOTED INTO OFFICE FOR THE FIRST TIME

Jason Schmidt

For Jason Schmidt, the second time was a charm in his run for Chautauqua County District Attorney. He appears to have cruised to any easy victory over incumbent Patrick Swanson (D-Fredonia) after previously losing to the current DA in the 2016 election.

This time around, Schmidt received 29,925 votes between early voting and Election Day voting while Swanson picked up 17,122.

According to the Chautauqua County Board of Elections, there remains a possible 11,926 absentee ballots in Chautauqua County that could be added to the final vote total, but even if Swanson picked up all of those votes, he still wouldn’t have enough to win.

“I’m humbled, honored, and grateful to all my supporters and so appreciative to the team of people who have stood by my side the entire time and the movement that we created. Getting into this, it was really about the community – the victims and the police. We stayed true to that and that’s really what it is all about for me,” Schmidt told WRFA on Election Night following news that he had won.

Schmidt also offered his thoughts on how he was able to win by such a wide margin on Election Night.

I think in many respects, the election was about different philosophical approaches to the office. I tried to make that clear and I wanted to define the campaign based on that. I felt there wasn’t enough emphasis being placed on prosecution and conviction,” Schmidt said. “That doesn’t mean that I want to go out there and be a hammer looking for a nail, that’s not who I am. But at the same time I feel there were a lot of people let down in many high profile cases here, and that was never lost on me. It was important that they be remembered and honored by my campaign.”

WENDEL NO LONGER ‘ACTING’ COUNTY EXECUTIVE

PJ Wendel

In the special election for Chautauqua County Executive, Wendel defeated Democratic opponent Richard Morrisroe (Dunkirk) by an election night vote of 33,633 to 13,126. Wendel had been serving as acting county executive after being appointed by the Republican-controlled county legislature at the start of this year. Previously he had served as a member of the legislature representing Lakewood and Busti along with a small portion of Jamestown. He also was legislature chairman prior to his appointment to county executive.

“I’m excited and I’m very humbled by the residents of the county who elected me for this position. I’m humbled to win by that much – that’s the voters who spoke. It’s not an appointment, that’s the residents of the county and I think that means a lot. I’m humbled to have that kind of a margin,” Wendel said.

Wendel will now serve the final year of the current term of the office for County Executive and will have campaign all over again next year, as he’s already stated that he wants to serve a full term as the county’s top executive.

GOODELL LOCKS UP 6TH TERM IN ASSEMBLY

In the race for the 150th State Assembly District, Goodell also had an insurmountable lead over his Democratic opponent, Christina Cardinale of Jamestown. Goodell received 34,627 votes on election night to Cardinale’s 12,514.

Andy Goodell

“I’m very thankful that the residents of the Chautauqua County have given me the opportunity to represent our county in the State Legislature and I’m also very thankful that my Assembly colleagues give me the opportunity to serve as the floor leader on the floor of the Assembly,” Goodell said. “That gives me the opportunity to make sure the voices, concerns and issues that are important to us here in Chautauqua County are front and center in all of our legislative proceedings. I’m excited to go back, but I’m also very mindful that there is a tremendous amount of work to do and it will take everybody’s help and cooperation as we move forward to address these serious issues.”

The win secures Goodell a 6th term in Albany after first being elected to the office in November 2010.

BORELLO WINS FIRST FULL TERM IN STATE SENATE

George Borrello will also continue representing the three southwestern-most counties of the state in the State Senate as he easily won a full two years to represent the 57th District in Albany.

George Borrello

Borrello defeated Frank Puglisi (D-Cattaraugus County) with an election night final of 78,047 to 24,940.  Borello was first elected to the Senate in a special election last year to finish the final year for the current term after former Sen. Cathy Young resigned from her post in early 2019 to take a job in the private sector.  Last year, he defeated Democrat Austin Morgan by 42,563 to 17,270.

“I am honored and grateful for the trust that the hardworking people of our region have again placed in me to represent the 57th District,” Borrello said in a statement released Tuesday night. “Over the past year, we’ve faced the unimaginable challenges of a global health emergency and a devastating economic crisis…. The COVID-19 challenge has exacerbated many existing issues and failures of our state government, which has further energized the need for change. That will be the starting point for our efforts. We must now set aside the politics and work to face the tough road ahead. I vow to continue working to advance our recovery and fight against the extreme, politically self-serving agendas that undermine our security, ignore our shared values, and prevent us from realizing our fullest potential.”

REED DEFEATS MITRANO IN REMATCH OF 2018 RACE

Tom Reed

In the race for the 23rd Congressional district, Republican incumbent Tom Reed defeated Democratic Challenger Tracy Mitrano (Penn Yan) with an election night total o 160,131 to 90,959. It’s not known how many absentee ballots remain to be counted throughout the district but it is likely that there are not enough outstanding to give Mitrano an opportunity for a come-from-behind victory.

It was the second time in as many elections that Reed squared off against and defeated Mitrano.

GREENAN WINS SUPREME COURT RACE

There was also a race for State Supreme Court for the eight counties making up the Eight Judicial District. In that race, Republican candidate Gerald Greenan III defeated Democrat Amy Martoche 246,688 to 181,674. Again, the total number of absentees that remain to be counted are not available at this time, but the Greenan has a likely insurmountable lead over Martoche.

The final vote totals for each race won’t be known until later this month after all absentee ballots are opened and counted and then the canvasing of all votes takes place to provide an official, final result.

FEDERAL RACES HIGHLIGHT 2020

The main focus is on the race for presidents, where Republican incumbent Donald Trump is being challenged by Democratic candidate and former vice president Joe Biden. There are also several other third party candidates appearing on this year’s ballot.

In addition to the race for president, all seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs, including the election for the New York 23rd congressional district, which has ten-year Republican incumbent Tom Reed facing Democratic challenger Tracy Mitrano in a rematch of the 2018 election.

One-third of the U.S. Senate is also up for election, but neither New York’s two seats are on the ballot for this year. Those two seats are currently held by Chuck Schumer and Kirstan Gillibrand.

STATE OFFICES UP FOR VOTE

All legislative seats in Albany are also up for election. In the state Senate, Republican incumbent George Borrello from Chautauqua County – who won the state’s 57th senate seat during a special election last year – is facing Democratic Challenger Frank Puglisi of Cattaraugus County.

In the race for the 150th State Assembly seat, ten-year Republican Incumbent Andy Goodell of Ellicott is being challenged by Democratic Newcomer Christina Cardinale of Jamestown.

There’s also the a race to fill a State Supreme Court Seat. Democrat Amy Martoche and Republican Gerald Greenan III are competing for a 14-year term in a judicial district that spans eight counties, including Chautauqua county.

LOCAL RACES

There are also two local races of note.

The Chautauqua County District Attorney’s race features Democratic incumbent Patrick Swanson facing Republican challenger Jason Schmidt in a rematch from four years ago. There’s also a special election for county executive to fill the remaining year on the current term – with Republican PJ Wendel of Lakewood facing Democratic candidate Richard Morrisroe of Dunkirk. Wendel is currently serving as acting county executive after the seat was vacated by Borrello at the start of this year.

Polls are open Tuesday from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. in Chautauqua County.

George Borrello (left) and Andy Goodell

ALBANY – Chautauqua County’s two representatives in Albany have put forward a plan they say will help to reopen the state economy as it struggles amidst the shutdown caused by the COVID-19 novel coronavirus.

Senator George Borrello (R-Irving) and Assemblyman Andy Goodell (R-Ellicott) say their strategy hinges on an application of a regionally based assessment model that would determine risk level based on a variety of factors. Those factors include population density, infection rate and health care capacity. The strategy would also incorporate risk analysis by industry.

Since governor Andrew Cuomo announced the NY on Pause executive order that basically shuts down all non essential businesses, there has been a sharp spike in unemployment and thousands of  businesses have been left shuttered. In addition, the crisis is also driving up government budget deficits at both the state and local levels.

The geographical template for the plan would be the state’s existing ten Regional Economic Development Council zones (REDC). Each zone would be evaluated based on a multi-tiered risk assessment that could include factors such as infection level, hospitalization utilization, demographic and trend data, such as the increase or decrease in number of active cases. Risk analysis by business sector would also be conducted, based on the four-level model developed by OSHA, with corresponding guidelines for protecting workers safety.

“Almost like a horror film, the COVID-19 pandemic invaded our world seemingly overnight, and in so doing, changed life as we know it. While our battle with this insidious virus isn’t over, the strength and unity of New Yorkers in meeting this challenge has been extraordinary, helping us ‘flatten the curve’ and ease infection rates in many of our hardest hit downstate areas,” said Borrello. “However, an economic crisis has been unfolding alongside our public health emergency. The shuttering of our businesses has resulted in staggering job losses – 1.2 million residents filed for unemployment over the past five weeks, four times the total number of jobs lost during the Great Recession of 2008.”

“While New York is one state, we cannot ignore the reality that there is a huge gap between infection rates in New York City and its surrounding counties and rural areas of upstate. For example, in Chautauqua County we currently have four active cases and a substantial drop in the number of people in precautionary quarantine. That is just one example, but it is illustrative of the experience of many rural areas,” said Borrello. “Under the plan we are advancing, economies in regions like this could be safely restarted by following safety protocols, putting people back to work and saving many small businesses from having to close their doors forever.”

“Each day that passes puts us in further economic jeopardy. While the governor’s statewide edicts have been done out of an abundance of caution, we cannot restart our economy with the same ‘one-size-fits-all’ process,” said Goodell. “The impact of this pandemic on the various regions of our state has been vastly different and a common-sense plan needs to be tailored to fit the level of risk.”

The proposal is also being supported by Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel.

Senator Borrello and Assemblyman Goodell have submitted their plan to New York State Commissioner of Tax and Finance, Michael Schmidt, who will be part of the Cuomo administration’s team working on restarting the economy.

Meanwhile, the Democratic candidates on the November ballot that will be opposing Borrello, Goodell and Wendel all took issue with the proposal and sent out a joint media release last Thursday.

Richard Morrisroe and Christina Cardinale

Democratic county executive candidate Richard Morrisroe of Dunkirk said that any reopen NY plan needs to include the proper safeguards, metrics and widespread testing.

“While I appreciate the State Senator Borrello and Assemblyman Goodell’s initiative and ideas, they remain too incomplete to push for immediate action,” Morrisroe said. “As a small businessman whose law practice has suffered as a result of the PAUSE in response to the Novel Coronavirus pandemic, I understand the desire to get the economy going again. I truly do. However, the health and safety of Chautauqua County’s citizens must come first.”

The Democrats say the proposal from Borrello and Goodell falls short on two points: 1 – Failing to acknowledge the need for widespread tesing; and 2 – not acknowledging that the economy in Chautauqua County and the Southern Tier is connected to the economies in adjacent regions, including those in nearby Pennsylvania.

“While I appreciate the graduated approach and agree that the level of infection will vary by county and municipality, it will be extremely difficult to open one area and be fully functional while most are still shut down,” Morrisroe said, adding, “Last but not least, in terms of income and sales tax revenue generation statewide, all of upstate, including Western New York and the Southern Tier, depend on the greater New York City area. To say we can carry on without it being operational is to ignore that reality.”

“The checkerboard approach advocated by my opponent for NY Assembly is problematic,” said Democratic assembly candidate Christine Cardinale of Jamestown.  “He proposes opening up western New York, but not Erie County or Monroe County with our big city Buffalo and Rochester hubs. The plan also ignores the fact that we are a border state with Erie and Warren County, Pa.  It’s pretty easy to understand why this plan does not make any sense.  Just look at a map.”

“We need to sit down and find a plan that supports what President Trump and Governor Cuomo are talking about for the reopening of our state and national economy,” added Democratic state senate candidate Frank Puglisi of Lynden.  “Our current leaders taking the cowboy approach is not only wrong, it’s extremely dangerous.”

The candidates who will appear on the Democratic Party Primary on June 26 (from left to right): Tracy Mitrano, Ian Golden, Max Della Pia, Linda Andrei, and Eddie Sundquist.

There’s less than a week remaining before Democrats in Chautauqua County and across the 23rd Congressional District go to the polls to choose a candidate to run against incumbent Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) in November.

The 2018 Democratic Primary will take place on Tuesday, June 26 with polls open from noon to 9 p.m. with five candidates seeking the party’s nomination.

The five candidates are Eddie Sundquist (Jamestown), Tracy Mitrano (Penn Yan), Ian Golden (Ithaca), Max Dela Pia (Owego), and Linda Andrei (Ithaca).

While all the candidates have spent most of their time sharing their thoughts and views on pressing issues, as well as heaping criticism on Congressman Reed, they’ve also spent time going after each other.

Mitrano is viewed by some as the primary race’s front-runner, largely due to her success in various unofficial straw-poll events during the campaign as well as her acquiring the most signatures on her ballot petition.

Tracy Mitrano

But with the perceived front-runner status comes increased focus and criticism. During a League of Women Voters’ Meet the Candidates forum in Mayville earlier this year, Mitrano fended off attacks related to her primary residence (she has purportedly said she is from both Penn Yann and Ithaca while campaigning), whether or not she’ll remain in the race if she loses the Democratic primary (she’s also received the endorsement of the Working Families’ party and is the only candidate on the Women’s Equality party ballot), and she was asked about not filing her campaign finance disclosure statements on time.

Last week Mitrano was criticized again, this time by the Democratic Committee Chair of Cattaraugus County Frank Puglisi, who said she is misleading her way through the primary and saying it is disqualifying to her candidacy. Mitrano’s campaign responded by saying, in part, ” It is unfortunate that a Democratic chair would go so far as to use antiquated language in dismissing a woman frontrunner with Tracy’s experience and background as ‘disqualified’ to run for Congress.”

Eddie Sundquist

This week, Mitrano found herself yet again in the cross-hairs, this time by fellow candidate Sundquist, who sent out a media release criticizing her for a recently filed public documents indicating she sold a home Massachusetts that had been recorded as her primary residence.

“Legal documents indicating Ms. Mitrano’s residence as Massachusetts while also claiming a primary residence in New York, and receiving a tax benefit, raise significant questions and serious legal ramifications,” said the Sundquist release.

Mitrano’s campaign responded by saying that she did own property in Massachusetts will working at UMass so she would have a place to stay when she was not working remotely from her homes in New York. When she sold that property, she signed a series of legal documents and one included a parenthetical clause about primary residence being Massachusettes, which she said she didn’t see and inadvertently signed off on it. She has since contacted an attorney in Massachusetts to file an amended document.

“This political attack seeks to challenge Tracy’s primary residence and her 2017 NY Star exemption. It’s hard to believe that a week before the primary, campaigns are choosing to spend their time going through years of paperwork hunting for clerical errors,” Mitrano’s campaign said in its statement.

Again, the Democratic Primary for congress will take place next Tuesday from noon to 9 p.m. Any registered Democrat in the district is eligible to participate.

On Thursday, June 21 at 5 p.m. during WRFA’s Community Matters program, we’ll broadcast a series of recent interviews we did with each of the five candidates.  An encore of the program will also be broadcast at Noon on Sunday, June 24.

NY 23 DISTRICT: The NY 23 Congressional District, containing: Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany, Steuben, Chemung, Schuyler, Yates Tompkins and Seneca counties – along with a portion of Ontario county.

Ian Golden

RANDOLPH – Democratic Congressional Candidate Ian Golden of Ithaca is the winner of this past weekend’s western southern tier Democratic straw poll for New York’s 23rd Congressional District.

According to party officials, nearly 200 Democrats participated representing all eleven counties in the congressional district.

The final results found Golden, a businessman from Tompkins County, receiving 30 percent of the vote. Coming in second was Attorney Eddie Sundquist, Chautauqua County, 26 percent; College Administrator Tracy Mitrano, Yates County, 24 percent; and Air Force retiree Attorney Max Della Pia, Tioga County, 14 percent.  The remaining candidates received less than 10% of the votes.

Organizing the event were Democratic Chairs Frank Puglisi, Cattaraugus County; Mike McCormick, Allegany County and Norman P. Green, Chautauqua County.

WRFA will be talking with Golden during this week’s edition of Community Matters, Thursday Oct. 26 at 5 p.m.