Carroll Town Supervisor Russell Payne was the only incumbent to win their primary, defeating Laura Smith by a vote of 191 to 110 for the Republican line. Payne will still face Smith in November as she has the Working Families Party line.

County Legislator Bill Ward lost his Republican primary for District 18 to Martin Proctor in a vote of 105 to 285. Ward remains on the ballot with the Democrat and Working Families lines with Proctor also having the Conservative line. Ward issued a statement saying, “Despite significant party committee interference, a healthy number of primary voters still support our campaign. While we didn’t get over the top, It’s clear that folks want to keep a legislator in office who works for all the people in District 18 and Chautauqua County.”

In Fredonia, Legislator Christine Starks lost the District 4 Democratic Primary against Susan Parker by a vote of 151 to 35. Christine Starks has the Working Families Party line and will still face Parker in November.

In the City of Dunkirk, Ward 1 Representative Don Williams also lost his Democratic primary against Natalie Luczkowiak by a vote of 427 to 266. Both will face off again in November as Williams has a third party line.

For all Primary results, visit www.votechautauqua.com.

Municipalities with Primaries include a Republican Primary for Town Supervisor in the Town of Carroll between current Supervisor Russell Payne and Laura Smith. County Legislator Bill Ward is facing a primary on the Republican line against Martin Proctor in District 18. In Fredonia, Legislator Christine Starks has a Democratic Primary against Susan Parker in District 4.

In the City of Dunkirk, Ward 1 Representative Don Williams has a Democratic primary against Natalie Luczkowiak. Four Republicans are facing off in a Primary in the Town of Ripley for town council seats. And in Arkwright, a vacancy for the Arkwright Highway Superintendent has a Republican primary between James Ziemba and Lisa Waldron.

George Borrello on Election Night after winning the special election for the State Senate’s 57th District

MAYVILLE – Republican and current Chautauqua County Executive George Borrello will be the region’s next State Senator.  On Election Day Borrello defeated Democrat Austin Morgan of Cattaraugus county. The two were running for the seat vacated earlier this year by former Sen. Cathy Young, who announced in late February she was resigning from the Senate to take a job at Cornell University.

In his victory speech at the Republican Headquarters inside the Double Tree by Hilton, Borrello thanked Young for her years of service and also said he will approach his new job in Albany the same way he’s approached his job in Mayville, while also standing up to what he feels in an extreme agenda from the Democratic controlled state legislature.

“We have a tremendous debt of gratitude that we owe to Sen. Cathy Young who did an outstanding job representing us for all these years. She has set a proud example for all elected officials and those are big shoes to fill. I will work hard every single day to fill those shoes,” Borrello said. “But now we have to step forward with a new path. We have a new reality in Albany right now and we are going to work hard to push back against this radical agenda. I will ensure that our voice is heard loud and clear in Albany from this district.”

Borrello will likely take over the Senate seat before the year is out, although it’s not clear who will be replacing him as county executive. That decision to nominate someone will fall on the Chautauqua County Republican Party Committee.

In August of this year the legislature unanimously approved a resolution that states if there is a county executive vacancy, the replacement should be from the same political party and should be nominated by the county committee of said party, which would then require the approval of the county legislature. If the legislature has not filled the vacancy within 45 days, the legislature can fill the position without the requirement that the person should be nominated by the county committee of said political party.

COUNTY LEGISLATURE TO SEE LITTLE CHANGE

Meanwhile, there won’t be a lot of changeover in the county legislature when January 1 comes. Based on the election day results, there will only be three new names added to the 19-member body.

In the Mayville-Findley Lake area, Republican newcomer Bill Ward defeated fellow Republican and incumbent Martin Proctor for the District 18 seat. Ward was cross-endorsed by both the Republican and Democratic Parties and Proctor had created his own party known as the Cornerstone Party to get his name on the ballot.

Over in District 6,  Republican Thomas Harmon of Dunkirk defeated Democratic incumbent Kevin O’Connell.

And in Jamestown’s District 11 legislature district, Democrat Bob Whitney ran unopposed to reclaim a seat he lost 6 years earlier to David Wilfong, who chose not to run for reelection to the county legislature so he could instead run for mayor of Jamestown.

Other election day results had Republican incumbent Jesse Robbins defeating Democratic challenger Rudy Mueller in the Busti Town Supervisor race, in the village of Lakewood Republican Randy Holcomb was elected mayor, in the Carroll Supervisor Race Republican Russell Payne defeated Conservative candidate and incumbent Laura Smith, and in Falconer Democrat and lone candidate James Jaroszynski was elected mayor.

For a complete rundown of election day results, visit vote votechautauqua.com.

Andrew Liuzzo

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown city councilman who was unable to secure the Republican party’s nomination as a candidate for mayor in June may still appear on the November election ballot.

Members of the Chautauqua County Libertarian Party held their monthly meeting last week in Bemus Point and nominated several additional local candidates for the 2019 general election.

Among those who were chosen was Andrew Liuzzo for mayor of Jamestown. Liuzzo, who is currently a first-term city councilman at large, lost to Chautauqua County legislator David Wilfong in the Republican party primary last month.

While campaigning as a Republican candidate for mayor, Liuzzo had said that he would not be seeking any other party’s endorsement because he didn’t want to split the Republican ticket in November.

“I will not seek or accept another party line nor will I pursue an independent line. If I am not your choice I will not risk splitting the vote to let the opposition party win,” Liuzzo wrote on his Facebook page on May 4.

However, following the Libertarian party’s announced nomination, Liuzzo said he would have to consider the endorsement.

“I’m grateful for the endorsement from the Libertarian party and thankful for the support I’ve received since they made their announcement. I will take the next couple of days to discuss it with my family before I make a decision,” Liuzzo wrote on his Facebook page on July 13.

As of Monday morning he has not yet announced if he planned to accept the nomination.

In addition to Wilfong, the other mayoral candidate is Jamestown attorney Eddie Sundquist. Wilfong is also running under the Conservative party line n the ballot, while Sundquist is running under the Working Families and Independence lines on the ballot.

Current Mayor Sam Teresi, a Democrat, had announced in February he wouldn’t be seeking a sixth term in office.

Raven Mason Thompson

In addition to choosing Liuzzo as its candidate for Jamestown Mayor, the Libertarian party is also selecting Raven Mason Thompson as its only candidate for Jamestown City Council At Large. Mason Thompson had ran against Tony Dolce in the June Republican Primary for City Council Ward 2 – but was defeated.

The Libertarian party is also endorsing Dolce for Ward 2, along with Brittnay Spry for Ward 4. Both those two are also the endorsed Republican candidates for those respective offices.

Other Libertarian Party endorsements that came out of last week’s meeting include:

• Rudy Mueller for Busti Town Supervisor,
• Russell Payne for Carroll Town Supervisor,
• Dennis Welka for Dunkirk City Council Ward 1,
• Daniel Heitzenrater for Ellicott Town Council Ward 4,
• Susan Baldwin for Villenova Town Council,
• John Dudley Robinson for Villenova Town Council,
• Ron Hall for Chautauqua County Legislator District 1,
• Christopher Schaeffer for Chautauqua County Legislator District 3,
• Terry Niebel for Chautauqua County Legislator District 5,
• and Bill Ward for Chautauqua County Legislator District 18.

Previous the party had already nominated Gerrit Cain for Chautauqua County Legislator District 16 and Ryan Sanders for Sherman Village Trustee. Other potential candidates will be voted upon in August.

The local Libertarian party has a deadline of Sept. 1 to announce its candidates for the November election instead of having an April deadline like other established parties. That’s because the Libertarian is a “start-up party” and is given more time to select candidates after receiving at least 50,000 votes during last year’s gubernatorial election.

A reason for the turnout was due in part to several high-profile Republican Party primaries for local office, along with the primary for the state seat vacated by Cathy Young.

In Chautauqua County, the primary election that saw the best turnout was in the Town of Carroll, where 37 percent of all registered Republicans came out to vote in the primary for Town Supervisor. Russell Payne ended up being the winner in that race.

Three Republican primaries saw turnouts of 26 percent. They were the race for Jamestown City Council Ward 2, the race for Kiantone Town Supervisor, and the Race for Chautauqua County Legislature District 18. The respective winners for those races were Tony Dolce, Joshua Ostrander, and Bill Ward.

The Jamestown Mayoral Republican Primary saw a turnout of 21 percent. David Wilfong was the winner.

And the turnout for the 57th senate district republican primary saw a turnout of 19 percent across the district, as well as 19 percent in Chautauqua county. George Borrello won that race.

The county Board of Elections will count absentee/affidavit results next Tuesday and certify all primary elections.

The only race it appears that could be impacted by an absentee/affidavit vote is the Independence Party primary in the town of Carroll for town clerk. Currently Susan Rowley leads the Independence Party primary over incumbent Tenneil Stelmack by a 20 to 19 vote. However, one absentee ballot was received for the primary.

Both mean are running for the seat that was held by David Himelein of Findley Lake until his passing earlier this year. The district covers most of the town of Chautauqua – including the Mayville area – as well as the Towns of Mina and Sherman.

Ward is now the endorsed candidate for both the Republican and Democratic party, as well as the Independence and Working Families parties.

Syper will still appear on the ballot as a candidate for the Conservative party.

Meanwhile, incumbent Republican Kevin Muldowney of Legislature District 1 in Dunkirk won his party’s primary in the north county.

In the tightly contested Republican Primary for Town of Carrol Supervisor, challenger Russell Payne defeated incumbent Laura Smith 188 to 159.

In the Republican Primary for Town of Kiantone Supervisor, Joshua Ostrander defeated Kevin Myers.

Image from www.facebook.com/andrewcuomo

ALBANY – Governor Andrew Cuomo will remain in office for four more years.

That after voters across New York went to the polls on Tuesday to vote for the top office in New York State – along with several other statewide, regional and local offices.

With nearly all election precincts reporting by the end of Election Day, Cuomo had collected about 54 percent of the statewide vote, with Republican challenger Rob Astorino of Westchester County picking up 41 percent and Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins coming in a distant third with just over 5 percent.

Shortly after the close of the polls on Tuesday, the Associated Press declared Cuomo the winner. During his victory speech, the governor focused on his campaign’s rhetoric – playing up his accomplishments of the last four years, which include legislation involving property tax assistance, new jobs and on-time budgets. The governor also promised those in attendance that he was just getting started and that New Yorkers “ain’t seen nothing yet.”

The governor said during the next four years he will focus on raising the minimum wage, improving public education, fighting the local property tax burden, passing the Women’s Equality Act and passing the DREAM Act.

Schneiderman, DiNapoli Win Re-Election

In addition to Cuomo’s victory, the two other state-wide office holder also picked up re election wins for their respective offices. Both Democratic Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli will serve four more years in Albany following wins on Election night.

Schneiderman defeated Republican opponent John Cahill 58-39 percent, while DiNapoli bested his Republican opponent Robert Antonacci, 61-36 percent. It was the first re-election for both Democrats.

Reed Cruises to Third Congressional Term

Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) with his family following news that he won re-election on Election Night, 2014. (photo from www.Twitter.com/TomReedCongress)

Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) will remain in office for at least two more years. The two-term Republican from Corning easily defeated his lone challenger – Martha Robertson (D-Dryden) from Dryden New York – by a margin of nearly 63 to 37 percent. The unofficial Election Night total from CNN had Reed picking up more than 105,000 votes across the 23^rd Congressional District, while Robertson was able to pick up just over 63,000.

Reed fared especially well in the western section of his district, which includes Chautauqua County. He picked up an estimated 40,600 votes in Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany Counties compared to the 20,000 that Robertson Received. The only county Robertson won was her home of Tompkins County – where she received over 14,000 votes compared to just 5,700 for Reed.

GOP Retakes State Senate

While Republicans were unable to win any of the three statewide offices, the GOP did find some success in the state’s upper legislative chamber.

It appears that Republicans will once again have sole control of the state Senate with candidates picking up enough wins to attain the required 32-vote majority.

Statewide, there were enough GOP victories rolling in around 11 p.m. on Election Night for Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos to declare in a statement that “New Yorkers have chosen balance and bipartisanship over an entire state government made up of Democrats from New York City, and placed their trust in Republicans to lead the Senate.”

Democrats later conceded that they weren’t going to win the majority.

It remained unclear whether members of the Independent Democratic Conference, led by Bronx Sen. Jeff Klein, would once again join forces with the Republicans, as they have for the past two years, or ally with their minority-conference Democratic colleagues.

Locally, Senator Cathy Young (R-Olean) picked up her fifth term in office after running unopposed.

In the State Assembly, the Demcrats picked up a seat and increase their majority with 99 of the 150 seats.

Goodell, Gerace and Piazza win County-Wide Races

Assemblyman Andy Goodell (R-Chautauqua) and Chautauqua County Sheriff Joseph Gerace (D-Jamestown) both won re-election, while Jeffrey Piazza was a four-way race to be the county’s new Family Court Judge.

In the Local elections here in Chautauqua County, it was a big night for the two candidates who hold county wide offices.

Assemblyman Andy Goodell, who’s 150^th district covers all of and only Chautauqua County, cruised to a third term in office after easily defeating democratic challenger Barrie Yochim. With all districts in the county reporting, Goodell picked up 75 percent of the vote.

Meanwhile, Chautauqua County Sheriff Joseph Gerace cruised to a sixth term in office, defeating Republican Challenger Russell Payne from Frewsburg by a margin of 63 to 37 percent.

In the race for the newly created second Chautauqua County Family Court Judge position, republican Jeffrey A. Piazza of Jamestown easily defeated his three opponents. Piazza picked up 59 percent of the votes throughout the county. In addition to running as a Republican, Piazza also ran on Conservative and Independence party lines.

Democrat Sally Jaroszynski, picked up 28.5 percent of the vote, Fredonia Republican Michael J. Sullivan, who ran on the Green Party line, picked up 6.6 percent of the vote while Working Families candidate James J. Spann, received 5.81 percent of the vote.

Rankin Defeats Kresge in District 12 Special Election

The Chautauqua County Legislature will have a new member serving on the panel. Republican Elisabeth Rankin won the special election for the District 12 seat which cover the north side of Jamestown, picking up nearly 52 percent of the votes. Rankin was challenging Democrat Beth Kresge – who was appointed to the seat earlier this year after it was vacated by Fred Larson, who had to step down after being appointed as the new Jamestown city court judge.

Rankin picked up an unofficial election night total of 746 votes, compared to Kresge’s 691.

All Three State Propositions Pass

State voters were supporting all three ballot propositions, according to unofficial returns on Tuesday night.

Voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 1 – the amendment that would retool the state’s redistricting practice, the once-a-decade redrawing of the state’s political districts.

And Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed Smart Schools Bond Act, Proposal 3, which would generate $2 billion to improve classroom technology and other elements of educational infrastructure, also saw approval, as did Proposal 2, the constitutional amendment that would eliminate the need for legislative bills to be printed and supplied to every lawmaker before being considered.

The Chautauqua County League of Women Voters is sponsoring its Meet the Candidates Forum Tuesday at the Robert H. Jackson Center. It’s one of two forums the organization is hosting for the community. A second forum is set for this Thursday night in the north county in the Fredonia Village Hall. Both forums begin at 7 p.m. and are free and open to the public.

According to organizers, several candidates will be on hand for Tuesday’s forum. They include:

• Candidates for State Assembly: Republican incumbent Andy Goodell and Democratic challenger Barrie Yochim;
• Candidates for Chautauqua County Sheriff: Democratic incumbent Joseph Gerace and Republican challenger Russell Payne;
• Candidates for the county legislature’s 12th district special election: Democratic incumbent Beth Kresge (appointed earlier this year) and Republican challenger Elisabeth Rankin;
• And the four candidates for Chautauqua County Family Court Judge: Sally A. Jaroszynski; Jeffrey A. Piazza; James J. Spann, Jr. and Michael J. Sullivan.

The two candidates for Congress – Republican incumbent Tom Reed and Democratic challenger Martha Robertson – will not be in attendance.

WRFA will be on hand to cover Tuesday’s forum and will broadcast the portions of forum during this week’s Community Matter’s program on Thursday at 6 p.m. Audio from the forum will also be available at our website www.WRFALP.com.

IN addition, WRFA will be hosting one-on-one interviews with both Congressman Tom Reed and challenger Martha Robertson – which will air next week during our Oct. 30 Community Matters Program.

Joseph A. Gerace

WEST ELLICOTT – Chautauqua County Sheriff Joseph A. Gerace has officially announced his intention to run for a sixth term in November.

In a media release, Gerace pointed out several accomplishments during his time in office, including the establishment of the county wanted person’s program, the inmante weekender work program, the welfare fraud investigation program, the we-tip anonomous hotline for reporting and providing information on crimes, the Smart 911 program  and the anti-drunk driving education program.

Sheriff Gerace, a thirty six year Sheriff’s Office veteran, holds a Masters degree in administration from Alfred University, a Bachelors degree in Police Science from Mercyhurst College, and an Associates degree in Criminal Justice from Jamestown Community College.  He was first elected Chautauqua County Sheriff in 1995. Gerace lives in West Ellicott with his wife Gina and their children.

Gerace has already been endorsed by the Democratic, Conservative and Independence parties He will face Republican challenger Russell Payne of Frewsbug in the November election.