An
election recount has confirmed that Gary Bischoff edged out
veteran county legislator Alice Tipp in the November 8 election
for the fourth and final seat of the county legislative district
consisting of all but one voting district in Saugerties, the
town of Kingston and three voting districts in the town of
Ulster.
The votes for both candidates were extremely competitive in
all three jurisdictions.
|
photo:
Beth Blis |
Other
winners included Joe Roberti (3,556 votes in the unofficial count),
Bob Aiello (3,433) and newcomer Dean Fabiano (3,366). Fabiano
led all candidates on the Conservative line with 469 votes.
Bischoff had led Tipp by 16 votes on the election night count,
3,255 to 3,239. Absentee ballots increased his tally to 3,346
and Tipp's to 3,310, upping the distance between the two candidates
to 36 votes. Two years ago, Bischoff, a former legislator and
town board member, lost by an equally narrow margin to Aiello.
"It's very good to be going back to the legislature,"
said Bischoff. "This election meant a lot to me. It's a great
feeling to be part of a historic, Democratic majority. By historic,
I mean it's the first in 30 years. In 1977-78 there was a one-vote
majority."
It was a very close race. In the final count, Tipp had 2,869 votes
on the Republican line and 441 on the Conservative line. Bischoff
got his 3,346 total through 2,848 Democratic votes, 277 on the
Independence line and 221 on the Working Families line.
Although the race was a nail-biter, both candidates remained gracious
throughout. "I want to thank Alice Tipp for all of her years
of service to Ulster County and this community and I sincerely
hope she stays active and involved in the community," said
Bischoff.
As he heads to the legislature, Bischoff will focus on several
issues. In no particular order, those issue include: HAVA, "we
must have a paper trail for votes"; the Ulster County Law
Enforcement Center, which he said must be finished; and the budget.
"When you compare Ulster County with other counties, we are
not doing well," said Bischoff. "I would like to work
on some budget reform, and that would include a zero-based budget.
What I mean by that is that every section of the budget should
be justified. We need an earlier budget and there has to be a
plan to reduce spending."
Bischoff is also eager to get to work on economic development
and preserving open space. "Ulster County and Saugerties
are experiencing tremendous growth, and we're losing working farms,
wetlands and even some historic sites," he said. "That
will eventually change our quality of life. And poorly planned
growth speeds up these negative changes and brings other problems."
As elsewhere in Ulster County, the Democrats did better in the
legislative races than their political registrations would have
suggested. As of October 18, there were 4525 Republicans and 3583
Democrats in the legislature's District Four. Most observers have
attributed the Democratic strength to two issues, the status of
the county jail and the expected large increase in county property
taxes in 2006.
|
AREA NEWSPAPER
CONTACT INFORMATION
Saugerties
Times
deadline Tues 11 AM phone 334-8200
c/o Ulster Publishing, 322 Wall Street, Kingston, NY 12402
email your letter
(SUBJECT : Letters to the editor)
saugertiestimes@ulsterpublishing.com
FAX your letterto 334-8202
Saugerties
Post Star
Saugerties,
NY 12477
246-4985
Daily
Freeman
79 Hurley
Avenue Kingston, NY 12401
Phone 331-5000
email
your letter
(SUBJECT : Letters to the editor) publisher@freemanonline.com
FAX
your letter 338-0672
Woodstock
Times
deadline Tues 11 AM phone 334-8200
c/o Ulster Publishing, 322 Wall Street, Kingston, NY 12402
email your letter
(SUBJECT : Letters to the editor)
woodstocktimes@ulsterpublishing.com
FAX your letterto 334-8202
Poughkeepsie
Journal
PO
Box 1231
Poughkeepsie, NY 12602
(845) 454-2000
For an on line
letter to the editor. Fill out this
form
***NOTE:
Our websites make an effort to
glean info for our readers from local papers. This is no way a
substitute for subscribing or picking up a local paper. We gratefully
acknowledge the efforts local newspapers and publications make
to our community
|
