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Election Afterthoughts
The November election has now come and gone and I'm sure that all the participants are looking forward to a little bit more free time to enjoy other things. During the past few weeks whenever I'd encounter a candidate, I'd ask, "So, how do you feel?"
The consensus response was, "I'll just be glad when it's over." I admire all those who gave it a go, and even though some are listed on the "loser" side of the ledger, there really are no losers. Those who came up short gave us a great gift -- that of having a choice for a particular office.
And I'm sure some of the candidates who came up short this time will be back in the future. At least I hope so! On the day after the election here are some of my observations:
(1) By high noon today every single one of those 43 campaign signs on Johnson Avenue had been picked up! I didn't check the other nearby streets, but I'm sure I would have found similar results. In another week I'll be doing a city-wide tally.
(2) There were some close races in Clinton County. As I had predicted, the race for county treasurer was a barnburner! Joe Giroux beat Kimberly Kleist by just 397 votes, according to the "unofficial results." With over 16,000 votes cast, that's a narrow margin. So close of a finish that, according to my tv slogan, it means I'm getting "a bucket of wings on the way home!"
(3) Another close one was in Ward 3 of the city where incumbent George Rabideau nipped Stuart Voss. I've known both men a long time. This was one of those races where you wished that they both could have won.
(4) On election night, as is my custom, I listened to WIRY Hometown Radio for the local election results. Ducky Drake and his guest, Bob Heins, did a great job of keeping us entertained while they waited for results to trickle in. I imagined Bob Pooler out in the parking lot waiting for someone, anyone, to bring some vote totals, while Ducky and Bob reminisced about the old days of the Common Council. But results were slow in arriving and Ducky and Bob had to really stretch the list of conversation topics. At least they avoided the whole "Where is A-Rod going?" topic.
(5) One of my theories following this election was going to be that as the number of us old retired folk increases, we will vote for the older of the two candidates. You know, with the idea that older is better and those younguns have to pay their dues before they earn my vote. What do you think? Is there anything to my theory? After all, Giroux beat Kleist. Kelly beat Williams in Ward 2. Calnon beat Breyette and Kreig in Ward 4. Bassett beat Lee for the Town of Plattsburgh supervisor spot. Amy Duquette beat Alicia Jessmer Sirk for Town of Plattsburgh clerk. However, they are both young enough to be my daughters!
(6) Congratulations to young Adam Haberstro, who ran for the Ward 6 councilor spot. At age 25, he was probably the youngest in the county to run for office. WIRY reported that he had done a great job at the City Hall forum prior to the election. Hopefully, he'll be back for more in a few years.
(7) On election night I couldn't help but think of my days and nights over at Jack Stewart's house when he was running for alderman. A longtime politician and one of the North Country's greatest storytellers, Jack always kept a positive attitude. His wins far outnumbered his losses, and no one could ever question his love of city government. I wonder if Jack still keeps tabs on local politics.
One final thought: the mayoral position was unchallenged. Apparantly Mayor Donald M. Kasprzak has done such a great job that nobody dared run against him. Good decision. I think he would have won in a landslide, even if the challenger had been Joe Torre or Spider-Man or Foxy Gagnon. Now the good Mayor has three years, along with the new Common Council, to work his magic over our wallets. He knows that there a lot of us retired guys on fixed incomes, except for sales from eBay or tv show DVDs or occasional substitute teacher jobs or blog authoring, who need to count our tax pennies.
I knew this would be an interesting election! I can hardly wait for the next one!
Comments
Nothing like North Country politics. I remember, much like Rick, the legends and history of Father St. Pierre and that huge cigar hanging out of his mouth; Mr. Carter and his campaign against Mayor Ianelli, Clyde Rabideau and his long time reign as the "King" of Plattsburgh. And how can anyone forget the history forged when the city elected NY's first gay mayor!
After living in different parts of the State, one thing I have learned about North Country politics, the really neat thing, is that you do not have to be a lawyer, or wealthy, or even "connected" to be a part of the political lure. It encourages anyone with any roots in the community, with any passion for their respective community, to participate and ultimately do what is right for the community.
That's what true politics are about.
Posted by: Kern | November 8, 2007 3:40 PM
Foxy:
Your right there are no losers. As I previously ran for county legislator years ago and lost I can tell you, although the column shows a loss, the amount of knowledge you gain is nothing short of a milestone. The wonderful people you meet while you campaign and the information you gain is something you take forward in life with you. Congrats to all the winners and also the candidates that did not succeed. A word of wisdom, take it as a life lesson and move forward, because someday you'll look back and know it was worth the chance you took.
Jules
(Foxy's note: Very well-said! Thanks for the input.)
Posted by: Jules | November 8, 2007 10:06 AM
In regard to the close Ward 3 contest (20 votes), why did the Democrats "give away" the seat to a Republican by running a candidate who did not campaign. Most likely a large percenatage of the 92 votes he received would have gone to Mr. Voss.
Posted by: ArtV | November 8, 2007 7:43 AM
yes Foxy, I agree with you there really are no losers in the elections. I give all of those who ran a lot of credit.. it's a lot of work!.. I'm very happy for Mr Calnon...I think you'll see him do a hell of a job for us! might even make a good mayor some day!
And yes had some nice conversation with Mr Matthews... now there's a guy that oughta run for something, he's a very knowledegable
guy. He killed 2 birds with one stone, enjoyed the exceptionally large and entertaining Meron's crowd, while listening to and filling us all in to the WIRY broadcast at the same time. (maybe they oughta consider doing a live broadcast from there next year?) hell the main man from the press was on hand! didn't see channel 5 though, probably covering the Colchester highway supervisor race.
Kinda surprised, thought we'd see rubble??...
Looking forward to the Christmas bash on december 7th ...bloggers please check in so we get some sort of head count... we've got several awards to give out that night!
Hey and how bout those Hornet soccer teams!...off to Syracuse this weekend for the Hornet girls game, they're playing the # 1 team in the state! going to have to hold the steering wheel tight when passing Turning Stone, car tends to veer to the right into the parking lot every time I try to drive past it!
Posted by: The Carver | November 8, 2007 2:05 AM
Local election coverage just doesnt seem to be as interestng as it was just a few years ago. I also enjoyed listening to Ducky and Bob, but whatever happened to the old style of election night coverage.
I remember switching back and forth between WEAV and WIRY coverage. WEAV had Ben Everest in the studio, WIRY had Mike Mannix and or Gordie Little. Both stations had reporters at Republican and Democratic headquarters for live interviews. WIRY had a field of stringers at the polls calling in the latest results as the machines were opened. Now we have someone sitting in front of the computer clicking the refresh button of the CC Board of Elections results page, with no field reporters to get those first reactions from the winners and those who fell short.
Maybe its the advertising dollar or perhaps lack of advertising dollar. Did anyone else notice there was not one ad during last nights coverage. Maybe its just me, but I think local radio coverage was alot better back in the St Pierre, Ianelli and Rennell days.
Posted by: Rick K | November 7, 2007 6:57 PM
Foxy,
You should have come down to Merons to catch the election results. Many blogers were in attendance, The Donald, The Johnald, Carver, Vin Scully, myself, and I'm sure a few others.
We spoke of some things we could do to your ponytail on December 7. There was talk of you and Ed Champagne tying both of your respective pony tails together. What a sight that would be.
Craig Mathews
(Foxy's note: Craig, thanks for the warning! Last night I was so engrossed in the Ducky/Bob Heins coverage that I couldn't pull myself away from my transistor radio.)
Posted by: Craig Mathews | November 7, 2007 6:09 PM