Lewiston voters make a statement

Newlin, Johnson, Ceretto team look forward
to a more cooperative town government

by Terry Duffy
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, November 8, 2003

Call it a statement by the voters.

After being on the receiving end of months if not years of controversies from the current board majority at Town Hall, Lewiston residents spoke out once again where it counts -- in the voting booth -- and opted to change the makeup of the town of Lewiston's empowerment majority from the Republican to the Democratic Party.

This happening, despite voters countywide opting to maintain a Republican majority in other bodies in the county, such as in the Niagara County Legislature where the GOP won 13 districts.

According to the unofficial tabulations released by the Niagara County Board of Elections, news comes of the following interesting races.

Newlin Scores Big

Starting at the top, it was Democrat Fred Newlin, a relative newcomer to the Lewiston political scene -- save for his earlier involvement on the town's Planning Board -- who took the Lewiston Supervisor's seat in a somewhat surprising vote count.

Newlin won the office in what many consider convincing fashion --considering his newness to the Lewiston political scene, garnering 2,065 votes to 1,589 cast for Republican Paulette Glasgow, who had earlier served on the Lewiston Town Board, and a mere 391 votes for longtime Lewiston political figure, and now the outgoing incumbent Supervisor, GOP Sandy Maslen.

It signaled a strong desire for change by Lewiston voters.

Coming off the overwhelmingly unfavorable reactions expressed by many of last year's town tax, Lewiston residents had become increasingly antagonized with the movement of the current administration and the general uncooperation at town hall. Issues such as library cutbacks, the town's handling of the golf course project, its involvement with private developers, the highway department budget/employee layoff fiasco, board bickering and other problems only contributed to the growing resentment and desire for change expressed by Lewiston residents. It showed on Tuesday.

Newlin credited his win to waging a clean campaign, focusing on the many issues of concern facing Lewiston residents and making himself a familiar face in the community.

Winning a Race

" Working the streets and meeting voters door to door, that's the way to win a race," commented Newlin to his supporters on Tuesday night.

Calling his win a team effort, Newlin continued, "I want to thank everybody for being so helpful, it was a team effort; I couldn't have done it without you."

Focusing on his goals for a better Lewiston and a more cooperative town government, Newlin continued, "I think more than anything our victories tonight showed that good government and good campaigning go hand in hand and the people of Lewiston expect that.

" I have a big job in front of me ... I don't have any doubts about that, but with the help of you I know that I'll do a great job. I just can't thank you enough ... thanks for all your support," concluded Newlin in his remarks to the rounds of applause by many residents gathered at Tin Pan Alley in the village of Lewiston Tuesday to hear the results.

Impressive Numbers for Johnson, Ceretto

That statement by voters also pointed to a wish for continuing what does work at Town Hall, as veteran Democratic Town Board members Mike Johnson and John Ceretto were both returned to office by impressive numbers.

Johnson was the top vote getter among the four candidates vying for the two open board seats, with 2,354 votes cast. Ceretto was close behind with 2,308 votes. Republican newcomer Ronald W. Reed came in third with 1,675 votes, while Conservative Edward M. Lilly, a familiar name to Lewiston residents as a member of the Lewiston Porter School Board, finished fourth with 1,488 votes cast.

Commenting on his win, an exuberant Johnson said, "...I can finally stand up ... they've been telling me this for the past eight years, and now I'm standing up," he said to rounds of applause.

Praising his campaign workers, Johnson continued, "...I want to thank everybody in this room. We couldn't have done it without your efforts ... your help, and what a team we got."
Briefly alluding to some of the "mudslinging" of opponents seen over the past few weeks, Johnson said, "...Unfortunately with all the negative campaigning that went on with my opponent, I am sorry about this whole thing. But I can say this ... we are going to make things better for Lewiston for the next four years.

" Two years from now, we're going to need your help again, so we can put some people in there who want to move forward instead of backward,' Johnson said. "Thanks again."

Ceretto Takes High Road

In his remarks, Ceretto expanded on the negativity issue saying, "In this campaign there was a lot of mudslinging against us," adding that "our team as a whole, my committee, we took the high road.

" We're very forward, trusting and did not get into mudslinging," Ceretto continued. "We ran our campaign as the way we will run this government ... the same way, with good, honest, trustworthy people in this government, bringing Lewiston forward. The last three years, it came to a stall.

" The first six years that Michael and I were on this board, we were moving in a positive way," Ceretto said. "I think the voters have shown confidence in us, the Democratic Party, once again ... bringing us back."

" ...The message is that they want us to stop the fighting and move forward again, and we will do that. We will do that, I promise you," Ceretto concluded to loud applause.
The balance of the town of Lewiston races were uncontested, and saw the incumbents returned to office by resounding numbers. These included the following:

• Lewiston Town Clerk: Carol Brandon (Democratic, Independence and Working Families lines), 2,351 votes.

Reiter Remains Popular

• Lewiston Town Highway Superintendent: Steve Reiter (Republican, Democratic, Independence and Conservative lines), 3,609 votes.

Reiter, who again expressed his gratitude to Lewiston voters for their tremendous support, ran unopposed as a result of his dominating victory in the primary elections over challenger Joe Passanese. He pledged to continue the exemplary service of his highway department for Lewiston residents and looks forward to working with the Newlin, Johnson, Ceretto team at town hall in a more cooperative environment.

• Lewiston Town Justice: Hugh C. Gee Jr. (Republican, Democratic, Independent, Conservative and Working Families lines), 3,842 votes. Thomas J. Sheeran (Republican, Democratic, Independence, Conservative and Working Families lines), 3,616 votes.

Both justices, who point to their cooperative working relationship in the Lewiston courts despite an intensifying caseload, pledged to continue more of the same for Lewiston and Niagara County area residents.

County Races

Moving on to other races of interest, on the county level:

• Incumbent Lee Simonson (Republican, Independence and Conservative lines) won re-election to the 12th District seat over Elaine J. Pienta (Democratic, Working Families lines) by a vote of 1,458 to 1,302.
• Incumbent Clyde Burmaster (Republican, Independence and Conservatives lines) defeated Democrat Richard Hastings for the 13th District seat by a count of 1,720 to 969.
• Newcomer Steven A. D'Anna (Republican, Democratic and Independence lines) won election to the 1st District seat over incumbent Daniel A. Mocniak (Conservative, Working Families lines) by a count of 1,557 to 340.

Porter Races

For the town of Porter:

• Jeffery P. Baker and Lawrence H. White (both running on the Republican, Independence and Conservative lines) won election to the two open seats on the Porter Town Board by counts of 1,119 and 1,034 votes respectively. Democrat David Brooks finished third with 615 votes cast.
• Porter Town Clerk John H. MacArthur (Republican, Independence lines), who ran uncontested, won by a vote of 1,211.
• Porter Highway Superintendent Scott B. Hillman (Republican, Independence and Conservative lines), who also ran uncontested, won with 1,346 votes cast.

Other Tallies

Wrapping up, Niagara County voters returned Wayne F. Jagow to the County Clerk's office with 30,604 votes cast. District attorney Matthew J. Murphy won reelection with 26,349 votes cast. Both ran uncontested.

For Niagara County Coroner, District 4, Russell Jackman II was the top vote getter with 4,578 votes cast. Robert W. Dubois took 4,102 votes, while Steven A. Gerhardt had 1,690.

Niagara County voters cast 33,492 votes for Sharon S. Townsend and 17.854 for Erin M. Peradotto for the two state Supreme Court Justice seats for the Buffalo-based judicial district covering eight Western New York counties.