WINDS OF CHANGE
Democrats win village trustee seats to join Republican mayor-elect
Fifty years of Republican-dominated village governance ended Tuesday night with the declaration that two women, Christine Fitzpatrick, and Liz Kormos, defeated Republican candidates, Peter Martin and Rory O’Connor, creating an all-Democratic Village Board that will have to work cooperatively with Republican Mayorelect Larry Woolbright.
Fitzpatrick and Kormos made history in the small village that has been reeling in recent months after the New York State Comptroller released a scathing audit of the village’s finances last October, placing accountability for the Village’s financial woes squarely on retiring Mayor John Romano, trustees Robert Cavanaugh and Stuart Hodsoll, and the previous treasurer and budget officer Christopher Hickey, all Republicans, for mishandling village finances.
Fitzpatrick and Kormos, both registered Democrats, ran on the A Better Bspa party line receiving 512 and 500 votes, respectively. Republican trustee candidate Peter Martin received 434 votes; Rory O’Connor brought in 398.
Woolbright, who ran uncontested, received 651 votes. He was the first to leave Village Hall prior to the final count announcement, saying he would wait for the results at home, remarking he had been putting in hours of job shadowing with Romano to be prepared to hit the ground running when he takes over at noon on April 1.
When asked if he felt he could work with a Democratic Village Board, Woolbright said, “Five of us were on the Budget Advisory
Committee. Finances are our first order of business. I can work with anyone. I want to thank Mayor Romano for 28 years as a wonderful public servant.
“We owe him a huge thank you.”
Fitzpatrick and Kormos issued the following acceptance statements:
“Thank you very much to the voters of the Village of Ballston Spa for their confidence in us. We look forward to getting to work for the residents. Getting our finances in order is job one,” Fitzpatrick said.
“Christine and I want to thank all the people who helped our campaign for Village Trustees,” Kormos said. “This election marks a turning point for the Village. No longer will people be excluded from participating in Village government because they are the wrong party or haven’t been here long enough.
“Along with [trustees] Noah Shaw and Shawn Raymond, we will let the sunshine into Village Hall, setting and prioritizing your goals, measuring our progress and sharing the results openly with you.
“Together we will steer Ballston Spa toward the goals of financial health, repair of our infrastructure and redevelopment of existing properties. We will address public safety and make Ballston Spa a place welcoming for people of all ages.
“The future is bright for a better Ballston Spa.”
Earlier in the day, voters at the Eagle Matt Lee and Union firehouses that serve as polling places offered their responses when asked what motivated them to get to the polls to register their vote in the election that became a social media blame game:
Langdon Jenkins: “The amount of negative tweets and social media were surprising to me, especially from people who say they have the Village in mind. I wondered why they were running - was it for the people or themselves?
“We’ve had enough bad politics on the national level. “This is supposed to be the Village of Friends.” It made me do my own research and not go by the flyers they put out.”
Daniel DeFabio: “We currently have a number of problems that we haven’t been able to address. We have overhead power lines in need of repair to avoid frequent power outages and a sewer system that needs to be updated. We’ve had short term solutions on many things.
“We’ve got to be smart as we move forward. We’re still a village with things like ice skating rinks and parades. The election this year had me asking “Really? In Ballston Spa?’”
Dolores Rutkowski: “I’m just glad there was a good turn out. It bodes well for the Village moving forward.”
Chris Jordan: I’ve lived here 20 years. I want to see some improvement in how they handle their finances.”
Nancy and Danny Becker:
“It was very contentious,” Nancy Becker said. “I’m old school. We bought the newspaper and did our research. In general, I thought the coverage was fair and unbiased.”
“I thought there was a lot of mudslinging. I hope the Village’s finances get worked out,” Danny Becker added.