By Bob Daraio
Broadcast Union News
The local election results in Ossining, New York represent a vote of confidence in a slate of elected officials that have worked diligently on behalf of the people of Ossining, keeping tax increases down without reducing services, consolidating departments to reduce overhead, and implementing a comprehensive plan for safe, efficient, responsible, growth and prosperity.
Village of Ossining Mayor Bill Hanauer, former business agent of IATSE Local 764, garnered 62% of the vote, soundly defeating Republican Fred Steneck.
Ossining Village Trustees Janis Castaldi and Marlene Cheatham beat their Republican challengers Steve Dewey and Mike Aurora by a margin of almost 2 to 1.
Ossining Town Councilman Northern Wilcher took 57% of the votes to successfully overcome Republican candidate Mike Costello.
Ossining Democrat Michelle Schauer won a seat on the Family Court bench, along with Nilda Morales Horowitz, David Klein, and Hall Greenwald, giving the Democratic party a clean sweep.
Congratulations to the candidates and all the Ossining Democrats that worked so hard on this campaign!!
At the State level, incumbent NYS Assemblywoman, Democrat Sandy Galef held on to her seat for another term, taking 62% of the vote to Republican Jim Russell's 38%.
We are still waiting for the outcome of the hotly contested race between incumbent NYS Senator Suzi Oppenheimer and Republican Bob Cohen. Suzi currently leads by 180 votes in the politically strategic 37th district, which includes Rye, Mamaroneck, sections of New Rochelle, Harrison, White Plains, Scarsdale, North Castle, New Castle, and Ossining.
Democrat Andrew Cuomo soundly defeated Republican Carl Paladino in the race for Governor. Interestingly, Jimmy McMillan from The Rent Is Too Damn High Party edged out both the Libertarian, Warren Redlich and Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins for third place, although none of these three candidates received better than 1% of the votes cast.
On the National scene, riding a wave of anger at the faltering economy, Republicans took control of the House of Representatives. Republican candidates, many with Tea Party support, took advantage of voters' discontent to win 60 seats in the House of Representatives from the Democrats. The Republicans now hold 185 seats in the House to the Democrat's 239.
The Democrats continue hold on to the U.S. Senate, although with a smaller majority, after losing 5 seats to GOP challengers. The Democrats now control 51 seats to the Republican's 46 in the Senate.
New York Democrats Charles E. Schumer and Kirstin Gillibrand kept their U.S. Senate seats, beating Republican challengers Jay Townsend and Joseph J. DioGuardi by wide margins in both races.
Republicans also wrested control of about a dozen State Legislatures from the Democrats Tuesday night, picking up key redistricting powers along the way in Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania.
Voters in this election were angry about the economic collapse. They were angry about the price they've paid with job losses, home forclosures, and tax increases. They were angry that Washington insiders did too much to help Wall Street and the banks, and not enough to help working folks. They were angry about a bailout that went to big banks and executive bonuses, rather than to create jobs and ease the pain of average Americans.
The results of this election show that people are tired of the same old talk about change without actual change occuring. Still, as AFL-CIO President Richard Trumpka pointed out today "Voters in swing congressional districts overwhelmingly reject privatizing Social Security and raising the Social Security retirement age, they oppose tax cuts for the top 2 percent who make more than $250,000 a year, they reject abolishing the Department of Education and they oppose reducing or eliminating the minimum wage."
When President Obama took office, he inherited a collapsing economy and two unpopular wars. He took immediate action to bring troops home, overhaul our failing healthcare system, stem the slide into economic disaster, and begin the recovery.
The difficult job of getting America back to work will require the best efforts of elected officials from both parties at all levels of government. It’s up to us hold both the new members of Congress, and the incumbents they will be joining, accountable to keep their promises, end the war, fix our economy, and put America back to work, or they will pay the price for inaction next election. Somebody smarter than myself once said; "Politicians are like diapers. They need to be changed often and for the same reason."
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