McGintee Easthampton
11-20-2007, 09:30 AM
Victory for McGintee
A 109-vote margin after error is rectified
By Carissa Katz
Carissa Katz
Supervisor Bill McGintee read election results to a crowd of anxious supporters on election night. A slim margin meant he could not truly celebrate his victory until Tuesday.
(11/15/2007) Democratic Hampton Town Supervisor Bill McGintee’s win over his Republican challenger, Bill Wilkinson, is not official yet, but by Tuesday both parties agreed that Mr. McGintee had taken the race by 109 votes, with just a few paper ballots left to be counted.
In the end, it appears Mr. McGintee won in 13 of the town’s 19 election districts. Coupled with victories by his running mates Julia Prince and Pete Hammerle in the race for town board and by Scott King in the one for highway superintendent, it was another good year for the Democrats.
“I look at it as a Democratic sweep, no matter how you slice it,” Mr. McGintee said yesterday. Having boxed with his brothers as a kid, Mr. McGintee said he thinks of the result as bng like that of a boxing match: “Whether it’s a K.O., a T.K.O., or a decision, it’s still a victory.”
Unofficial results posted by the Suffolk County Board of Elections on Nov. 7 showed Mr. McGintee with a lead of only 8 votes. A recount that began on Monday and was completed by Tuesday evening revealed that a transcription error in recording votes from Election District 5 had given Mr. Wilkinson 80 votes more than he actually recved.
In that district, which is in Hampton Village, Mr. Wilkinson got 3 votes, not 83, on the Working Families Party line, and a total of 129 votes, rather than the 209 that were reported. Based on the unofficial numbers, that made Mr. McGintee the winner by 9 votes in District 5, a small but significant number in a race that was won with a margin of less than 2 percent.
Absentee and paper ballots counted by Tuesday afternoon gave Mr. McGintee a lead of an additional 20 or so votes, according to Bill Gardiner, the chairman of the Hampton Town Republican Committee and a candidate for town councilman. His running mate for town board was Brian Gilbride of Sag Harbor.
While Mr. Wilkinson did not win the race, his excellent showing as a first-time candidate was a success of a sort. “For an incumbent to be going downhill is saying something,” Mr. Gardiner said. “That’s a sign that some of the things that have been argued against him are starting to stick.”
“In terms of support, Mr. Wilkinson obviously had a tie with Mr. McGintee,” Mr. Gardiner said. “Myself and the committee would welcome Mr. Wilkinson giving it another try. He was a delight to have on the ticket, a highly qualified candidate, a likable guy whose credibility spoke for itself.”
Now that he is better known in the town, he could make an even more formidable candidate in 2009, Mr. Gardiner said, adding, “I wouldn’t look for that answer from him for some time.” Mr. Wilkinson had not returned calls as of press time.
With this election, Republicans have suffered thr third major defeat in four years, leaving the Democrats with sole control of the town board until the end of 2009.
“We got hit very heavily in the town council race, which we didn’t expect,” Mr. Gardiner said, but Mr. Wilkinson’s showing was encouraging. “I think we did better this election. We did get six trustees, which is very good.”
The incumbent Republican town justice, Lisa R. Rana, was also re-elected. “We did a pretty decent job of getting our message out.” He believes that questions about one-party government, about the Buckskill ice rink, and about the management of the town-owned roller rink in Amagansett hit home with some voters.
Mr. McGintee accused the Republicans of running “a misinformation campaign” and “a campaign of fear.”
In terms of what the losses mean, “we haven’t really had any time to do any analyzing,” the Republican leader said. “It probably won’t be until after the holidays that we get into what happened and why.” No matter the candidates, Republicans have an uphill battle in Hampton, where there are more registered Democrats than Republicans.
Yet Mr. McGintee said yesterday that a low turnout on the part of Democrats seemed to have contributed to the narrowness of his victory. He said there was a 500-vote drop on the Democratic side from the 2005 elections.
“It was a combination of bad weather, more support for [Mr. Wilkinson] from Montauk, and the fact that he had those two minor parties,” the Independence and Working Families Parties, Mr. McGintee said.
Mr. Wilkinson took three of Montauk’s four election districts, one in Amagansett, and one in Springs. Ironically, the Springs district was Mr. McGintee’s home district, and the one Montauk district the incumbent won happened to be Mr. Wilkinson’s home district.
“Anyone who didn’t vote for me, they can come talk to me. My door is always open,” Mr. McGintee said. “I made decisions that I thought were right for the long term of this community and sometimes those decisions are unpopular.”
Asked if he would run again in 2009, Mr. McGintee said, “I’m just savoring this victory and looking forward to the next two years.”
A 109-vote margin after error is rectified
By Carissa Katz
Carissa Katz
Supervisor Bill McGintee read election results to a crowd of anxious supporters on election night. A slim margin meant he could not truly celebrate his victory until Tuesday.
(11/15/2007) Democratic Hampton Town Supervisor Bill McGintee’s win over his Republican challenger, Bill Wilkinson, is not official yet, but by Tuesday both parties agreed that Mr. McGintee had taken the race by 109 votes, with just a few paper ballots left to be counted.
In the end, it appears Mr. McGintee won in 13 of the town’s 19 election districts. Coupled with victories by his running mates Julia Prince and Pete Hammerle in the race for town board and by Scott King in the one for highway superintendent, it was another good year for the Democrats.
“I look at it as a Democratic sweep, no matter how you slice it,” Mr. McGintee said yesterday. Having boxed with his brothers as a kid, Mr. McGintee said he thinks of the result as bng like that of a boxing match: “Whether it’s a K.O., a T.K.O., or a decision, it’s still a victory.”
Unofficial results posted by the Suffolk County Board of Elections on Nov. 7 showed Mr. McGintee with a lead of only 8 votes. A recount that began on Monday and was completed by Tuesday evening revealed that a transcription error in recording votes from Election District 5 had given Mr. Wilkinson 80 votes more than he actually recved.
In that district, which is in Hampton Village, Mr. Wilkinson got 3 votes, not 83, on the Working Families Party line, and a total of 129 votes, rather than the 209 that were reported. Based on the unofficial numbers, that made Mr. McGintee the winner by 9 votes in District 5, a small but significant number in a race that was won with a margin of less than 2 percent.
Absentee and paper ballots counted by Tuesday afternoon gave Mr. McGintee a lead of an additional 20 or so votes, according to Bill Gardiner, the chairman of the Hampton Town Republican Committee and a candidate for town councilman. His running mate for town board was Brian Gilbride of Sag Harbor.
While Mr. Wilkinson did not win the race, his excellent showing as a first-time candidate was a success of a sort. “For an incumbent to be going downhill is saying something,” Mr. Gardiner said. “That’s a sign that some of the things that have been argued against him are starting to stick.”
“In terms of support, Mr. Wilkinson obviously had a tie with Mr. McGintee,” Mr. Gardiner said. “Myself and the committee would welcome Mr. Wilkinson giving it another try. He was a delight to have on the ticket, a highly qualified candidate, a likable guy whose credibility spoke for itself.”
Now that he is better known in the town, he could make an even more formidable candidate in 2009, Mr. Gardiner said, adding, “I wouldn’t look for that answer from him for some time.” Mr. Wilkinson had not returned calls as of press time.
With this election, Republicans have suffered thr third major defeat in four years, leaving the Democrats with sole control of the town board until the end of 2009.
“We got hit very heavily in the town council race, which we didn’t expect,” Mr. Gardiner said, but Mr. Wilkinson’s showing was encouraging. “I think we did better this election. We did get six trustees, which is very good.”
The incumbent Republican town justice, Lisa R. Rana, was also re-elected. “We did a pretty decent job of getting our message out.” He believes that questions about one-party government, about the Buckskill ice rink, and about the management of the town-owned roller rink in Amagansett hit home with some voters.
Mr. McGintee accused the Republicans of running “a misinformation campaign” and “a campaign of fear.”
In terms of what the losses mean, “we haven’t really had any time to do any analyzing,” the Republican leader said. “It probably won’t be until after the holidays that we get into what happened and why.” No matter the candidates, Republicans have an uphill battle in Hampton, where there are more registered Democrats than Republicans.
Yet Mr. McGintee said yesterday that a low turnout on the part of Democrats seemed to have contributed to the narrowness of his victory. He said there was a 500-vote drop on the Democratic side from the 2005 elections.
“It was a combination of bad weather, more support for [Mr. Wilkinson] from Montauk, and the fact that he had those two minor parties,” the Independence and Working Families Parties, Mr. McGintee said.
Mr. Wilkinson took three of Montauk’s four election districts, one in Amagansett, and one in Springs. Ironically, the Springs district was Mr. McGintee’s home district, and the one Montauk district the incumbent won happened to be Mr. Wilkinson’s home district.
“Anyone who didn’t vote for me, they can come talk to me. My door is always open,” Mr. McGintee said. “I made decisions that I thought were right for the long term of this community and sometimes those decisions are unpopular.”
Asked if he would run again in 2009, Mr. McGintee said, “I’m just savoring this victory and looking forward to the next two years.”