As expected it looks like Town of Richmondville voters decided to take out their anger on incumbent Supervisor Betsy Bernocco for her role in the recent wind turbine controversy. Unfortunately for Richmondville voters, the guy they just elected, John Barlow, has the exact same stance on the wind turbine issue as Bernocco. But people were frustrated and someone had to pay, I guess. To me, it looks like the voters traded an incumbent with an accomplished record and history of service for someone who barely campaigned for the job, and who didn’t even pledge to stop wind turbines from being developed. Way to go, Richmondville!
In the Village of Cobleskill, incumbent Rebecca Burgos-Thillet was trounced by former Mayor Bill Gilmore in a race for Village trustee. Naturally, this doesn’t bode well for Mayor Sellers and Deputy Mayor MacKay, both of whom seem to be bearing the brunt of criticism over some recent problems that seem to be beyond their control. Gilmore’s win –a huge 80%- will likely lead to his running for re-election as Mayor in 2009. Unfortunately, for Sellers and MacKay, the Times Journal has decided that anything from now until 2009 that happens to go wrong in the Village of Cobleskill will be blamed on Mayor Sellers’ youth and inexperience.
In the Cobleskill Supervisor’s race Republican Roger Cohn defeated Democrat Bob Strother. This is a disappointment. Hopefully, Cohn will not continue the entrenched position of outgoing Supervisor Mike Montario who essentially refused to consider any sharing of services with the Village unless they agreed to extend water and sewer services to Lowe’s. For two years, Montario held the process hostage because he apparently believed that the Town of Cobleskill was entitled to Village services. Strother had a lot of great ideas for improving participation, town-village negotiations, and helping Downtown. But the election of Roger Cohn seems like voters are saying they want more of the same. Hopefully I’m wrong.
In the Village of Cobleskill, incumbent Rebecca Burgos-Thillet was trounced by former Mayor Bill Gilmore in a race for Village trustee. Naturally, this doesn’t bode well for Mayor Sellers and Deputy Mayor MacKay, both of whom seem to be bearing the brunt of criticism over some recent problems that seem to be beyond their control. Gilmore’s win –a huge 80%- will likely lead to his running for re-election as Mayor in 2009. Unfortunately, for Sellers and MacKay, the Times Journal has decided that anything from now until 2009 that happens to go wrong in the Village of Cobleskill will be blamed on Mayor Sellers’ youth and inexperience.
In the Cobleskill Supervisor’s race Republican Roger Cohn defeated Democrat Bob Strother. This is a disappointment. Hopefully, Cohn will not continue the entrenched position of outgoing Supervisor Mike Montario who essentially refused to consider any sharing of services with the Village unless they agreed to extend water and sewer services to Lowe’s. For two years, Montario held the process hostage because he apparently believed that the Town of Cobleskill was entitled to Village services. Strother had a lot of great ideas for improving participation, town-village negotiations, and helping Downtown. But the election of Roger Cohn seems like voters are saying they want more of the same. Hopefully I’m wrong.
