Pinckney beats out pair to win county Legislature District 5

By Kelly Voll / The Citizen

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 12:51 AM EST

Paul Pinckney, the Conservative/Republican candidate for Cayuga County Legislature, came out ahead in Tuesday's general election in the race for District 5, which comprises Fleming and Aurelius.
Unofficial results Tuesday showed Pinckney beating Paul Schenck, the Independence candidate, and Philip Dello Stritto, a Democrat. The seat is currently held by Ray Lockwood, who is retiring.

Pinckney had 378 votes, 50.20 percent of total votes, when 60 percent of votes were reported. He was ahead of Schenck by 80 votes and ahead of Dello Stritto by 301 votes at that time.

“It looks very positive,” said Pinckney. “A three-man race is hard to win by a lot ... my diligent door-to-door campaign helped immensely.”

Pinckney came in just ahead of Schenck in the primary race for Republican endorsement. Pinckney is a current member of the Aurelius Town Board, and has served for 12 years. Pinckney said he believes the loss of sales tax revenue only makes matters worse, and that when sales tax disappears, property taxes must go up. He is an opponent of the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York's land-into-trust application for this reason. He is a self-employed paint contractor, a cash crop farmer and own a golf cart rental business, according to the story. He said he plans to vacation in Florida before taking his seat as legislator.

“I'm going to wrap up my duties at Aurelius, fulfill my duties to the town, take a week's vacation and then focus on getting into the Legislature,” Pinckney said. “I am very satisfied that people came out and (voted) for me.”

Schenck had 298 votes, 39.58 percent of total votes, in the unofficial results. He has served as an Aurelius Town Board member for six years and as supervisor for 10 years. He campaigned with a message of relieving taxpayers by imposing county tax cuts. He said he is concerned that small businesses are having to make cuts that force them to lay off workers. He said the county should pull its weight in terms of budget cuts. Schenck declined to comment on the election results.

Dello Stritto had 77 votes, 10.23 percent of total votes, in the unofficial results. He has no elected office experience, but said while campaigning that his service on various local committees, including the state Retired Teachers' Association and the United Teachers union, would help him in office. When 60 percent of unofficial votes were accounted for, Dello Stritto had not yet decided whether or not he had won.

“If I lose, there's nothing to worry about,” Dello Stritto, of Fleming, said. “If I win, I've got a lot of hard work to do ... Who do the voters trust? That's probably the person who got the most votes.”

Staff writer Kelly Voll can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or kelly.voll@lee.net

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