A THIRD TIME - With the absentees finally tabulated in the Town of Owasco, if there is one thing that is clear, it is that there is no consensus among voters. For the second time in as many years, Owasco Town Supervisor John Klink has won his seat (after losing his first run for the town's top spot in 2005 against Republican Merrill Badman) in absentee ballots. This time around, like two years ago, Democrats and Republicans each won one town council seat. It may be that either Owasco voters are divided politically or that neither party has a clear message that a majority of voters buy. The end result, the GOP may launch another challenge to Klink in 2011.

TOGETHER AGAIN - Five years ago, people at Auburn City Hall included Mayor Timothy C. Lattimore, Planning and Economic Development Director Stephen Lynch and Economic Development Program Manager Cindy Aikman. Within three years all of them were gone. With this month's elections, all three will have now moved from 24 South St. to 160 Genesee St. Lynch, is now the county's director of planning. While Aikman, a Democrat, once reported to him, she is now a Legislator and he reports to the legislative committee that she sits on. With Lattimore's election to the Legislature and his interest in economic development, some are wondering if he will ask to be appointed to the planning committee, if not chair it (the current chair, Republican Linda Murphy, did not win re-election). The dynamic may be all the more interesting, since the former mayor and the two former city staffers were not always on the same page when it came to economic development.

ONE IS BETTER - If anything is clear about Auburn City Councilor Matthew Smith's re-election, it proved the common perception of the city's GOP - that it is far easier for the GOP to win when they only have one candidate on the ballot than two candidates running for two seats on the council. In the last nine election cycles, only two Republicans have won, William Jacobs and Smith, when only their names were on the ballot. In all the other cases since 1993, when two Republicans (2007 being an exception, when the GOP didn't field any candidate) are on the ballot, both GOP candidates lost.

THE OTHER HALF - While City Council candidate Jack Hardy may have been the Democratic candidate for the council, more than one observer has remarked that one of his strongest assets on the campaign trail was his wife, Denise. It will be interesting to see if anyone asks her to either run for office or, just as importantly, serve in government on some board.

 

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com