New York - Voters turned out in force to support pro-environment candidates on Election Day, with the overwhelming majority of NYLCV's 2007 Eco-Slate declared as victors.
The biggest successes of the day were in NYLCV's three major targeted races: Mayor Brian Stratton in Schenectady, Mayor Phil Amicone in Yonkers and Supervisor Brian Foley in Brookhaven. NYLCV mounted unprecedented campaigns for each - with nearly 100,000 pieces of mail, plus phone calls, e-mails and Web ads - to make the environment a top voting issue.
In total, 52 out of 60 of our endorsed candidates were elected, with another two races currently too close to call.
"The overwhelming success of our Eco-Slate demonstrates that the environment is a bipartisan issue that enjoys broad support," said Marcia Bystryn, executive director of the New York League of Conservation Voters. "We look forward to working with all of our town, city, village and county elected officials to make New York state a leader in sustainability."
In Suffolk County, NYLCV's Eco-Slate was nearly 100 percent victorious, led by County Executive Steve Levy. Both of our supervisor candidates won: Phil Cardinale in Riverhead and Jim Dougherty on Shelter Island. In the county Legislature, William McGintee's race is currently too close to call, but the rest of our slate had a clear margin of victory: Kate Browning, Lou D'Amaro, Jack Eddington, John Kennedy Jr., Lynne Nowick, Ed Romaine, Steven Stern and Vivian Viloria-Fisher. The Suffolk County quarter-penny sales tax extension was approved; the Brookhaven community preservation fund was not.
In Nassau County, our entire Eco-Slate won, including our supervisor candidates Jon Kaiman in North Hempstead, Kate Murray in Hempstead and John Venditto in Oyster Bay. Our endorsed (and successful) candidates for county Legislature were Francis Becker, Judi Bosworth, Denise Ford, Norma Gonsalves, Judy Jacobs, Ed Mangano, Dave Mejias, Richard Nicolello, Peter Schmitt, Jeffrey Toback and Wayne Wink.
In Westchester County, Noam Bramson, our endorsee for New Rochelle mayor, was re-elected. In the other mayoral races, William Schmidt in Peekskill and Philip Trifiletti in Mamaroneck were defeated. Among our successful supervisor candidates were Reese Berman in North Castle, Paul Feiner in Greenburgh, Barbara Gerrard in New Castle, Mary Beth Murphy in Somers, Valerie O'Keefe in Mamaroneck, Linda Puglisi in Cortlandt and Gary Warshauer in Pound Ridge. RoseMarie Panio in Yorktown and Susan Morabito in Rye were not successful. Our entire county Legislature slate was successful: Tom Abinanti, Jose Alvarado, Peter Harckam, Ken Jenkins, Michael Kaplowitz, Judy Myers and Martin Rogowsky.
In the Capital Region, our successful slate included Mayor Harry Tutunjian in Troy and Mayor John McDonald in Cohoes; as well as Phil Barrett as Clifton Park supervisor and Paul Sausville as Malta supervisor. Briggs McAndrews was defeated for Niskayuna supervisor. In the Albany County Legislature, all of our endorsees were elected: William Aylward Jr., Sandy Gordon, Lucille McKnight, Tim Nichols and Herbert Reilly Jr.
In Central New York, Ellen Polimeni was re-elected Canandaigua mayor. Bill Magnarelli was defeated for Onondaga County executive, and Mayor Tim Lattimore's race remains too close to call in Auburn.
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