Wednesday, November 05, 2003

By Ed Blazina, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Voters turned out incumbents in Plum, elected a new mayor in Penn Hills, and supported a library in Robinson with tax dollars yesterday.

	Chrissy Benson, 13, and Carol Ciacco, 13, have dinner last night outside a polling place at Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southwest Greensburg Borough. They were there to help with the campaign of Roy Albert, who was running for borough council. (V.W.H. Campbell Jr., Post-Gazette)

The municipal races also saw an 18-year old candidate in O'Hara fail in his bid to become a councilman and newcomers win in Moon and North Fayette.

Here are the results in key races based on unofficial results.

Plum
By 9:20 p.m., Democratic council candidates knew it wouldn't be long before they could be sure they lost.

Democratic incumbents Donald Knopfel and David A. Vento, along with newcomer Richard W. Hrivnak, lost to Republicans Don Flickinger, Russ Oft Jr. and former councilman Chuck McMeekin. Flickinger and Oft are newcomers but McMeekin is returning to council. He gave up his seat two years ago for an unsuccessful challenge of Mayor John Schmeck.

Democrats watched results come in on a computerized spread sheet that was displayed on an overhead projector at the Center Slovenian Club, but it quickly became clear they would lose.

"It's not over, but the fat lady is starting to warm up her vocal cords," Vento, 51, said in the quiet club. He is finishing his first term on council.

Hrivnak, 66, said the public reacted against incumbents because of former police chief Terry Focareta's successful $1 million lawsuit against the borough for improperly firing him two years ago.

"I think the biggest issue is the case of Focareta and the $1 million the taxpayers feel they are going to assume in that loss," he said.

"They just voted anyone out who was in," said Knopfel, who has been on council for 27 years.

McMeekin, who said he would challenge Schmeck again in two years, said residents also rebelled against a move by Democrats to limit residents' ability to speak at public meetings. Federal court ordered Plum to allow residents to speak after the new majority tried to restrict discussion two years ago.

Brentwood
Retired teacher Ed Haney beat out Ann Schade, head of the borough's Democratic committee, for a spot on council.

The other two winners for the three seats were incumbent Democrats Tony Antonelli and Kay Gannis.

Schade was on the ballot as a candidate for one of three council seats only as a Democrat. Her colleagues, Antonelli and Gannis, received enough write-in votes to appear on the ballot as Republicans, too.

Haney also was on the budget twice, as an independent and as a Republican after he received write-in votes in the primary, too.

And Councilwoman Mary Dytko, who lost in the primary, also was waging a write-in campaign but she didn't appear to be much of a factor in the outcome.

Dawn Synborski was unopposed for a two-year seat on council.

Schade had been chosen to fill the remainder of the term of her husband, Dave, who died two years ago during a mayoral race.

Moon
Republican Marvin D. Eicher easily defeated Democrat Catherine Farley for a seat on the board of supervisors.

Eicher and Farley squared off to fill the seat held by Sean McCurdy, whose term expires in January.

Eicher, an engineer, based his campaign on his previous service on the Moon Township Municipal Authority, the Riverview Sanitary Authority, and the Parks and Recreation Board.

"We need to have a progressive community but we also need to live within our means," Eicher said.

North Fayette
A newcomer to politics and retired police officer in the township, Byron McLean defeated Republican Morgan Price for a seat as township supervisor.

McLean, 57, won the Democratic nomination last spring by defeating 36-year incumbent supervisor Louis "Pie" Chauvet. After spending the last 25 years serving the township on the police department, McLean said he wanted to continue his service in another capacity.

"I'm so glad to be able to serve this township for at least another six years because I love this place," McLean said. McLean said he wants to keep a close watch on development in the township to ensure it doesn't grow faster than the infrastructure.

Price threw his hat in the ring in August after the Republican primary nominee, Roxanne Buckels, withdrew from the race due to personal reasons. Price, 76, a retired steel worker, said he had often thought about getting involved in local government, but didn't give it serious thought until he heard Buckels had withdrawn.

McLean said he had respect for his opponent prior to Tuesday, but gained even more throughout the course of the day.

"We spent 12 hours working the polls in opposition, but we talked together the whole day and I really think he is a great guy," McLean said.

O'Hara
Andrew Danto was unsuccessful in his first bid for public office, but he'll have plenty of time to try again.

Danto, 18, was running as a Libertarian Party candidate for an at-large seat on council, challenging incumbent council President Marshall Treblow.

Danto's candidacy grew out of a high school project last year where he was assigned to study the process of getting on the ballot. He decided to proceed and got 90 signatures to get on the ballot as a Libertarian. There was no Democrat in the race.

Danto is attending American University in Washington, D.C, and planned to commute from college to attend council meetings.

Penn Hills
The municipality's new mayor will have a familiar name -- Anthony DeLuca Jr., a Democratic councilman and son of long-time state Rep. Tony DeLuca.

DeLuca Jr., 35, defeated Republican Bob Sevcik for the second time in two years to become mayor. DeLuca, in his first bid for public office, had knocked Sevcik off council two years ago.

DeLuca had angered party officials in the spring when he ran against two-term incumbent mayor William DeSantis, who he defeated easily. DeLuca, an auditor with the state auditor general's office, campaigned on several issues, including saving money by hiring an in-house solicitor, using the same tax collector as the school district and adding residents to council's finance committee.

"This election was about change," DeLuca said.

DeLuca said he plans to put together a transition team and by Jan. 8 will have a plan in place.

In the race for two council seats, two Democrats, former controller Yvonne R. Lamanna and incumbent John DePietro, appeared to have strong leads over Republicans Joseph "Mickey" O'Connor and former councilman William A. Pratt.

Robinson
Residents spoke loud and clear yesterday that they want a library in the township through the strong support of a referendum that would dedicate one-tenth of a mill of current township funds to the creation and maintenance of the facility.

Keith Schmidt, president and one of the founding members of the Robinson Township Library Association, said he was thrilled and very proud of the voters for expressing their wishes concerning a library for the township. The tax will generate about $132,000 a year.

"This a great victory for the people who have lived in Robinson Township all their lives like myself and felt that we did not have the amenities of comparable municipalities and it's also a great victory for all of the new families that have moved in here in the last 15 years that expected a township the size of Robinson with the tax base of Robinson to have these amenities," Schmidt said.

Township commissioners had lobbied against the referendum.

Ross
Democrats won four commissioner seats up for re-election to retain a 6-3 majority on the board.

In the 1st Ward, incumbent Democrat Dan DeMarco won his second term by defeating Republican Eloise Peet.

Democrat Christopher Eyster ousted incumbent Republican William Grady Jr. to win a two-year seat in the 2nd Ward.

Third Ward Commissioner Daniel Kinross won re-election over Republican Angelo Romano.

Republican Grace Stanko won the battle of the newcomers for the 5th Ward seat against Democrat Beverly Young.

Democrat Gerald O'Brien beat Republican challenger Michelle Bish in the 7th Ward.

Republican incumbent Grant Montgomery retained his 9th Ward seat by defeating Democrat Georgene Gallo.

Franklin Park
G. Reynolds Clark defeated interim mayor Thomas Schwartzmier.

"I am pleased and humbled that I got so much support from the residents," Clark said. "I look forward to serving all the residents and businesses in the borough."

Clark, 60, a lifelong Democrat, switched to the Republican Party in August to run for mayor. He is vice chancellor for community and government relations at the University of Pittsburgh.

Both men sought the GOP endorsement to replace L. Andrew Shupe, who resigned for health reasons in April. When Schwartzmier, 51, lost the GOP endorsement, he ran as an independent.

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