Wednesday, November 05, 2003

By Mike Bucsko, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

It was a historic night in Fayette County.

Voters elected an 80-year-old multimillionaire to the board of commissioners and, in doing so, gave the board its first Republican majority ever.

Republican Joe Hardy, founder of 84 Lumber, ran second to incumbent Democrat Vincent J. Vicites, 43, of South Union, in the race for three commissioners seats. Hardy also founded Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa near Farmington.

And in a major upset, Republican Angela Zimmerlink captured the third seat over Democrat J. William Lincoln, overcoming a 3-to-1 Democratic registration edge. Lincoln, 63, of Connellsville, served in the state House and Senate before retiring from state politics in 1994.

Zimmerlink, 42, of Redstone, a paralegal and real estate agent, had said she expected to surprise the field with a strong showing.

Hardy, who said he would use his entrepreneurial skills to lure development to one of the state's poorest counties, promised to use his jet, at his expense, to fly commissioners nationwide to recruit companies to move to the county.

Hardy began dancing at the Uniontown VFW when it became clear he was elected.

"I had a feeling it was going to be really, really close," he said. "I'll try moving up the county from the 64th lousiest county to something better. There will be no committee meetings where we talk, talk, talk. I want to get things done."

Allegheny County
The county's row office contests offered no surprises, as all the Democratic candidates followed the lead of Dan Onorato at the top and won their respective offices.

In the most hotly contested races -- treasurer and clerk of courts -- incumbents John Weinstein and George Matta won easily.

Weinstein's aggressive opponent, attorney John Pierce, joined the Republican mantra for elimination of the treasurer's office, as well as most of the other rows. Pierce trotted out a Republican-concocted character, "Reformo the Chicken," to demonstrate Weinstein's refusal to debate him and the need for county government reform.

In the clerk of courts race, Matta was re-elected to a second term, despite the vocal opposition of his GOP opponent, Alice Williams. Williams, a former member of the Wilkinsburg school board, criticized Matta over his management practices and the county's settlement of several lawsuits by employees Matta fired.

Mark Patrick Flaherty, a Mt. Lebanon lawyer, son of former county Commissioner James Flaherty and nephew of former county Commissioner and Pittsburgh Mayor Pete Flaherty, won the controller's race, his first elective office, over Republican Joe Scioscia, a Bellevue councilman.

District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., who is considering a run for state attorney general next year, was re-elected without opposition.

Incumbent Democrat Michael Lamb retained his job as prothonotary over Republican challenger Liz Jackson.

Other members of the Republican team also lost yesterday.

Becky Barrett-Toomey, of Bethel Park, failed for the second time to unseat Valerie McDonald Roberts as recorder of deeds. Democrat Eileen Wagner won the register of wills office over Republican challenger Tom Stepnick, of Bellevue.

Butler County
Voters last night handed new terms to the three incumbent county commissioners.

It was clear from the get-go the board of commissioners would be home to familiar faces come January. Holding consistent leads were Republicans James Kennedy and Scott Lowe as well as Democrat Glenn Anderson. Dark horse challenger Linda C. Snyder, a Democrat, trailed by a large margin. Snyder is a speech pathologist and counselor as well as the owner of a bed-and-breakfast.

Kennedy, 60, a Middlesex Township dairy and grain farmer, looked like he would finish as top vote-getter, a distinction he held in his two previous successful runs for commissioner.

Anderson, 56, of Donegal, has the longest tenure as commissioner, first taking office in 1992. He had worked at Butler's Pullman Standard for 18 years until it shut down. Then he opened a tavern, which he operated until 1989. Voters seem to have ignored an election-eve attack, when someone circulated to the media an unfiled lawsuit detailing 5-year-old allegations of sexual harassment of a county housing authority employee by Anderson. Anderson denied the allegations.

Lowe, 49, of Butler City, is the comparative newcomer on the board. He was appointed 18 months ago to replace Joan Chew, who resigned for health reasons. He had worked for the county as a special projects manager and also is owner of Video Factory Productions as well as an advertising agency.

Westmoreland County
Incumbent Democrats Tom Balya and Tom Ceraso won re-election to the Board of County Commissioners, while Republican Terry Marolt edged fellow Republican Gene Porterfield for the third seat.

	Westmoreland County Commissioner Tom Balya, right, talks with Don McGuire, a Democratic committeeman from Latrobe, who spent the day at the polls yesterday. The two were at the Greensburg Moose Club, the site of an Election Day party. (V.W.H. Campbell Jr., Post-Gazette)

Both GOP candidates were trying to make a return to elective office: Porterfield, 56, of Hempfield, was a two-term state representative; Marolt, 57, of Ligonier, was a county commissioner for three terms spanning 1986 to 1999.

Marolt takes the seat being vacated by one-term Republican P. Scott Conner, who plans to run for an unspecified state office next year.

Balya and Marolt butted heads through one four-year term in the mid-90s. "I was just coming in, and it was his last term," Balya said. "A lot has changed since those days."

Marolt said he's ready for whatever the job brings him.

"I've been in public service all my life," he said. "I see it as an extension of God's work on Earth. I'm honored to do whatever I can."

Independent candidate Jim Gebicki, 52, a two-term former mayor of Latrobe and chair of the Westmoreland Transit Authority, made a second attempt for a commissioner's position. He was a late entry in the race, and trailed the field.

Balya, 45, of Greensburg, was an aide to Congressman Ron Klink before he took a courthouse office in 1996.

Ceraso, 39, a former municipal authority worker from New Kensington, was seeking a second term.

Republicans haven't won a majority on the board in Westmoreland since 1956.

Washington County

Incumbent commissioners J. Bracken Burns and Diana Irey won re-election and will be joined on the board by newcomer Larry Maggi, the current county sheriff and leading vote-getter in both the primary and general election.

Burns, 58, of South Strabane, and Maggi, 52, of Buffalo, are Democrats. Irey, 40, of Carroll, is a Republican.

Republican Louis E. Waller Sr., 75, of South Strabane, ran a distant fourth. The local businessman and civil-rights activist chaired the Irey campaign, but declined to campaign much on his own behalf. In a county with a 2-1 Democratic voter registration edge, Waller said he wanted to ensure that if only one Republican was elected, it would be Irey.

In a heated battle for prothonotary, Republican Phyllis Ranko Matheny, 62, of North Strabane, appeared to have scraped out a four-vote victory over Democrat Judith Fisher, 64, of South Strabane.

Fisher, a county jury commissioner, edged out the incumbent Matheny for the Democratic nomination in the primary election, but Matheny secured the Republican nod through a last-minute write-in campaign.

Beaver County
Incumbent commissioners Daniel Donatella and Charles Camp will be joined by newcomer Joseph G. Spanik of Monaca on the three-member board at the start of next year.

Meanwhile, incumbent Democrats easily won re-election in the row offices.

In the only contested row office race, Controller Richard W. Towcimak was re-elected to the position he has held since 1984, beating Republican challenger Hilary Andrew Kinal, an Ambridge lawyer.

Re-elected without opposition were Clerk of Courts Judy R. Enslen, District Attorney Dale M. Fouse, Prothonotary Nancy Cozzucoli Werme, Recorder of Deeds Janice L. Beall, Register of Wills Carol Ruckert Fiorucci, Sheriff Felix A. DeLuca Jr., Treasurer Connie Tuccinard Javens and Coroner Wayne N. Tatalovich.

In the commissioners race, Democrat Donatella, the commission chairman from Industry, will retain his seat for another four years, as will Republican Camp of Beaver Falls. Falling short was Republican James A. Roberts of Beaver Falls.

Armstrong County
Voters appeared poised to shake up the Board of County Commissioners.

Incumbent Democrat Jack F. Dunmire was on the verge of losing his seat as surprising Republican newcomer Patricia Kirkpatrick of Cowanshannock led the field, with incumbent Republican James V. Scahill and newcomer Democrat Rich Fink running second and third.

There were no results available for the write-in campaign of Democrat Ronald Covone.

Kirkpatrick would be the first woman ever elected as an Armstrong county commissioner.

Greene County
Voters elected a former congressional aide to the Board of County Commissioners and unseated the minority commissioner, but maintained the status quo in the county's only two contested row offices -- controller and district attorney.

Democrat Pam Snyder of Jefferson, a former aide to former U.S. Rep. Frank Mascara, was top vote-getter in the commissioners' race. She will likely succeed fellow Democrat Dave Coder, who was re-elected, as board chairman.

On the Republican side, voters brought back to office former county Commissioner John R. Gardner and unseated one-term Republican Scott Blair.

In the controller's race, Democrat John A. Stets of Waynesburg was re-elected over Republican challenger Connie S. Cramer of Waynesburg. District Attorney Marjorie J. Fox, who was appointed by the county's judges in 2001 after the resignation of Glenn R. Toothman III, was elected to her first full term over Republican Tim Logan of Washington Township.

Candidates for the remaining Greene County row offices were re-elected without opposition: Clerk of Courts Shirley Stockdale, Prothonotary Susan Kartley White, Register and Recorder Thomas M. Headlee and Treasurer Cory L. Grandel.

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