Primary 2011/West: Voters often ousted incumbents

2012-03-30 01:02:50
  • Ron Pasic has won the nomination to the West Allegheny school board on both tickets in unofficial results. Here, he waits to greet voters outside the North Fayette municipal building.
    Pam Panchak/Post-Gazette
    Ron Pasic has won the nomination to the West Allegheny school board on both tickets in unofficial results. Here, he waits to greet voters outside the North Fayette municipal building.

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By Linda Wilson Fuoco / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Voter turnout was light Tuesday, but many of those who participated made their voices heard loud and strong by defeating incumbents.

Here's a sampling of unofficial results from a few West races:

Primary election results

Below are links to local county websites and results from Tuesday's primary election:

Beaver County

Election Day turnout was low in Beaver County -- only 24.56 percent. But there were enough votes for incumbent county Commissioners Tony Amadio and Joe Spanik to win the Democratic party nominations. Rick Towcimak finished third.

Among Republicans, Dennis Nichols received 55 percent of the vote and Craig A. Conforti got about 41 percent, according to the Beaver County Elections Bureau.

Carlynton school board

The five candidates from "The Committee for Carlynton's Future" won all of the Democratic and Republican nominations. The slate included three current board members.

Incumbents Thomas W. Brown and Ronald E. McCartney lost.

A major issue in the campaign was the board's proposal to close the Crafton and Carnegie elementary schools and consolidate the students in a new building to be built in Carnegie. The district serves Carnegie, Rosslyn Farms and Crafton.

The winning candidates are incumbents Betsy Tassaro of Rosslyn Farms, the top vote-getter on both ballots; Sharon R. Wilson of Crafton and Raymond A. Walkowiak of Carnegie.

The other two winners are Jim Schriver of Crafton and David G. Roussos of Crafton, who was president of the school board for eight years when he served from 2001 to 2008 and then decided not to seek re-election.

"There was an issue that was a catalyst" for running again, said Mr. Roussos, a certified public accountant and tax attorney.

Linda Wilson Fuoco: lfuoco@post-gazette.com or 412-722-0087. Freelance writer Andrea Iglar contributed to this story.
First Published May 19, 2011 5:21 am
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