Orchard Park
Orchard Park: Supervisor's race too close to call
The Orchard Park supervisor's race was too close to call late Tuesday night, with Democratic Town Clerk Janis A. Colarusso leading Republican Patrick J. Keem by just 72 votes.
Reached by phone around 11 p.m., Colarusso said unless the count of machine votes would give her at least a 200-vote lead by the end of the night, she would not declare victory. About 170 absentee ballots were yet to be counted, she said.
"I'm not a winner yet. I will be, but I'm not yet," she said.
As election results trickled in after polls closed, the outcome see-sawed within a few dozen votes for two hours, with Keem at some points appearing to be in the lead, only to be surpassed by Colarusso.
Shortly after 11 p.m., the candidates said that only one of the town's 25 districts had not reported its results. With more than 5,000 total votes cast in the race, only 72 votes separated the two.
Keem said the last district yet to report, the 24th District, was Republican-leaning. He was not about to concede the race, he said.
He was disappointed that more voters hadn't come out to support him, when he had positioned himself as a reform candidate, he said.
"It's frustrating because I stood for cutting and streamlining government," he said. "I'm an average citizen who got off my butt to offer people an alternative. To have it even this close is frustrating."
The situation is reminiscent of the Independence Party primary between the two, when the final outcome wasn't known until two weeks after the election. Keem initiated an "opportunity to ballot" through write-in votes in the primary.
Many of the ballots for Keem were thrown out on technical grounds, and Colarusso ended up with 66 votes — just six more than her Republican opponent.
"It's like a horse race, just like the primary," Colarusso said Tuesday night.
Colarusso, 52, has been town clerk for 16 years. She says her knowledge of town government would serve residents well. She has vowed to add evening hours in Town Hall once a week, and make the town's Web site more versatile.
Keem, 59, who is chairman of the Erie County Citizen Budget Review Committee, founded Aurora Dental Care. He ran unsuccessfully four years ago for a seat on the Erie County Legislature, as part of a slate of reform candidates.
Keem has said government needs to control taxes, and he has cited the costs of public pensions and health care as major challenges to overcome. He has promised to create a government that "truly serves the people."
He did not return calls seeking comment late Tuesday night.
Whoever wins the supervisor's race will work for the next two years with a four-member Republican Town Board. Residents in September voted to downsize the board by two members, effective January 2012.
On Tuesday, Orchard Park voters solidly backed a measure to abolish the receiver of taxes' office as of 2012 and combine it with the town clerk's office, a move that is expected to save at least $50,000 a year.
In the race for highway superintendent, incumbent Frederick J. Piasecki Jr. won re-election, defeating Ronald N. "Corky" Geitter.
Geitter, a registered Republican, ran on the Democratic line, while Piasecki had the Republican line and three minor-party lines. Geitter is the son of former highway superintendent Ronald A. Geitter.
David R. Kaczor and Eugene L. Majchrzak ran unopposed for two seats on the Town Board.
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