Town of Tonawanda stands pat
Despite a technical glitch affecting ballots cast for a Town Board candidate, incumbents apparently scored a clean sweep Tuesday in Town of Tonawanda elections.
Highway Superintendent Bradley A. Rowles scored a convincing victory against Daniel J. Crangle, receiving 64 percent of the votes to Crangle's 36 percent, according to unofficial results.
Rowles received 9,231 votes on the Republican, Conservative and Independence lines. He also was the candidate of the Tonawanda First Party, but no results for that line were posted by the Erie County Board of Elections.
Crangle, who ran on the Democratic and Working Families lines, received 5,092 votes.
Late Tuesday, Rowles said he was humbled by the number of votes he received.
"It's amazing to see that the people certainly seem to go with experience," Rowles said.
Experience was the key issue in the race: Rowles cited his after 32 years on the job in the Highway Department and Crangle pointed to seven years of service on the Town Board.
"I tried to reach out to the residents with my accomplishments as a council member," Crangle said.
"I guess they were looking at it in another avenue, as far as experience goes."
Crangle still has two years remaining on his Town Board term.
"I'm not going anywhere. I will be keeping an eye on the Highway Department and the rest of the departments like I have been," he said.
Though Crangle lobbed myriad criticisms at Highway Department operations during the campaign, Rowles said he doesn't foresee any problems working with Crangle and the Town Board.
"As highway superintendent I serve the residents. That's who I work for and I will continue that," Rowles said.
September marked Rowles's first victory in the campaign: a win in the Independence Party primary.
Crangle had been endorsed by Erie County's committee and Rowles by the state's.
Meanwhile, in the race for three seats on the Town Board, Democratic incumbents John A. Bargnesi Jr., Lisa M. Chimera and Joseph H. Emminger apparently withstood challenges by political newcomers Patrick J. O'Hanrahan, Gigi E. Grizanti and Jim McGee, who ran on the Republican and Tonawanda First lines.
Because of a technical problem, votes cast for McGee on the Republican line weren't counted. But it's unlikely their addition will affect the outcome of the race.
According to unofficial results, Chimera finished on top with 8,064 votes; Emminger received 7,664 and Bargnesi had 7,335.
Of the challengers, O'Hanrahan led with 5,591 and Grizanti had 5,579. McGee received 626 votes on the Tonawanda First line, according to unofficial, incomplete results.
It was just two years ago that Democrats completed a takeover in the political composition of the Town Board, which, earlier this decade, had been composed entirely of Republicans.
The seeds of change were planted in the 2000 special election, when Crangle became the first Democrat elected in decades. He went on to win a full term in 2003, and was joined in 2005 by Bargnesi, Chimera and Emminger.
The final pieces fell into place in 2007, when Anthony F. Caruana was elected town supervisor and Melissa Brinson won the town clerk's race.
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