The Chairman's Corner
(Please click here for Vincent Reda's Bio)

November 2009

My fellow Republicans,

In an anti-incumbent year, Republicans enjoyed a sweet victory in Election 2009.  Our County Executive, C. Scott Vanderhoef won an unprecedented fifth consecutive term over his opponent Thom Kleiner with a 54% plurality despite his 3-to-1 voter edge.  In fact Kleiner lost his own election district in Orangetown! The analysis shows that we won by getting out our vote. Republicans turned out in nearly twice the numbers as did Democrats in the districts where we each hold a registration advantage. Even Independent voters overwhelmingly voted for Scott and the GOP.  As I say year after year: GOTV!  IT WORKS!

We also picked up two additional Town Supervisors with wins in Orangetown and Stony Point.   In Clarkstown Alex Gromack and in Ramapo Chris St. Lawrence were reelected. In addition, County Clerk Paul Piperato won for his second term.  We congratulate them on their wins and look forward to continuing to work with them in a bipartisan manner.

In Orangetown we swept all the races there as Paul Whalen won against Suzanne Barclay Thom Kleiner’s handpicked replacement as Town Supervisor.  We also won control of the Town Board as Denis Troy and Tom Diviny won their bid for Town Council.  Special thanks to Denis Troy who chose not to play it safe and picked the tougher incumbent Democrat opponent to run against.  This heroic effort helped us to sweep Orangetown. Among the others winning reelection in Orangetown were Town Justice Richard Finning, along with incumbents Supt. of Highways James Dean, Town Clerk Charlotte Madigan and Receiver of Taxes Robert Simon. An outstanding campaign was run by our consultants Hudson Strategies which led us to the big sweep.

In Stony Point, Judge Bill Sherwood returned the Town Supervisor’s seat to the Republicans.  Other Republicans also reelection won in Stony Point:  Town Justice Frank Phillips Supt. of Highways Larry  Brissing and Receiver of Taxes Kathy Campbell Lyons. In Clarkstown we won victories for Town Council George Hoehmann and returned Town Justices Craig Johns and Scott Ugell as well as Supt. of Highways Wayne Ballard and Receiver of Taxes Loretta Raimone to office.

Our 9th Judicial District candidates Orazio Bellantoni and Charley Wood won 2 of the 4 Supreme Court justice seats.

To those who fell short of victory this year, I offer my sincere thanks for carrying the Republican Banner high. In Clarkstown, first timers Giovanni Scaringi Legislator District 14 candidate, Diane Holland Town Council candidate and Donna Held Town Clerk candidate ran fine races but did not prevail. In Stony Point Jerry Rogers and Steve Fischer fell short of winning their Town Council seats.  I wish to thank these fine young candidates who are the future of the GOP and will live to fight another day.

There are so many people to thank. Let me first send a word of appreciation to all our Town Chairs, committee members and volunteers who showed up to work on our GOTV effort.  Special thanks to George Presotto and Mary Milillo for staffing our headquarters daily as well as to Loretta Raimone our phone bank coordinator and Art Jackson director of operations.  Thanks to Public Defender Jim Licata and his staff of attorneys who attended training from election law expert John Ciampoli and served as poll watchers.  The week prior to Election Day, they uncovered over 200 Acorn operatives working along with members of the Working Families Party here in Rockland. Then when they showed up at 5:30 a.m. on Election Day, they discovered many of these Acorn operatives who were at the polls without the proper poll watching certificates and had them removed by the Sheriff’s Department.

Of course we show our gratitude to political consultant, Hudson Strategies president Bill Madden who worked closely with our Commissioner of Elections and First Vice Chair Joan Silvestri and Scott’s Chief of Staff Sean Matthews who also deservs our praise.  Also we are grateful to John McLaughlin and Associates for his polling research. Last but not least I want to thank State Chairman Ed Cox for the State Committee’s financial and strategic support to Rockland and to his executive director Tom Basile.  This was the toughest race I have been involved with in 40 years and this team enjoyed many more victories than defeats. Some mistakes were made, but we can start to rectify them now.
 
On the Sunday prior to the election, we enjoyed a successful pre-election brunch, attended by about 300 supporters, held at the Comfort Inn in Nanuet.  Our Keynote speaker this year was former Congressman Rick Lazio who is one of the announced candidates for New York Governor in 2009.  Our honoree was our new State Chairman, Ed Cox who was presented with his new monster gavel.  (see photos inside)

Finally our annual holiday party will be held on December 19th at the Casa Mia Manor House in Blauvelt. It is once again sponsored by the Key Club.
Click here to view the Holiday Party Invitation

Stay informed by tuning in to our Republican Update Cable TV Show on Cablevision Every Tuesday 7:00 pm. In Ramapo on Channel 75, the rest of Rockland County on  Channel 78 and on Wednesday s in Orange County on Channel 77. To join our electronic communications list, send us an e-mail to our new email address - info@rocklandcountygop.org. 

Click here to view the full November newsletter.

Sincerely,

Vincent D. Reda
Chairman