Thursday, May 19, 2011

The Results Are In

It was quite interesting and quite nice to be more informed when I went into the privacy booth to place my vote in Tuesday's primary.  Most of the primaries went as they should have and party lines were followed.  The contentious race between Don Skomsky and Rita Arnold came down to Rita edging out Mr. Skomsky even though there had been a nasty muckraking letter that had been sent out to approximately 4,000 voters by someone who obviously had a severely misplaced idea that the kind of verbiage that was used to denigrate Rita Arnold and many republican constituents would actually help Dom Skomsky.  When it came time to count the ballots that letter had backfired and Rita Arnold won.

The race that I was most interested in was for the three seats that will be vacated in 2011 on Downingtown Borough Council.  On the West End Nick Winkler was facing the write in candidate Elizabeth Shingle, but in the end Nick placed on both ballots and Ms. Shingle will not be considered unless she mounts another write in campaign which, in my opinion, would be fruitless and a waste of money.  While Betty has some very strong supporters, they are of what I think of as the "Old Guard" and with four candidates running who are under 30, more people are looking for progress not the same old same old.  Nick, while known in D'town quite well, he is fresh blood and new ideas which is what we sorely need at this end of town.

The East End was a hard fought ballot.  Alex Rakoff won the Democratic vote and Matt Zaun came out on top on the Republican side.  Cara DeStefano ran a well thought out write in campaign to crush the hopes of former Mayor and Council member Heather Bruno.  This end of town should produce an interesting year since it will come down to the final vote in November.  I do not live on the East End of town, but am acquainted with all of the candidates, except I know Alex's wife a bit better.  Out of all of them I feel Matt would be the most beneficial for the borough.  While a really quiet gentleman he has a concise vision for what he feels the borough needs to move along at a pace that will keep D'town vital yet not have it lose it's historical feel.

I will be watching closely as this all unfolds because I may be a transplant but Downingtown is my home.

6 comments:

  1. I thought that the election was interesting too. I'm suprised that Nick Winklir got as many votes as he did. I know he did a lot in J-town but didn't think he was that popular. I am somewhat glad though, I think he will do a better job than Betty would. Cara did well too, still, suprised she go so many votes. Alex, I never heard of till the election. Don't really think he's done much in the borough. On his website he says that his wife is more involved in the borough than he is...lol...I actually thought his wife was the one running. I would probably vote for her over him. Too bad I can't vote on the east end side like I would like to. My vote would have to go to Matt. After talking to him he is so down to earth I can tell his heart is in the right place. When I talked to Alex on election day I was weirded out. He was in a full suit which I got a good laugh out of...who does he think he is? Running for president or council member of downingtown borough? He told me he was in investing and I said, "no kidding" he looked like a wall street insider with his full suit and slick look. Nah, we don't need another upscale politician in dtown we need someone willing to work for us.

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  2. Thanks for the post Elaine. It was good to see all the results. Thanks again for helping put on "meet the candidates night" It was great to see everyone that was running for borough council. Everyone there did a great job. The only disappointment of the night was not all the candidates showed up. I really wanted to hear what Heather Bruno was going to say...but she wasn't there. Then when Josh got up to speak for Alex I wasn't happy at all. Josh said that Alex was getting a job promotion and couldn't be there?! I understand borough council isn't a full time job and you have to feed your family but come on...job promotion on meet the candidates night?! How does Alex expect to governor when he has more responsibilities at work and lets the Mayor do all the talking for him? Maybe he is good...? I don't know haven't heard anything about him yet.

    -Jon

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  3. Jon, I could see where you are coming from. It was interesting that some of the candidates didn't show up. The funny thing is both Heather and Alex didn't show up to the meeting that was held at Chester County Paint. Someone spoke for Alex there too. Said the same thing, "he couldn't be there because of a job promotion." Makes you really wonder how much Heather and Alex care about the borough when they don't even show up to events.

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  4. I agree with the above posters ...I got the impression from both events that alex's wife wanted him to have the position more then he wanted it!!! I hope Matt wipes the floor with them in November!!!!

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  5. Heather declined our invitation to the Meet the Candidates night and like Josh said Alex was training for his promotion. That said the candidates were asked to come speak as soon as it was clear who was running.

    I was glad to see that Cara beat out Heather as I feel that Ms. Bruno is too much against any revitailization or change in D'town, but as I have said Matt, to me, really has a heart for the residents and wants to listen to them and help the borough achieve the goals that are best for everyone.

    As for over here on the West End, Nick worked very hard. I know that he and Melinda visited just about every house that they could speaking to residents to find their concerns and of course workign the campaign trail. While Betty would have served to the best of her ability, I think she was running on the fact that she is fairly well known on the east end of the west end of Johnsontown (it makes sense in my head) and she was counting on that to carry her through.

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  6. Understand that people have busy lives but still. If you are a person running for office don't ya think that you should show up to talk? I understand that Heather is out of the picture so who cares if she shows up to stuff or not. But Alex is still in the running and doesn't come to stuff. Josh and his wife do all the talking for him. Does Alex really want to run or is someone trying to get him to run against his will. If you ask me I think that Alex's hearts not in it.

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