With all precincts reporting, Unplugged can safely call a few more races in the 2009 Municipal Election.
Out of 327,936 registered voters in the county, only 72,914 (22.2 percent) voters cast ballots today.
The Republicans have again swept the county row offices, to the surprise of very few (except maybe a few delusional moonbat liberals, who are undoubtedly also mourning the loss of the New Jersey gubernatorial race, in which the Republican former federal prosecutor Chris Christie defeated the Democrat incumbent Jon Corzine in the smartest thing the state of New Jersey has done in the past who knows how many years) – particularly when 18,276 Republican straight party tickets were cast, compared to 9,676 Democrat straight party tickets.
In the Treasurer's race, the former West Chester Borough Councilwoman Ann Duke defeated Democrat Barbara "Kipp" Stone by a vote of 41,854 to 26,004; the incumbent Comptroller Val DiGiorgio defeated Democrat Jim Reilly 41,738 to 27,635 to retain his seat, although there is some speculation that DiGirogio will seek the 6th Congressional seat currently being held by GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Gerlach. Frank McElwaine defeated Democrat Mike McGann 42,438 to 26,429 in the race for Clerk of Courts, while Steven Dickter defeated Megan Lynott 42,180 to 26,968 in the race to replace retiring Coroner Robert Satriale.
In the Lionville District Court race, Republican candidate Lori Donatelli leads fellow Republican Gloria Satriale, who is running on the Democrat ticket after winning that primary election, by a nearly 3-to-1 margin. With all 13 precincts reporting, Donatelli – the wife of Upper Uwchlan supervisor Guy Donatelli – handily defeated Mrs. Satriale – the wife of the aforementioned retiring Coroner – by a 2,886 to 859 tally. The Lionville court includes Uwchlan, Upper Uwchlan, and West Pikeland, and is currently presided over by Stanley Scott, who will be retiring after nearly a quarter of a century on the bench dating back to when 15-2-07 also included West Whiteland and East Whiteland (before they were annexed into District Court 15-4-03 in 1993).
In the Avondale District Court race, controversial constable Matthew Seavey appears to have won the race to replace Thomas Martin, who retired late last year, defeating Democrat Clay Cauley 2,226 to 1,370, with all precincts reporting.
Other District Judges running for election ran unopposed, including Devon's Thomas Tartaglio, Valley's Grover Koon, Coatesville's Gregory Hines, Thorndale's Jeffrey Valocchi, and 15-1-04's resident leniency expert, Gwenn S. Knapp…
Meanwhile, President Judge Paula Francisco Ott now appears to be on her way to becoming one of four new members of the Superior Court. Judge Ott, a West Chester resident whose husband Ray is a former West Chester Borough Councilman, is currently third among nine candidates to fill four vacancies on the court. Two other Republicans, Judy Olson and Sallie Mundy lead the voting, with Judge Ott currently in 3rd nearly 97 percent of all votes state-wide having been counted. The fourth seat appears to have been narrowed down to two Democrats – Anne Lazarus and Robert Colville. The margin between the 4th place candidate Colville and the 5th place candidate Lazarus is approximately 3,500 votes; the margin when the report percentage was at 92 percent was slightly over 1,000 votes, so it would appear that Lazarus will be the fourth place finisher and win a seat on the Superior Court (click here for a county-by-county breakdown of the Superior Court election results).
It appears that not only will Chester County be seeking a new President Judge, but there will, at least for now, be one vacancy in the 2011 election for the Common Pleas Court. There's talk of at least one other Common Pleas Judge who is up for retention in 2011 who may choose not to seek a second 10-year term, though, it's probably too early to tell whether or not that will come to fruition.
The Superior Court race is not the only race where Republicans in Pennsylvania are feeling very confident. Superior Court Judge Joan Melvin Orie is leading Democrat Jack Panella 53 percent to 47 percent in the race to fill one vacancy on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court; Republicans Patricia McCullough (802,671) and Kevin Brobson (743,774) lead Democrats Linda Judson (665,299) and Barbara Berhend Ernsberger (657,159) in the race for two vacancies on the Commonwealth Court…
In the West Chester Area School District, Republicans swept the four open seats in what turned out to be one of the more contentious battles in the county. Republicans Heidi Adsett (7,961), John Wingerter (7,948), Sean Carpenter (7,847), and Maria Armandi Pimley (7,814) defeated the Democrat slate of Susan Tiernan (6,522), Susan Carty (6,329), Lisa Samuel (6,007), and Deborah Liczwek (5,902); the Republicans also swept the Dems in Thornbury, Delaware County.
West Chester borough races proved anti-climactic, as Dems ran unopposed in all four races and in the mayor's race. Holly Brown (1st Ward), Chuck Christie (3rd Ward) and John Manion (7th Ward) ran unopposed, while Thomas Paxton beat back a write-in campaign to replace Carolyn Comitta in the 5th Ward. Comitta was elected Mayor of West Chester after winning both the Democrat and Republican primaries in May.
In other mayoral races of interest, the former police officer and Republican Matt Fetick defeated Democrat Leslie Whiteside 400-214 in the race to replace Leon Spencer as mayor of Kennett Square. In Phoenixville, the Democrat incumbent Leo Scoda defeated Republican challenger Louis Amici 1,331 to 836. Democrats also won contested mayoral elections in Downingtown (Josh Maxwell defeated Nick Winkler 659-611) and South Coatesville (long time mayor James Kennedy defeated William Jones 85-59).
In the county's other boroughs, these candidates ran unopposed: Wesley Vincent (Atlgen), Doris Howell (Avondale), Arleigh Hegarty (Elverson), Maria Downey (Honey Brook), Gerald McGlone (Malvern), Ronald McCorkle (Modena), Geoffrey Henry (Oxford), John Hagan (Parkesburg), Michael Weiss (Spring City), and Stephen Black (West Grove)…
In the Coatesville City Council races, Democrat Karl Marking defeated the Republican Eric Lacerte 155-51 for the 4th Ward (East Side/South) Council seat. Democrats also swept the two at-large Council seats, as Jarrell Brazzle (578) and Joseph Hamrick (483) defeated Republicans Joseph DiSciullo (321) and Fran Schnering (225). Democrat Ingrid Jones ran unopposed for the 2nd Ward (South Side) seat.
In another interesting race in Coatesville, the former City Council President Kareem Johnson captured the 3rd Ward Constable race (North Side); the seat had been previously held by the late GOP turned Democrat power broker Richard Legree. The 5th Ward (East Side/North) race ended in a tie between the Democrat Ronald Suber and the Republican Ricky Campbell. Both candidates received 84 votes, so undoubtedly, there will be a recount…
And, finally, an Assistant District Attorney can now add another title to his resume – Downingtown Area School District Board Member.
Assistant District Attorney Thomas Ost-Prisco ran unopposed for the DASD Region 8 seat, which covers Downingtown Borough – West Ward/South Precinct, and West Bradford Precincts 2 and 4. Ost-Prisco is the lead prosecutor in the Coatesville arson cases that are pending in Common Pleas Court.
As time permits, I hope to have a more detailed breakdown of the key election results – or at least the WCASD race and perhaps a couple of others, though most of the contested races seem self-explanatory as far as a breakdown is concerned.
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