Claims 55 percent of vote to his 45 percent
By Liz Schevtchuk Armstrong and Kevin E. Foley
Republican Barbara Scuccimarra Tuesday night, Nov. 6 defeated Democrat Steve Rosario to win election as the District 1 representative on the Putnam County Legislature. She got 2,790 votes to his 2,318, according to returns from the Putnam County Board of Elections.
Scuccimarra, like Rosario a former member of the Philipstown Town Board, said she was “thrilled, absolutely thrilled” and that her victory proves that, as her campaign slogan suggested, the public wants “people before politics.” While on the Town Board, she established a reputation for cooperating with her Democratic colleagues, and Tuesday she declared her interest in working with “the whole community” in the days ahead.
“I want to work with everybody to get things done,” she told Philipstown.info. “We’re all going to work together. And this is only the beginning. I so look forward to the future.” She also thanked her campaign supporters, telling them, “I’m really overwhelmed right now. I can’t wait to get started – can’t wait!”
Current District 1 Legislator Vincent Tamagna suggested he might be able to cut her waiting short. Tamagna, a fellow Republican who served as Scuccimarra’s campaign manager, told the Republican gathering at the Depot Restaurant in Cold Spring that after 18 years in the job he, too, is anxious to have her in Carmel and that he would talk to County
Executive MaryEllen Odell about letting Scuccimarra finish out the last weeks of his term. “We need her now, more than even we did before,” he said.
Her success came a year after she lost her attempt to hold onto her place on the Town Board.
In facing his 55 percent to 45 percent loss, Steve Rosario told supporters gathered at a private residence in Nelsonville that he accepted the results as the will of the people. “The voters spoke. We can all hold our heads high. We ran a top-notch, clean campaign, based on the issues, based on solutions.”
Thank you for this. Now what about the rest of the results for Philipstown?
I live in the tiny part of Putnam Valley that’s in this legislative district and would like to know just what the plans are going forward to help the taxpayers of PV and Cold Spring where I have a shop. It’s astonishing that Tamagna feels there’s such an urgency to getting Ms. Scuccimara on the legislature that he’s going to speak to his buddies in Carmel to see if she can’t fill out the remainder of his term. Memo to Vinny — there are laws in place that deal with vacancies in elected office; you don’t get to pick and choose who does what. As far as the election, there were no surprises and believe me, the results had less to do with a catchy slogan than with the fact that the Putnam GOP machine is still in power. I have been involved in Putnam politics for decades and know firsthand that it’s as much of a blood sport as anything you see on the national level. There is much that needs to be done in Put Valley and in Cold Spring. If anyone needs a list, I will be glad to provide one.