WESTBROOK – Democrats swept the contested City Council races Tuesday, and City Clerk Lynda Adams will keep her job, after winning her re-election bid against challenger and former city Finance Director Susan Rossignol.
“I’m excited for the next two years,” Adams said Wednesday.
Mayor Colleen Hilton eliminated Rossignol’s position in 2010 as part of a reorganization of the finance department, and many of Rossignol’s supporters said a vote for Rossignol on Tuesday would in part be symbolic of a belief that Hilton had treated Rossignol unfairly.
But in the end, Adams beat Rossignol, 3,114 to 1,801, a difference of 1,313 votes.
On Tuesday night, at the Frog and Turtle on Bridge Street, Rossignol, in reaction to the vote, had positive remarks for the incumbent Adams.
“Lynda will do a good job,” she said. “I’ve always known that. I’ve never put her down.”
When asked if she would be back in a future election in some way, Rossignol said, “I am back. I’m not going anywhere.”
Adams said the city has a good future ahead, now that Hilton and the city councilors have all been re-elected, and she is looking forward to be a part of it.
“We’re going to be able to make some good, positive changes,” she said.
The City Council lineup did not change. Incumbents Brendan Rielly, John O’Hara (the only Republican), Michael Foley and Paul Emery won unopposed, but in the three remaining races, the incumbent Democrats retained their seats, as well.
In Ward 4, Dorothy Aube was one of three candidates vying for the seat, along with Republican Ernest Porell and unenrolled candidate Gary Rairdon. Aube took 327 votes to Porell’s 153. Rairdon received 289 votes.
“It’s a relief,” Aube said at Profenno’s on Main Street, where the Democrats gathered to watch the returns come in. “It’s a lot of work, but it paid off.”
When she learned that her closest challenger lost by less than 40 votes, she said, “Wow! I thought it was going to be close, (but) I really didn’t know which way it would go.”
Aube almost didn’t run at all, confirming less than two weeks before this summer’s Democratic caucus that she would not be seeking re-election, and the caucus did not nominate anyone for the seat. Later, however, the party nominated her anyway, and Aube said she was running so the Democrats wouldn’t lose the seat on the council.
Tuesday night, Aube said she is excited about serving because she will be freer to focus more on serving the public. Her job, as a charge nurse for children at Spring Harbor Hospital in Westbrook, has made it difficult in the past to balance professional obligations with her political career. Now, however, her schedule there has changed, she said, which was a further motivator for her to stay in politics.
“I don’t have to rush to meetings,” she said. “That was really stressing me out.”
Rairdon, in reaction to the vote on Wednesday, said he was more upset at losing because of Aube’s changing her mind on running.
“It’s disappointing, because here’s a candidate that didn’t want to run, but she was persuaded to run again,” Rairdon said of Aube.
Rairdon said Westbrook’s partisan politics “absolutely” had to do with Aube’s getting back on the ballot and her win. Rairdon sits on the charter commission, and said he hopes a revised city charter would eliminate partisanship from the ballot, a move that would allow Westbrook to follow suit with most of the surrounding communities.
Part of the reason Rairdon ran as an unenrolled candidate, he said, was to make a point that it shouldn’t be about the candidates’ parties. Despite losing, Rairdon said the slim margin drove that point home.
Rairdon said he ran for school committee two years ago and lost then, too, but it was by 91 votes, a larger margin that the results this year, and that has encouraged him to consider running for office again in the near future.
“Definitely,” he said. “I’m saving all my signs.”
On Wednesday, Porell, in reaction to losing to Aube, said, “Congratulations to Dotty Aube.” He said he has no immediate plans to run for office in the future, and declined further comment.
In Ward 5, incumbent Michael Sanphy beat Republican challenger Michael Lawson by a count of 889 to 558. Sanphy, who was appointed to the position when Councilor Suzanne Salisbury gave up her seat to serve on the school committee, said he was pleased with the results.
“Yes, I am,” he said. “I worked hard for it, too.”
Sanphy joked that he lost a couple of pounds while going door to door stumping for votes, but said he looks forward to continuing to serve the city.
“I want to be responsive to my constituents,” he said.
Lawson, who said he may run for state representative in a future election, said he had gotten to know Sanphy more during the campaign, and despite losing, supports Sanphy as city councilor.
“He and I both have the exact same views, so if I’m going to lose to somebody, I’m proud to lose to him,” he said.
In Ward 2, Victor Chau beat Republican Matt Maloney, 602 to 281. Chau said he was pleased with the win, but declined further comment Tuesday night.
Maloney said Wednesday that he didn’t raise or spend a cent on his campaign, and didn’t expect to win, but he did very well anyway.
“I felt for the amount of money spent, $0, 281 votes was pretty successful,” he said.
When asked if the results encouraged him to seek office again in the future, he said, “I would consider it again.”
On the school committee, Salisbury, Alexander Stone and James Violette won unopposed, but there will be a new member on the committee. Democrat Veronica Bates ran unopposed for and won the position vacated by longtime member Greg Smith. On Tuesday, Bates said she has plenty of ideas, but being a freshman on the committee, she is content to not “rock the boat” anytime soon.
Westbrook resident Sharon Parker inserts her ballots into the
Comments are no longer available on this story