BERNE — Randy Bashwinger, longtime Berne highway superintendent, was ousted as voters elected a bipartisan town board on Tuesday.

Democrats will dominate on the board after several years of Republican rule that brought government to a halt last year when three GOP-backed councilmen abruptly quit.

Joseph Giebelhaus, a Democrat, was an assured win for supervisor with three party lines — Democratic, Republican, and Conservative — but the tallies for those lines are revealing.

Half of his 1,110 votes were on the Democratic line, about 30 percent on the Republican line, and about 19 percent on the Conservative line.

Republicans had made inroads in the Democrat-majority Hilltown in 2018 and took over the board in 2020. Then, last year, three GOP-backed candidates simultaneously quit, citing financial mismanagement by Supervisor Dennis Palow, who did not seek re-election, as well as a toxic work environment.

That brought the town government, since the board had no quorum, to a standstill for seven months and also left every board seat open.

Four candidates sought four-year terms on the board and the two winners, according to unofficial results from the Albany County Board of Elections, were Brian Bunzey with 641 votes followed by Casey Miller with 635.

Bunzey, a Democrat, ran on that line alone. Bunzey, who is retired, told The Enterprise before the election that the most important issue is “to have a board that works together. To talk to each other and come with common ground.”

Miller, a Republican, ran on both the Republican and Conservative lines. A business owner, he said the most important issues in the race were “the dysfunctional town government and our fiscal situation. We need a town board that can work together and support the supervisor so we can move the town in the right direction,” he said, answering Enterprise questions before the election.

Darin Cook, running on the Republican and Conservative lines, got 533 votes, and Donald Lee, a Democrat running solely on the Democratic line, got 530.

Three town council candidates also ran for two-year terms, to fill out vacancies.

Scott Duncan, chief of the East Berne Volunteer Fire Company who works as Albany County’s deputy commissioner of public works, was the front runner by a large margin with about 47 percent of the vote.

Of Duncan’s 1,049 votes, 546 were on the Democratic line, 336 were on the Republican line, and 167 were on the Conservative line.

Melanie laCour, a Democrat who had been appointed by the governor to restore a functioning government in town months after the three board members resigned, got more votes than Duncan on the Democratic line: 604. But that was her only line so she came in second.

Asked before the election why she was running, laCour, a lawyer, said, “I believe Berne deserves a town government that works for everyone — openly, responsibly, and with integrity.”

Chance Townsend came in third with 567 votes: 395 on the Republican line and 172 on the Conservative line.

Bashwinger ousted

Three of the candidates chosen at the Republican caucus had the GOP line on the ballot but were not supported financially or with publicity by the committee: Highway Superintendent Randy Bashwinger; Town Clerk Kristin De Oliveira; and Stephanie Audino, who ran for tax collector.

While De Oliveira prevailed on Election Night, Audino lost a close race to James Kaufman, and Bashwinger was soundly defeated by Allen Stempel.

Stempel, a Republican, ran on the Democratic line after he didn’t get the nod at the GOP caucus.

When The Enterprise asked before the election why he was running, Stempel said, “To honor my family’s commitment and dedication to our community.”

The late Rudy Stempel, a Republican who ran the saw mill in town, had been Berne’s supervisor in the midst of decades of Democratic control.

Allen Stempel, who operates a tree service, said, “The position of highway superintendent closely aligns with my skill set.”

“We’re running a bipartisan slate, supporting candidates on both lines,” Joe Martin, the Republican chairman, told The Enterprise in September when asked about not supporting the three candidates who had been chosen at the caucus. “And every single resident tells us that they want normalcy back in town and are so tired of the toxic environment from past administrations.”

Asked why he had lost the backing of the committee he once chaired, Bashwinger said then that the schism occurred after the three board members quit: “It was instant. The spark was because the three of them are pissed at me because I didn’t come out against Dennis Palow.”

He went on, “The three board members that quit our town are the three that stuck it in my back. They’re the ones that are endorsing Allen Stempel.”

Unofficial election results show Stempel with 57 percent of the votes; all of his 764 votes are on the Democratic line.

Bashwinger received 405 votes on the Republican line and 162 votes on the Conservative line.

De Oliveira, running on the Republican and Conservative lines, handily beat her Democratic challenger, Katherine Hill-Brown, with 64 percent of the vote to Hill-Brown’s 36 percent.

De Oliveira got 602 votes on the Republican line and 234 votes on the Conservative line. Hill-Brown received 467 Democratic votes.

Tax Collector Deb Flagler did not seek re-election. Kaufman, running solely on the Democratic line, is the committee’s chairman. He said he was running “to be part of the team to move Berne forward.”

Audino, a Republican running solely on the GOP line, said she was running “to serve our community with pride and confidentiality.”

Only 10 votes in the unofficial tally give the win to Kaufman: 629 to 619.

Incumbent Albert Raymond, who is enrolled as a Conservative, ran unopposed for town justice. He said the most important issue in the race was “community.” He also said, “Justice for all, regardless of race, creed or affiliation is so very important.”

Raymond received 582 votes on the Democratic line, 400 on the Republican line, and 185 on the Conservative line.