Gives Dolin win in N.S. supervisor race



NEW SCOTLAND – Democrat Thomas Dolin will be the next New Scotland supervisor.

With a lead of only 26 votes over Republican Douglas LaGrange after the Nov. 6 election, the count last week of 114 paper ballots determined the outcome of the race. Dolin won by 35 votes, with a tally of 1,454.
"I wish to assure each and every resident that, starting January 1, I will devote all my time and energy to ensuring that we keep New Scotland the community that we want it to be," Dolin, a retired lawyer, said this week. "I won’t allow our community to be overrun with development."
"It was close," LaGrange, a farmer, said of the outcome. "I’m very, very surprised that I came so close," he told The Enterprise. LaGrange will return to his seat on the town board and, with the retirement of Supervisor Ed Clark, he will be the only Republican on the board.
"My opponent ran a strong campaign," Dolin said of LaGrange, who had the support of Clark, who served the post for three two-year terms. "I felt like I was running against Mr. Clark and Mr. LaGrange, which presented a challenge," Dolin said. "I feel lucky to have survived," he joked.
"I didn’t run as strong in the village as I thought I would," said Dolin, who attributed it to Clark’s popularity there. Clark had been the mayor of Voorheesville for 17 years, before becoming supervisor. "He’s well-respected here in the village," Dolin said of Clark, who, Dolin said, sent out a letter to town residents encouraging them to vote for LaGrange and the other Republican candidates.
"I certainly wish Tom all the best," LaGrange said. "It’s not about politics or party when it comes to working for the town," he said.

LaGrange is finishing his second year of a four-year term on the five-member town board. With Dolin’s election and the re-election of Democrats Richard Reilly and Deborah Baron, the Democratic Party will maintain its majority on the board. Democrat Margaret Neri is the fifth board member; she will be up for re-election in 2009.
Campaigning for supervisor was "quite different" than campaigning for town justice, Dolin said. He served for 14 years as a town judge in New Scotland, resigning his post mid-term in March to run for supervisor.
"When you get into non-judicial aspects of government... there are differences of opinion," Dolin said, citing issues such as development, tax policy, and land use as examples.
The spectrum of issues is much greater, Dolin said. There was a bit of a learning curve "as far as educating myself to the challenges the town faces due to the threat of development and the need for adequate water for many residents who are served by inadequate and unreliable wells," he said.

Goals
Once he is sworn in on Jan. 1, one of the first things Dolin plans to do, he said, is address the budget gap. "We’ve been using up the budget surplus accumulated under Herb Reilly’s administration," said Dolin. "I’m faced with a substantial budget gap next year," he said, adding that he will explore "all types of solutions, including staff reductions."
He also plans to "accelerate" the search for adequate and safe water, he said.
"I hope to demonstrate over the next two years, my ability to do the job, and justify the voters’ confidence in electing me," Dolin said.
"I was told that absentee ballots would likely mirror the machine count," Dolin said. "I was told to presumably expect to win." The paper ballots consisted of 95 absentee ballots and 19 affadavit ballots.

He learned of his win in a message left by his wife, Nancy, on his cell phone. Mrs. Dolin went to the Albany County Board of Elections last Thursday as absentee ballots were counted, while her husband attended the funeral of William Childs, a former town planning-board member, and well-respected community figure.
"I found out after the funeral," Dolin said.
No "bitterness"
LaGrange said he feels that the results of the race partially reflect a need for people to "separate national issues from local issues," implying that the dissatisfaction with the Republican Party on a national level played into the results in New Scotland.
"That’s disappointing," said LaGrange. "It shows I should have done a better job of letting people know the local issues," he said.
Running for supervisor "was never a personal thing for me," said LaGrange. He saw it as an opportunity to do a good job for the town, he said.
"Doug is a very responsible board member," Dolin said. "I’ve always had a good relationship with him, and I respect his views," he said.
"We both tried to run campaigns that addressed issues and not personalities," Dolin said. "I don’t think there’s any bitterness," he added.
LaGrange said that he believes the supervisor post should have a four-year term. "To have to run every two years is an arduous process... It takes time away from family, and the job," he said. "Even the best of us might lose focus on what’s best for the town, having to go out and campaign," said LaGrange.
"I didn’t do it as well as I should have," he said of his own campaign.

In his first run for town board, LaGrange lost by just a handful of votes; he was successful in his second campaign.
In 2009, when his town-board term is up, "I’ll have given eight years to the town of New Scotland," LaGrange said, referring to his four years on the town’s planning board and his four years on the town board. "Eight years is certainly doing my civic duty," said LaGrange.
"I can’t answer if I’d run again for anything," LaGrange said.
"There are plenty of people that have at least as much or more to offer than I do... It’s tough to get people to step up and do it," he said. "I wouldn’t rule it out," LaGrange said of another run, either for town board or for supervisor.
LaGrange said that he will be there working "hand-in-hand" with Dolin, as long as he is doing what’s best for the town. "I hope he grabs ahold of some issues he’s talked about and moves forward... I’ll be there with my support and I would assume his majority will be, too," LaGrange said.
"It’s five people up there," LaGrange said of the board. "It’s not four-to-one or three-to-two," he said. "It should be five people working together."
"After visiting voters in various parts of town, I’m interested in helping them solve the various issues that need addressing," said Dolin. "I think I can expedite solutions. If I can do that, it would be very rewarding," he said.
"It’s exciting and satisfying to help people solve their problems," Dolin concluded.