After two years
Carman wins county race



GUILDERLAND — Fort Hunter finally has an elected Albany County representative after nearly two-and-a-half years.

Republican Lee Carman beat incumbent Democrat Gene Messercola 510 to 508 for the county’s 29th District, after last week’s tie and a federal judge’s order to open two contested ballots. Both of the ballots were for Carman.

The two absentee ballots were from an original 40 contested ballots from the 2004 race between Carman and Messercola.

The ballots were singled out because they were faxed to their recipients, which in the past has been ruled illegal according to the State’s Election Laws.

Carman was sworn into the county legislature on Friday morning.
"I’m grateful for the outcome because the voters didn’t have their rights taken away," Carman told The Enterprise yesterday.
"I’m very active in various community activities," he said. He plans on hearing his constituents’ concerns the old fashioned way — by listening. "I’ll talk to people just like I always have," he said.

The state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, ruled that the disputed absentee ballots should be invalidated, which, turned the contested election into a heated partisan debate between Albany County Democrats and Republicans. Democrats sided with the state court saying the 40 ballots were invalid because they were mailed out or faxed using the original 2003 special election applications.

Once the election was postponed until the following April because of legal challenges over redistricting, the Court of Appeals said, new applications were needed because absentee ballots are only to be used if a voter cannot physically make it to the polls for that particular election.

Republicans wanted every ballot counted regardless of whatever mistakes were made by the county’s board of election in sending out the ballots. The Republican party turned to federal court because it said voters’ rights were being denied, making it a Constitutional issue.
"You can’t expect voters to raise legal challenges to ballots sent to them"They relied on the [county] board," said Carman’s attorney, Paul DerOhannesian. "There were no allegations anywhere that any voter acted fraudulent in any way"It was never an issue in this case."

The case was an issue of voters’ rights, DerOhannesian told The Enterprise, not of State Election Law.
"Dangerous Precedent"

Messercola doesn’t see it that way.
"I feel the judge made a decision and I respect his decision, but I don’t feel it was the right decision," said Messercola on Tuesday. "We were 508 to 508. We should have faced off and had another election."

DerOhannesian cited a similar case in Rhode Island where absentee ballots resulted in a contested election and the case was handed over to a federal circuit court that ruled the ballots be opened and counted.
"That’s not a fair election as far as I’m concerned," said Messercola, but he added of Judge Lawrence E. Kahn, "He made his decision and that’s it."

Having the federal court overrule State Election Law is a dangerous precedent, Messercola said. Before the absentee ballots were counted, Messercola was leading the race 490 to 486.
"The goal was to get the votes counted, regardless of the outcome," said DerOhannesian. "It’s not like when a machine breaks down. The election board made a mistake."

Messercola beat Carman in the 1999 race for the same seat, and that race was also too close to call, with absentee ballots having to be counted.
"I guess you could call me Al Gore and him George Bush," said Messercola, saying the election was decided by a federal court. "Now I know how Al Gore felt."

There was a four-month gap, during which time no one was representing Guilderland’s 29th District. Messercola was appointed by the legislature to fill his seat until the election dispute was settled.
"I didn’t accept back pay, I wouldn’t take it," Messercola told The Enterprise. "Even if I had won."

Messercola said he felt there should have been an appeal.

The Albany County Board of Elections’ Republican commissioner, John Graziano, said a stipulation was made that appeal would not be made once the federal court made a decision.
"We had no choice once the federal court said we had to open them," said Graziano.

The election debacle came from the redistricting controversy in 2003, Graziano said.
"This is all the result of redistricting," Graziano said. "The federal court in 2003 thought the redistricting was in violation of voter rights."

As a result, the special elections in November were pushed back to the following April. Messercola said that this resulted in a low voter turnout and an increase in absentee ballots.
"All of the state courts had ruled on this election, and then it went to federal court in denial of a person’s right to vote," said Graziano. "The federal court did not look at the state law as the overriding issue."
Graziano added, "When all the applications came in, we said, ‘Open them all.’ Then all of these lawyers got involved, and two years later, here we are."

All parties involved agree that the two-year-plus election case is unusual.
"Yes, it’s unusual, and it should be unusual. It should not be a regular event," said DerOhannesian.
When asked if he knew his new constituents’ concerns, Carman named issues like postal zip codes, the civic center, and nursing homes as his top issues now that the gas tax is out of the way. Carman became vague when asked about issues that affect Guilderland residents, whom he represents, saying, "My residents are a part of Albany County, so I will deal with Albany County issues."
When talking about his original campaign against Messercola, Carman stated simply, "My campaign was going door to door and giving people my qualifications."

Carman is a life-long Guilderland resident with degrees in finance and management from Clarkson University. He currently works for a private commercial investment group in Saratoga and is involved in the Guilderland YMCA board and its finance committee. Carman is also a member of the Guilderland Soccer Club board.

Messercola is also a life-long Guilderland resident who retired from the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 106, in 1999. He was the union’s president and business manager and was with the local for 41 years. Messercola also served on the Albany County Industrial Development Agency.
"I never rule anything out for the future. At this point I have every intention of running again," Messercola told The Enterprise. "I was a very effective legislator. I got things done."

Although Messercola is disappointed he won’t be returning to the Albany County legislature, he believes Carman will do well.
"I think my opponent ran a very good campaign. I wish him a lot of luck. He’s a great guy," said Messercola. "I think he’ll do a good job."