Spencer upsets Lambros in legislature race

Chester —Democrat Noel Spencer held on to his narrow election night lead after all the paper ballots were counted to defeat Republican incumbent Dimitrios Lambros for the realigned District 8 seat in the county legislature. District 8 encompasses most of the towns of Chester and Tuxedo, with small pieces of Warwick (Kings Estates and Wickham Village) and Monroe (Schoolhouse Road and Lakeside). It now looks much different than it did before redistricting in February, when the bulk of Goshen and all of Chester except Surrey Meadow and the village were included. Lambros won Chester, according to Susan Bahren, the county’s Democratic Elections Commissioner. However, Spencer’s aggressive campaigning “helped his ability to get voters in two new Warwick districts,” she added. After all the absentee and other paper ballots were counted, Spencer led by 32 votes, only a handful fewer than the 37-vote lead he had after the machine count on Election Day. This isn’t unusual, said Bahren. The paper vote count often goes the way of the machine count, she said. Bahren and her Republican counterpart, Commissioner David Green, are checking into complaints from the Lambros campaign about Spencer campaigning at the Camp La Guardia homeless shelter. The campaign has questioned the residency of registered voters at the shelter. The commissioners will check to see if the 35 Camp residents registered to vote in Orange County were not also registered to vote in New York City. Bahren said none of those 35 men voted in this year’s elections. Another complaint, that a Camp La Guardia resident was handing out campaign literature too close to polling places on Election Day, was not related to Spencer’s campaign but to campaigning by some members of the Hasidic community of Kiryas Joel on behalf of candidates running for Monroe Town Board, Bahren added. Spencer is a Town of Chester councilman whose seat expires in 2007. The town board will make an appointment to fill the vacancy once he moves on to the legislature on Jan. 1. Chester Town Councilwoman Margaret Grumbach said that when previous vacancies occurred, the board accepted applications. The appointee will serve through 2006 and must face the voters next Election Day if he or she wishes to stay on the board until the term expires at the end of 2007. In November 2007, there will be an election for the four-year seat. Spencer said county law prohibits county legislators from also holding a town-level seat although elected village officials and school board members may also hold county office. n A hard-working campaigner Grumbach, a Republican, said she gets along well with Spencer and that he worked very hard in the race. In small towns, she said, political party isn’t as important as it is at higher levels of government. “It’s a small town,” she said. “Politics goes out the window. The rest of it is what’s good for the people” — streets, sewers, and other bread-and-butter issues. Spencer himself used the word “aggressive” when describing his successful campaign style. He said he was knocking on doors at apartment complexes late at night in order to reach commuters unavailable at other times. “People saw a marked difference between what I have done for the town and what my opponent did for the county,” Spencer said. “He really did not offer the county anything. “People know that I take my responsibilities seriously,” he continued. “That I know it’s an honor to serve the people. That I will not put party above people.” The questions he was asked most often while going door to door were, “What is the county legislature?” and “What will you be able to do for me?” He said he replied, “What would you like for me to do for you?” The problems he’s heard about from the people in Tuxedo have to do with the lack of commercial development because there is no main street in town, traffic congestion, and a major new housing development, The Ridge, that they fear will make traffic worse. In Chester he’s heard about the same problems he’s grappled with as a town board member, mainly rapid development and complaints about Camp La Guardia. Even if political party did not factor much in voters’ choices, it will make a difference on the county legislature. In January, the Republican’s 13-8 majority will drop to 11-10, giving Democrats greater leverage over some spending and other issues.