PETITION DEADLINE PASSES

GOP ELEPHANT APPEARS

READY TO ROMP IN FALL

By JIM KEVLIN • for allotsego.com

COOPERSTOWN

Republican control of the Otsego County Board of Representatives appears secure after the deadline for filing petitions passed at 5 p.m. Thursday.  The county Board of Elections released its list of candidates a few minutes ago.

County Democrats have ceded two seats now held by its partisans to the Republicans:

• District 7: David Bliss, the Middlefield town supervisor, is unopposed for the seat now held by Beth Rosenthal, Roseboom, who is moving to Albany.
• District 13, newcomer Len Carson, retiring Oneonta Fire Department captain and proprietor of DC Media, the billboard company, is unopposed as a Republican for the seat held by Democrat Linda Rowinski, who is retiring from the board.

VIEW LIST OF ALL CANDIDATES WHO FILED PETITIONS

By contrast, the Republicans are surrendering no seats to the opposing party.v

Republicans are unopposed for three seats:  District 1 (Ed Frazier, Unadilla), District 3 (Kathy Clark, Otego, the board chair), and District 6 (Peter Oberacker, the Maryland town supervisor, succeeding Republican Don Lindberg).

By contrast, there’s only one unopposed incumbent Democrat, Kay Stuligross, in the City of Oneonta’s District 14.

Plus, five Republicans in contested races have the advantage of incumbency: In District 2 (Jim Powers, Butternuts, who has twice defeated Democratic challenger Theresa Winchester, Gilbertsville); District 4 (Janet Hurley Quackenbush, who is being challenged in the Town of Oneonta District by Democrat Town Board member Andrew Stammel); District 8 (Rick Hulse, Fly Creek, is being challenged by Democrat Andy Marietta, Cooperstown); District 9 (Keith McCarty, East Springfield, who is being challenged by newcomer Dan Sullivan, Richfield); District 12 (Craig Gelbsman, who is being challenged the City of Oneonta by Democrat Amy HornburgHeilveil, who he defeated last time).

By contrast, that’s five Republicans, compared to only  two Democrats, who have the advantage of incumbency in the contested races:   District 5 (Ed Lentz, New Lisbon, who is being challenged by Republican Meg Kennedy, Hartwick), and District 11, another city district (Gary Koutnik is being challenged by Republican Jim Phillips).

A wild card is the Edmeston-based District 10, where incumbent Republican Betty Anne Schwerd switched to the Conservative line, and is challenged by Democrat Russ Bachman, the former acting county treasurer.  and Republican Dan Wilber, a Burlington town justice.