A Democratic Sweep In Grafton

by Alex Brooks
A change in leadership will be coming to Grafton with a new Supervisor and, if Rick Ungaro’s lead holds up after absentee ballots are opened, a Democratic majority on the Town Board.
Ray Darling received 468 votes for Grafton Town Supervisor to incumbent Tyler Sawyer’s 377. Darling said he is ecstatic – very excited and anxious to get to work. Darling said he hopes to unify people in Town. When asked what he thought led to his success, he said, “I’m not a politician – I think that might have helped.” He said he has knocked on an awful lot of doors in the last few weeks, perhaps a hundred homes each weekend, and he said many people expressed  dissatisfaction with some of the things that have happened over the past year. The issue he heard most about was the change from elected assessors to appointed assessor.
Tyler Sawyer said, “This is what the Democratic process is all about. The voters have spoken, and we respect it.”
Barbara Messenger was the top vote-getter for the Town Council seats with 438. She said  she was very happy with the outcome, and she believed the main thing driving this election was “to give people back their voting rights.” She said, “A lot of people take that seriously,” and didn’t like the changes made to the assessor position. She was quick to add that the issue is about voting rights more than it is about the people filling the jobs. “It’s not about the personalities,” she concluded.  Messenger said, “We had a wonderful time meeting a lot of people and listening to their concerns.” She said it was the goal of her team to visit every household in Grafton, and she believes they got to nearly all of them. “We picked up a lot of valuable information,” said Messenger. Some of those they visited mentioned that there are parts of Town where you can’t get DSL service; some mentioned the importance of youth programs and recreational programs. Messenger was clearly energized by all the citizen input. “I’m excited and looking forward to another term on the Town Board,” she said.
Rick Ungaro was leading by 20 votes over Pete Gundrum for the second Council seat, 420 votes to 400, but there are 43 absentee ballots, so the outcome remains in doubt until the absentee ballots are counted on Monday.
Democrat Frank Higgins won handily over Republican Ken Bruno in the race for Grafton Town Justice. The vote was 504 for Higgins to 327 for Bruno. Higgins said, “I am thankful to the voters for their support, and I am looking forward to doing a good job for them. I was also pleased that they supported the rest of the slate of my running mates. The people I ran with are very sincere in their desire  to make the Town a better place to live.”
Town Clerk Sue Putnam was re-elected with 671 votes, running unopposed. She said although she was in favor of Sawyer’s re-election, she wishes the new Town officers well and hopes to have a good working relationship with them, although she remains concerned for the Town because of the inexperience of some of the newly elected. Although Putnam is a Democrat, she declined to run on the Democratic line because of friction with some of the Democratic candidates and committee people.
Herb Hasbrouck received 651 votes running unopposed for re-election as Highway Superintendent, and Mary Gentner was re-elected as Tax Collector with the largest vote total of the day, 764 votes.