Voters Nix Longer Terms For Town Posts: Rockland Results

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — In Rockland County results as of midnight Tuesday, Clarkstown voters apparently disliked the idea of giving their elected officials longer terms. Plus, Rockland will need a new district attorney: Thomas Zugibe won a seat on the state Supreme Court.

• NY Supreme Court Results: Rockland Needs A New DA

Here are results for many of the contested races in the county. All are unofficial until certified by the boards of election.

Congress D17
A New City resident, Joe Ciardullo, unsuccessfully challenged longtime Rep. Nita Lowey in Congressional District 17, which covers part of Rockland County plus Peekskill, Cortlandt, part of Yorktown, Ossining, part of New Castle, Mount Pleasant, Greenburgh, City of White Plains, Harrison, Rye, City of Rye, part of Scarsdale. Ciardullo made no bones about being a political novice, suggesting given what Washington D.C. is like right now it wouldn’t be bad to send an “Average Joe” to Congress.

• Joseph J. Ciardullo REF: 16,463
• Nita M. Lowey D WF WE (incumbent): 129,512

Senate District 38
State Senator David Carlucci looks to have easily beaten back a second challenge from former Rockland County Executive Scott Vanderhoef to represent the people of the 38th NY Senate District, which includes much of Rockland and a bite out of the Westchester shore of the Hudson River.
Carlucci was first elected in 2010.

• David Carlucci D WE (incumbent): 30,076
• C. Scott Vanderhoef R C IN REF: 18,016

Carlucci survived a Democratic challenge in the primaries. He was one of only two members of the Independent Democratic Conference, which disbanded this spring, to survive. His challenger, Julie Goldberg, ran to the left of Carlucci and came within 2,000 votes.

Vanderhoef also made Carlucci’s IDC time a campaign issue, saying that Carlucci was more concerned with currying favor with political bosses than helping the people he was elected to serve. Ethics, the environment and fiscal responsibility were his top priorities, he said.

Senate District 39
Fighting over the state senate seat from which Bill Larkin is retiring, which includes parts of Orange, Rockland and Ulster counties, Assemblyman James Skoufis of Orange County faced off against Stony Point Councilman Tom Basile, a consultant for Reclaim New York, the nonprofit funded by the Mercer family, which also backs the conservative Breitbart news site. Basile was endorsed by United Citizens of Kiryas Joel, netting him the ‘bloc vote’ from the large Hasidic community. A cornerstone of Basile’s campaign was reducing government spending. Skoufis said he wanted to see the district get its fair share of infrastructure and education aid.

With 230 of 249 election districts reporting, Skoufis declared victory over Basile late Tuesday night. The district is comprised of parts of Orange, Rockland and Ulster counties.

• Tom Basile, R C IN 38,747
• James Skoufis, D WF WE REF 48,170

Skoufis Declares Victory In 39th State Senate District Race

Assembly District 97
Ellen Jaffee faced a challenge from Rosario Presti Jr. for the district that includes Hillburn, Suffern, Montebello, Airmont, Monsey, Spring Valley, Hillcrest, Chestnut Ridge, Nanuet, Pearl River, Blauvelt, Orangeburg, Tappan, Piermont, South Nyack, Nyack.
With half the districts reporting, the state Board of Elections announced these tallies as of midnight:

• Ellen Jaffee, D WF WE REF (incumbent): 14,010
• Rosario Presti Jr., R C: 8,167

Clarkstown
There were two propositions on the ballot, the first to change councilmembers' terms to four years from two years; the second to change the terms for supervisor, clerk and highway superintendent to four years from two. Apparently they were disliked.
Proposition 1
Yes: 4,247
No: 9,667
Proposition 2
Yes: 4,247
No: 9,374

Orangetown
Two people ran for the unexpired term of the town clerk. With all the districts counted it was a close race.

• Rosanna Sfraga, R C IN REF: 9,974
• Robert Tompkins, D WE: 9,352

Sign up for Patch news alerts to get updates straight to your inbox.