Roach Scores Decisive Victory in Race for White Plains Mayor

The open secret surrounding Thursday’s special election for mayor of White Plains was that low voter turnout was probably the only thing that would give Bob Hyland or Glen Hockley a real chance at defeating Democratic Acting Mayor Tom Roach. In a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans by a two-to-one margin, a strong showing by Republican or independent voters—or a dramatic defection of Democratic voters to one of the other two candidates—were really the only ways a Hyland or Hockley victory was possible.

As it turned out, Roach’s victory was assured barely 30 minutes after the polls closed. As the percentage of the city’s 43 voting districts reporting crept up, Roach maintained a majority of the vote, hovering just above 50 percent with Hyland above 30 percent and Hockley far behind. When all 8,700 votes were in, Roach had 52 percent to Hyland’s 35 and Hockley’s 13.

Roach, who also ran on the Working Families and Independence Party lines, will serve the final 33 months of former Mayor Adam Bradley’s term. Bradley, a former state assemblyman who was endorsed by both major parties and three other parties in 2009, and who won 82 percent of the vote (with only Hockley, as a write-in candidate, providing any competition at all), resigned in February after being convicted in December of several misdemeanors related to domestic violence charges involving his wife.

Hyland, who ran on the Republican and Conservative Party lines, and whose supporters gathered at his Sports Page Pub in White Plains on Thursday night, called to congratulate Roach when about three-quarters of the voting districts had reported their results. In a speech to his supporters soon after, Hyland said Roach was a “class guy,” adding that “I thought he conducted himself quite well in the campaign, and I tried to do the same.” He thanked his staff and advisors, calling the campaign “a wonderful experience, a wonderful example of teamwork.”

Hyland also expressed hope that the campaign he ran and the support he did get at the polls would make a difference. “I think we sent a message to the people at 255 Main St.,” he said, “that we are looking for tax relief, we are looking for a more affordable city, and we are looking for services that we’ve grown to expect and deserve. It can be done; we can continue it, and I think with a government which is now thinking more about the people, we can accomplish this.”

Neither Hyland nor Hockley ruled out a run for a Common Council seat, though neither was enthusiastic about the prospect on Thursday night. Hockley said only that “I really haven’t thought about what I’m doing tomorrow, but thank you.” Hyland said “I’m certainly not a political junkie, but I am a big fan of the City of White Plains, and if I thought I could help, I would certainly give it consideration.”

Hockley, who ran on the independent People Over Politics line and who often sparred with Roach when they served together as Democrats on the Common Council and during the campaign that ended last night, congratulated Roach and said “hopefully, our city will be in great hands.”

The Common Council will appoint someone to fill Roach’s Common Council seat through the end of 2011, according to Liz Shollenberger, chair of the White Plains Democratic City Committee. That person would then have to run in this November’s general election to serve the rest of Roach’s term, which runs through 2013. Three other seats, currently held by Benjamin Boykin, Milagros Lecuona, and Dennis Power, will also be up for grabs in November. Shollenberger said the city Democrats might suggest an appointee for Roach’s seat, but that the Common Council alone has the power to nominate and appoint. She declined to share any possible candidates she has heard about or is hoping for.

In his victory speech at the Hudson Grille on Mamaroneck Avenue, Roach began by facetiously thanking Bob Castelli, who narrowly defeated him in 2009 for a seat in the New York State Assembly. “If he didn’t turn those 36 voters,” Roach said, “I’d be in the Best Western in Albany tonight.” [The final tally had Catelli winning by 100-plus votes.]

Roach then thanked the people of White Plains, “for seeing through a lot of the stuff that goes on during a campaign.” He also thanked each of his Common Council colleagues by name, calling Councilman Ben Boykin “one of my greatest friends in politics” and his “closest advisor.” He said he will view the Common Council as “a council and a cabinet together.”

“We all know we live in a great city,” Roach continued. “I love this city. My family comes from here, my family is here now, my kids are in the schools. It’s a diverse city. I love every part of this community, and I promise you as your mayor, I’m going to fight for every single person in this city, wherever they live, whatever their economic background, because that’s what White Plains is all about.”

Mayor Roach also thanked his wife, Beth, for supporting him when he was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer in his nasal pharynx three years ago (he is now cancer-free, he said). “I don’t know what was more painful for her,” he said, “going through that or all this one-and-a-half years of nonstop campaigning that I put her through. When I met her, I was doing fine in my life, and I was happy, but she really gave me the impetus—and I hope both of us gave each other the impetus—to really strive to do what we could in life.”