Democrats Take Slim Majority On Council
Tony Dolce, R-Ward 2 and current City Council president, is pictured at the Chautauqua Harbor Hotel on Tuesday. P-J photo by Michael Zabrodsky
Democrats are making noise in the city of Jamestown.
All told, Democrats have taken control of the City Council. With all districts reporting, Russ Bonfiglio will return to the City Council as the leading at-large vote-getter with 1,804 votes. But the city will have two new Democratic Party council members with Jeremy Engquist (1,793) and Daniel Gonzalez (1,785) as the next two top vote getters. In addition to Democrat Regina Brackman defeating Seth States, 179-93, Doug Scotchmer has defeated incumbent Joe Paterniti in Ward 4, 523-384. Hannah Jaroszynski has defeated Dan Hickman, 345-284, in Ward 5.
“I think it’s a very, very fun night, a very exciting night,” Engquist said. “I think that the Democrats in general – we’ve made some gains in Mayville, (and) we took the council in Jamestown. I think we just need to take tonight for what it is, OK, and then tomorrow we start planning.”
Scotchmer said his wife Marie Carubba, who previously served on the City Council, helped his chances at earning a seat.
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“One advantage I had is, my wife, Marie Carubba, when she was on City Council had a very good reputation, and worked very hard for the city. And I think having that connection to her helped me immensely,” Sotchmer said.
The councilman-elect added that because he is retired, he had time to walk the ward and knock on doors, and talk directly to voters.
“Having the time to be able to do that helped,” Scotchmer said.
Council President Tony Dolce said he has been in this position before where Democrats have controlled the council.
“It’s going to be awkward moving forward a little bit, but, you know, I’ve been in this position before, so we’ll move ahead and work with what we have,” Dolce said.
In legislative races, Vince DeJoy has beaten Phil Landy in District 9, 460-400, Robert Whitney has defeated incumbent Republican Tamara Dickey 483-380 in District 11 and incumbent Democrat Fred Larson has defeated Jeff Russell, 524-480, in District 12. Incumbent Tom Nelson has defeated Republican challenger Joseph Tickle. 325-223. The only Jamestown area Republican to win re-election was Jamie Gustafson, who defeated Julie Jackson-Forsberg, 831-602.
In Lakewood, five candidates ran for seats on the Lakewood Board of Trustees.
Three candidates ran for two trustee seats. Kristan McMahon ran on the Democratic and Taxpayer’s lines; and Ben Troche, and John Shedd ran on the Republican line.
In addition, two candidates ran for a trustee vacancy. John Jablonski ran on the Democratic and Taxpayer’s lines, while Scott Cooper ran on the Republican line.
Troche and Shedd retained their seats. McMahon gathered 335 votes, Troche earned 376 votes while Shedd received 377 votes.
For the vacancy, Cooper defeated Jablonski 371-323.
“Thank you to the voters for re-electing me for another four years,” Troche said. “We’ve accomplished a lot together, and we still have a lot more work to do,” Troche said.





