The popular Councilwoman Diane Benczkowski — who also has the endorsement of the Conservative party committee — is now the endorsed Democratic candidate for Supervisor as well.
Two incumbent Councilmen failed to secure the party nomination. A press releasee from the Town of Cheektowaga’s Democratic Committee appears below. The meeting lasted far past midnight.
CHEEKTOWAGA DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE ENDORSES BENCZKOWSKI FOR SUPERVISOR; WEGNER FOR HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT; PIOTROWSKI FOR TOWN JUSTICE; ZYDEL, KAZNOWSKI, AND HAMMER FOR TOWN COUNCIL; DANKOWSKI FOR TOWN CLERK
After a long night of voting, the 190-member Cheektowaga Democratic Committee is pleased to announce its official 2015 Town of Cheektowaga endorsements. For Cheektowaga Supervisor, Diane Benczkowski who received 10,473 weighted votes, won over Alice Magierski who received only 8,769 weighted votes. For Highway Superintendent, incumbent Mark Wegner, who received 12,824 weighted votes, won by a landslide over Jerzy Galazka, who received only 5,725 weighted votes. For Town Clerk, current Deputy Town Clerk Vicki Dankowski, who received 9800 weighted vote, won over newcomer Richard Rusiniak, who received 8,900 weighted votes. Current Town Justice Paul Piotrowski ran unopposed and received a unanimous nod from the Committee!
There were seven candidates seeking the Cheektowaga Town Council seat and both incumbents, Gerald Kaminski and Christine Adamczyk, failed to garner enough votes to receive the Cheektowaga Democratic Committee endorsement. The top vote-getters were Richard Zydel with 10,971 weighted votes, Stan Kaznowski with 10,811 weighted votes and Linda Hammer took the third spot with a runoff of a second ballot vote. Newcomers Ken Young and Steven Specyal failed to acquire enough votes to make it to the second round of voting.
WOW, this is very interesting.
Love the press release, too, LOL, especially the “only” included several times, “landslide” and the like. And at the beginning, “190-member Cheektowaga Democratic Committee is pleased to announce.” Not sure if everyone would like that, the “pleased” part, LOL, but politics is politics.
The spread for Town Supervisor portends a tough run for Alice Magierski, to me, but I would think the head-to-head vote on Primary Day would give a few more point to Diane B. I just can’t see Alice getting past being tagged with Frank Max and the others wanting to take back control.
I just don’t see Alice having the vibrant image needed to overcome Diane’s youthful energy.
I am also surprised Christine Adamczyk came up short. What happened there? And it’s interesting that Gerald Kaminski was pushed to the side by two former colleagues on the council, Richard Zydel and Stan Kaznowski. Obviously, with Mr. Zydel doing so well in this committee vote, he continues to have good relations with all the factions. Quite a turn-around from just two years ago for Rick. Good for him!
I’m sure, Matthew, that your readers would love to know if any of the Democrats who came up short have indicated that they would challenge the endorsed slate in a primary. With so many offices up in Cheektowaga this time around, you’ll need a lot of money and volunteers to break through. And just how effective will walking door-to-door be with scores of candidates on the streets?