West Bloomfield results mirror primary

By David Wallace
C & G Staff Writer

WEST BLOOMFIELD — Election Day proved correct those who thought a highly contested Democratic primary in August decided who would sit in the seven seats on the township board.

All seven Democrats who prevailed in August gave a repeat performance and won election by comfortable margins. The township does indeed have seven new board members, and no Republican representation.

Michele Economou received 22,143 votes to Jeff Matte’s 10,936, essentially a two-thirds to one-third result, to become the township’s next supervisor. Current Supervisor David Flaisher attempted a write-in campaign, but only 320 write-in votes were cast in the supervisor’s election.

In the race for treasurer, Teri Adelberg Weingarden received 19,059 votes to Republican Jason Feld’s 13,870, about a 58-42 margin.

“I plan to immediately get to work on the many issues facing the township, including balancing the budget, improving revenue streams, creating efficiencies, settling union contracts and maintaining the services that the residents rely upon,” she said in an e-mailed statement.

As expected, Cathy Shaughnessy cruised to election with no Republican challenger. She received more than 98 percent of the vote in the election.

The four winning trustee candidates all received at least 20,000 votes. Steven Kaplan received the most votes, as he did in the primary, followed by Larry Brown, Gene Farber and Howard Rosenberg. The only Republican in the race, John Cyrus Mohyi, 20, received 12,373 votes.

The Parks and Recreation Commission had been decided in the primary, with all six candidates advancing. Maxine Brickner received the most votes on Election Day, 19,365, followed by Merv Aronoff, Carol Hack, Larry Horowitz, Margie Fiszman-Kirsch, Adam S. Littman and Gerald J. Sukenic.

The nonpartisan West Bloomfield Township Public Library Board of Directors stayed exactly the same. The six incumbents won, with Judith A. Holtz receiving the most votes, 13,382, followed by Arlene Bordman, Carol A. Kravetz, Ken Macon, Wendy B. Osthaus and Thomas Meyer. Challenger Salma Marougy Ajo finished about 3,400 votes behind Meyer for the last spot on the board.

For school board elections, voters in the Walled Lake Consolidated School District showed they liked incumbent Kathy J. Lyall, giving her 17,612 votes. Newcomer Greg Janicki finished second with 11,303 votes to grab the other seat in the race. Mathew Cornish finished third, and incumbent William Balestrino finished fourth. Peggy Casagrande, running unopposed for a partial term, received almost 99 percent of the vote.

In the West Bloomfield School District, unopposed incumbents David Einstandig and Bruce Tobin won easy re-election.

In county commissioner races, incumbents John A. Scott, a Republican, and Marcia Gershenson, a Democrat, won new terms. Republican Shelley Goodman Taub narrowly defeated incumbent Democrat Karen Spector by a margin of 132 votes to win the District 16 seat.

In other votes that might be of interest because of local angles, township Trustee Debbie Macon finished second among four candidates for a seat on the Oakland Community College Board of Trustees, but Thomas Patrick Sullivan won. State Rep. David Law, the son of the retiring township clerk, lost his bid to become Oakland County prosecutor. Jessica Cooper won with an approximately 54-45 margin.

Clerk Sharon Law said the polls were busy.

“Extremely, extremely busy. We had about 22,000 out in the precincts, and 15,000 absentees, maybe 16,000,” said Law, speaking at about 11 p.m. on Election Day. “And there’s 48,000 registered voters, so you can do the math.”

That makes turnout more than 75 percent.
     
“We didn’t have any problems at the polls. We had a few overly zealous exit pollsters at precinct 2. And I do mean overly zealous, but other than that we had a few long lines. We sent people out to reconstruct the area, and I think everything started to flow fairly well; in fact, very well,” said Law. “You know, some precincts were busier than others, just like anyplace else.”

You can reach Staff Writer David Wallace at dwallace@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1053.