WXXI: Supervisor Surprises in Irondequoit and Greece (2009-11-04)

Two of Monroe County's largest suburbs saw surprising returns in their supervisor races Tuesday night.

In Greece, Democratic challenger Dan Maloney came within points of taking out Republican incumbent John Auberger. And in Irondequoit, incumbent Democrat Mary Ellen Heyman fell to Republican newcomer Mary Joyce D'Aurizio by about 7 points.

D'Aurizio says that's because her campaign reached out to all the voters.

"We did everything we could to reach out to every resident possible, to say we stand for fiscal responsibility, common sense leadership, respect for residents - so when they speak in public their voice is respected - and that we want to bring a most positive image back to Irondequoit, because it truly is a town for a lifetime."

D'Aurizio's success may have been contributed to by what Democratic party chair Joe Morelle calls "real concerns" about the leadership in Irondequoit.

"Irondequoit's a tough town to lead. There's a lot of competing interests, it's a town that's fully developed so it's hard to have new growth ... but we'll go back, we'll look at what we've done and what we need to do differently and hopefully come out of it a better party and better able to lead in the future."

Democrats aren't conceding the close Greece race, where Maloney picked up 49 percent to Auberger's 51. Maloney says he's waiting to see what absentee ballots hold before giving up his bid.

Elsewhere in the county, incumbents ruled the day.
Brighton's Sandra Frankel was uncontested and will return for another term.

In Chili, Democrat-turned-Republican David Dunning beat out Democrat Susan Vandervoort. Henrietta, Gates and Perinton incumbent Republicans kept their seats as well.

In Penfield Republican Tony LaFountain picked up the seat he left the county legislature for.

Parma was the exception to the incumbents' rule. Richard Lemke lost the seat he's held for 18 years, to a challenger who beat him in the Republican primary. Former county legislator Peter McCann will take the reins in Parma.