By Jesse Serwer
With two trustee seats on the village board up for grabs, incumbent Bruno Romano and newcomer Irene Villacci defeated Morgan Williams-Avila and Jack Tobin of the East Rockaway Unity party with a total of 973 and 974 votes, respectively. Williams-Avila received 375 votes, and Tobin garnered 370. Incumbent village Justice Steven Siegel, who ran unopposed, received 1,038 votes.
"That's a whupping," Teddy Sieban, son of village Trustee Edward Sieban, remarked after hearing the results from Hempstead Town Councilman Anthony Santino at the Village Pride Party's Atlantic Avenue headquarters Tuesday night.
The Village Pride Party will retain its hold on all of East Rockaway's elected offices, which include Mayor Joseph Carrigan, Deputy Mayor Richard Meagher and Sieban.
About one-sixth of eligible voters turned out for the village's third election in three years. Despite the fact that trustee terms run for four years, seats were available each of the past three years, including last year, when Edward Cook ran successfully on the Village Pride party line for a seat left vacant when Carrigan was elected Mayor.
"This was not an easy one. The party worked hard," said Villacci, a lawyer and the former head of the Nassau County Women's Bar Association, who will fill the seat vacated by Cook, a former judge who left the board to accept a position with the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C.
Among the issues that gave the Village Pride party an advantage, according to party officials, was the current administration's successful thwarting of a check-cashing business, which was also opposed by the Unity party, from opening in the community.
"I believe in what they are trying to do with the community," said Charlene Fried, a member of East Rockaway's Republican Club and a Pride Party supporter. "The other party felt they had to throw stones. This is too small of a town for that. I don't see why we even need two parties. We would get a lot more done if everybody cooperated."
Jack Tobin, defeated in his bid said," The results really don't bother me. People win, people lose. I hope East Rockaway is a better place tomorrow."
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