By Matthew McGevna
In an election many thought would come down to the wire, voters elected Patricia McDonald the new mayor by a difference of 446 votes, a margin much larger than many imagined. Independent Party incumbent James Callahan kept his seat with a total of 1671 votes. Challenger Michael Bailey grabbed the second vacant seat with 1424 votes, defeating Malone who garnered 1171 votes. Also elected for his sixth term was Village Justice James Dougherty who ran uncontested.
But the night belonged to McDonald, who was the first to hear news of the unofficial results, and embraced her supporters with an elated shriek. She then ran to her husband Steven and embraced him as well.
³He said to me ŒI knew it,¹ he was very confident. Which was great.² McDonald said. She added that winning was a difficult hurdle because Panzarella was the mayor for eight years and had campaigned on the strength of his experience. ³I¹m overwhelmed,² she said, ³and I¹m very excited to work with the people of the village‹to listen to whatever they have to say, and to bring new ideas. I think it¹ll give a recharge to the village.²
³This is a great night for Malverne,² said Trustee-elect Michael Bailey, who learned of his election just moments after McDonald learned of hers. ³We have a lot to live up to, the voters put a lot of trust in us, and we have a lot of work ahead of us.²
³I¹m looking forward to working with Mike,² re-elected incumbent James Callahan said. ³Mike¹s very active in the community. He brings a lot of different skills to the community that we didn¹t have before.²
³Both sides worked very hard,² said Joe Canzoneri, a former mayor of Malverne and the chairman of the Independent Party. ³And in this election the public was given a lot of information to make their decisions. This was the most informed electorate we¹ve had in a long time.²
In Panzarella and Malone¹s camp, the atmosphere was subdued but not funereal. Both candidates had positive things to say about the newly elected officials. Panzarella congratulated McDonald and joined his supporters at a nearby restaurant. Volunteers who had worked on Panzarella¹s campaign expressed shock and disbelief that the margin had been so large, explaining that generally voters take an ³if it ain¹t broke don¹t fix it² attitude, and they believed their incumbent candidates had been doing a good job. Nobody seemed to be able to pinpoint what had gone wrong, nor did they express any regret over the way they campaigned.
³I have no regrets on this campaign because I did everything I felt I had to do,² said Panzarella, ³I rang every doorbell in Malverne. I ran a clean campaign, never said a bad thing about my opponents in the whole campaign. I wish her [McDonald] well, I wish the people of Malverne well, and I hope she¹s able to do the things that I feel are necessary to make sure this village is run right.²
Panzarella added that in the end, ³the celebrity status was just too much to overcome,² citing Newsday¹s articles featuring her, as well as features on the radio and television. ³She got a lot of publicity and publicity is a major help in campaigns.²
³The village obviously was looking for a change. We don¹t know what the change desired was. We¹ll find out, I¹m sure, but I can¹t imagine what it was, this board has worked cohesively for eight years now,² said a volunteer on Panzarella¹s campaign.
³I am lost,² said another supporter, ³I¹m really lost for words. We were all getting good vibes over the past three months.²
³I think you can see by the faces here that everybody is in a little bit of shock,² said Ben Truncale, the chairman of the Taxpayers Party. ³I thought it would be closer, but I wish her the best of luck. I¹m a little surprised about Michael Bailey, he came out of nowhere with really no experience in government, and he went up against Bill Malone whose name is synonymous with public service, that¹s why that was an even bigger shock.²
³I¹m certainly disappointed, but luckily I¹ll still be the president of the ambulance corps next year so my old job is still there and that¹s what I¹ll be doing,² Bill Malone said. ³Right now I¹m just going to relax and enjoy my Wednesday and Thursday nights off. Other than that, we¹ll just see.²
That uncertainty is echoed by Panzarella, who already hinted at a possible run for Trustee in the special election due to take place after McDonald¹s new appointment finishes a one-year term. But he also contemplated taking some time away from politics and focusing on his personal life. Panzarella¹s wife, Aurelia, is Polish, and the couple stated that they travel to Europe often because Aurelia misses her native country.
As for McDonald, she takes over as the new mayor of Malverne village on April 1, and says she will get to work immediately on the newly established Mayor¹s Youth Assembly, as well as negotiating a franchise agreement with Verizon. She also said she will be continually keeping the residents informed about the status of Grossmann¹s Farm, and plans to meet with the family that owns the farm. For winning the election, she also has the added bonus of hand-picking a candidate to fill her vacated trustee seat. Panzarella said he believed the appointment would go to former Fire Chief Jack O¹Brien. McDonald could not be reached immediately to confirm that. This week the board of trustees will also be reviewing the first draft of next year¹s village budget.
Truncale said the party will regroup and look forward to the next election cycle. ³It¹s our job as citizens to make sure that everybody is being represented and you can bet that we will have somebody if not a lot of people at every meeting making sure that they do their jobs the way they¹re supposed to.²
³We all work very well together,² McDonald said of her party, ³We worked as a team on this entire campaign and I think that¹ll be evident when we work on the board together.²
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