By Matthew McGevna
Panzarella, Malone out; McDonald, Bailey in
Malverne has officially become a one-party government after the Independent Party swept the elections on March 20, knocking Taxpayers Party incumbents Anthony Panzarella and Bill Malone out of their seats. 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.
"He said to me 'I knew it,' he was very confident. Which was great." 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. "I'm overwhelmed," she said, "and I'm 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 it'll give a recharge to the village."
"This is a great night for Malverne," said Trustee-elect Michael Bailey, who learned of his election just moments after McDonald learned of hers. "We 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."
"I'm looking forward to working with Mike," re-elected incumbent James Callahan said. "Mike's very active in the community. He brings a lot of different skills to the community that we didn't have before."
"Both sides worked very hard," said Joe Canzoneri, a former mayor of Malverne and the chairman of the Independent Party. "And in this election the public was given a lot of information to make their decisions. This was the most informed electorate we've had in a long time."
In Panzarella and Malone's 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 Panzarella's campaign expressed shock and disbelief that the margin had been so large, explaining that generally voters take an "if it ain't broke don't fix it" 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.
"I have no regrets on this campaign because I did everything I felt I had to do," said Panzarella, "I 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 she's able to do the things that I feel are necessary to make sure this village is run right."
Panzarella added that in the end, "the celebrity status was just too much to overcome," citing Newsday's articles featuring her, as well as features on the radio and television. "She got a lot of publicity and publicity is a major help in campaigns."
"The village obviously was looking for a change. We don't know what the change desired was. We'll find out, I'm sure, but I can't imagine what it was, this board has worked cohesively for eight years now," said a volunteer on Panzarella's campaign.
"I am lost," said another supporter, "I'm really lost for words. We were all getting good vibes over the past three months."
"I think you can see by the faces here that everybody is in a little bit of shock," said Ben Truncale, the chairman of the Taxpayers Party. "I thought it would be closer, but I wish her the best of luck. I'm 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, that's why that was an even bigger shock."
"I'm certainly disappointed, but luckily I'll still be the president of the ambulance corps next year so my old job is still there and that's what I'll be doing," Bill Malone said. "Right now I'm just going to relax and enjoy my Wednesday and Thursday nights off. Other than that, we'll just see."
That uncertainty is echoed by Panzarella, who already hinted at a possible run for Trustee in the special election due to take place after McDonald's new appointment finishes a one-year term. But he also contemplated taking some time away from politics and focusing on his personal life. Panzarella's 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 Mayor's 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 Grossmann's 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 O'Brien. McDonald could not be reached immediately to confirm that. This week the board of trustees will also be reviewing the first draft of next year's village budget.
Truncale said the party will regroup and look forward to the next election cycle. "It's 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 they're supposed to."
"We all work very well together," McDonald said of her party, "We worked as a team on this entire campaign and I think that'll be evident when we work on the board together."
Comments about this story? Mal-wheditor@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 205.
