By Jonann Brady with Anthony Rifilato and Angela Marshall
Despite a tense and often acrimonious battle between two well-known Baldwinites, Scannell beat Kamen by a clear margin, with 5,977 votes to Kamen's 4,292, with 100 percent of precincts reporting. The conservative challenger and fellow Baldwinite, Susan Wilmer, received 378 votes.
The Democrats held on to their slim 10-9 lead in the county legislature.
As election returns began coming in on Tuesday night, Scannell and about 25 supporters cracked champagne at his Browning Street home before heading over to the Democrat's election-night shindig at the Garden City Hotel. Scannell thanked his supporters and said, ÒIn the end, these numbers come about through hard work.Ó
He added that despite campaigning full time, Kamen's message was Òextremely negative.Ó ÒPeople don't want that,Ó said Scannell. ÒThey want to know Nassau County is headed in the right direction.Ó
Kamen, who has served on the board of the Baldwin Public Library and the Auxiliary Police Department for over two decades, hammered Scannell for being unresponsive to constituents and having few ambitious plans for the community. Kamen could not be reached for comment at press time.
The Fifth District covers most of Baldwin, South Hempstead and parts of Rockville Centre and Freeport.
There were no surprises in the heavily-Democratic First District, as incumbent Kevan Abrahams trounced his Republican challenger, Ricky LaRosa, 5,654 votes to 1,039. The First covers a small part of Baldwin, as well as Roosevelt, Uniondale and Hempstead Village.
As of late Tuesday night, it appeared that one local incumbent Democrat did fall, as Michael Zapson was unseated by Republican challenger Denise Ford in the Fourth District, covering Atlantic Beach, Long Beach and parts of Island Park and Oceanside. The vote tally at midnight Tuesday, not including absentee ballots, was 6,992 for Ford and 6,684 for Zapson.
Ford, a civic leader in Long Beach for several years, is a retired phone company technician and a registered Democrat, who is a former union shop steward for Communication Workers of America, Local 1101 and 1106.
