Staff Reports
Wheatfield supervisor
After 14 years, a change in leadership is coming to Wheatfield on Jan. 1 — unless a lot of residents bring their pens to the voting booth on Tuesday.
After current supervisor Timothy Demler was knocked off the ballot in September’s primary, the race for town supervisor came down to Republican Robert Cliffe and Democrat Sam Conti.
In meeting with the Gazette’s editorial board, both men voiced concerns about the state of the town’s finances and the need to get a handle on the budget right away. Both men also brought up the current problems with FEMA and the flood plain maps and discussed transparency in local government.
If you’re looking for what separates the two candidates it’s their backgrounds: In addition to serving as a town justice, Cliffe worked for 16 years in management at Voss Manufacturing and is currently employed as a manager at Helmel Engineering Products Inc.
Conti has worked more than 22 years for the state Department of Parks and Recreation and has served as a union president for the past 11 years.
In the end, we decided to endorse Cliffe for Wheatfield supervisor, primarily due to his business background. In talking with the Gazette, Cliffe had a good grasp on all he wanted to accomplish in the town.
As he said during his interviews with a Gazette reporter and the editorial board, “My experience leaves me better suited to handle a $12 million checkbook and 55 employees.”
Having said that, there’s a lot to like about Conti, not the least of which is his passion to serve. This is his third bid for public office in Wheatfield. If not as supervisor, Conti deserves a chance to make a difference in local politics. We hope he gets that chance soon.
Lewiston supervisor
If there’s been one ugly local election it’s the race for supervisor in the Town of Lewiston. Mud has been slung from the two major party candidates — Democrat Fred Newlin, the current supervisor, and Republican Steve Reiter, the town’s highway superintendent.
It was tough to know what to expect when both men sat down with the Gazette’s editorial board. Surprisingly, both men stuck to the issues and presented well though out ideas for the future of the town.
As you might expect, the NYPA relicensing deal was a big topic with Newlin touting the deal and Reiter saying the town, or more specifically its fire departments and other emergency services, could have gotten more. Reiter added that with other local entities still talking to NYPA maybe the discussion needs to be brought up again.
In any event, we don’t think voters should ever lose sight of the fact Newlin was the only elected official to bring his constituents lower electric bills as a result of the relicensing process.
The two men took opposite stances on consolidation with the village and development in the town. Newlin supports a consolidation plan, he said the village dissolving itself sometime in the future could be a big mess for the town. He does not support additional home building in the town.
Reiter takes the opposite stance and says controlled development is needed. He’s against consolidation and says so are many in the town and village.
In talking to both men it’s clear there’s a major disconnect between them at this stage in the game with Reiter skipping town board meetings and being considered something of a maverick for taking action without consulting other town officials. He says its born out of a desire to be responsive to the people in the town and address issues immediately rather than talk them out. It’s led to investigations by the FBI, state comptroller and lawsuits, according to town officials, who’ve been all too willing to talk about past transgressions in recent weeks.
Separating ourselves from all of that — it’s hard to know what to believe with so many accusations flying — and focusing on the interviews with the candidates, we can only say one thing:
We’re stumped. There was a lot to like — and a little to dislike — in both candidates.
In this race we can’t in good faith select one man over the other.
