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2017 Election: Hammond, Lorenzini, Reichlin- Melnick. Ed Day, Hoehmann.

For the local GOP and Dems, Tuesday night was the best of times and the worst of times. And for one pair of candidates, it ain’t over until the absentee ballots are counted.
Nyack Democrats, running unopposed other than a late write-in challenge, waltzed to re-election. There were no Republican candidates in the race, so this election was all but decided during the September Democratic primary.

  • Former Deputy Mayor Don Hammond received 97 percent of votes cast for Nyack’s next mayor.
  • Elijah Reichlin-Melnick (45%) and Marie Lorenzini (43%) finished on top in the trustee race. Write-in candidates received 12%.

Republicans were re-elected in Rockland County, Clarkstown and the Orangetown Town Council.
Incumbent Rockland County Executive Ed Day (R) handily defeated first time candidate Maureen Porette (D), 54% to 43%.
In the Clarkstown Town Supervisor contest, incumbent George Hoehmann (R) withstood a challenge from former Clarkstown Police Chief Michael Sullivan, winning 56% of the vote.
On Election night the new Orangetown Town Supervisor was…TBD. Chris Day (R), son of RC Executive Ed Day, leads former Thom Kleiner by 1.2% points or 190 votes….before absentee ballots have been counted. Republicans Denis Troy (29%) and Thomas Diviny (28%) won reelection to the Orangetown Town Council. Later that week, Kleiner conceded to Chris Day in the Orangetown Supervisor race.
Statewide, unions and conservative thinking progressives successfully made their unopposed case to voters, defeating the NYS Constitutional Convention question by 77%. In Rockland, the No’s outpaced the Yes’s 67% to 11%.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day (left) speaks with NYS Governor Andrew Cuomo (right).


Day, a Republican incumbent with a background in law enforcement, beat Porette, a bright-eyed Democratic political newcomer. Day’s platform focused on the work he has done on behalf of the county’s economy.  He boasted “cutting Rockland’s deficit by nearly 90%” and reducing “the county budget by 9% (lowest since 2008), saving taxpayers $67 million. ” Porette ran against county corruption.
Hoehmann, like Day, he ran on an economic platform. “I’m proud of the fact that we reduced our debt by over $4,000,000 in less than two years,” he wrote in his Closing Arguments.

Former trustee Don Hammond will be sworn in as Nyack’s next mayor on Jan 1 2018.


Nyack Mayor-elect Don Hammond served on the Nyack Village Board for four years. Prior to running for political office, he was a member of the Nyack School Board for seven years. Hammond is President/CEO of Meals on Wheels of Rockland County and has 30 years in senior management of international and local non profits, including President/CEO of the United Way of the Dutchess-Orange Region and and COO of Rockland County YMCA.
Laird White took to Facebook on election day to post, “I am honored to have served.” Her tenure was nothing if not prolific. She ran in 2011 promising low taxes, stable services, economic development, cleaner streets, and creative redevelopment solutions. And for the most part her administration delivered on those promises: tax increases have been below 2% (and at 0% the last two years); Nyack’s streets are cleaner and crime is down, which White partially attributes to her 11-to-6 parking initiative; and as polarizing as redevelopment has been, her the final agreements have been nothing if not creative.
Laird White’s former Village Board Trustee Doug Foster said of Laird White, “She’s really amazing at getting the best–the best planning firm for Memorial Park, or hiring the best urban designer from New York City to redesign Main Street. She always finds a way to get the best talent on board and is more concerned with doing it right than doing it cheap.”
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Nyack People & Places, a weekly series that features photos and profiles of citizens and scenes near Nyack, NY, is sponsored by Sun River Health.


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