Democrats Elect New Elections Commissioner

New York Mills, NY – In a surprise twist, the Oneida County Democratic party elected a new Elections Commissioner. At last night’s reorganizational meeting, held at the Roselawn in New York Mills, current commissioner, Carolann Cardone, withdrew her name from consideration. It’s unclear at this time why.

The new commissioner will be Russell Stewart from Deansboro. Stewart works for the New York State Department of Mental Health in Madison County, served 10 years on the Waterville Central School Board, is President of the Madison County White Collar Local 827 Union and has served on many community boards and commissions.

The elections commissioners have come under scrutiny over the past couple of years from County Executive Anthony Picente, who questioned slow returns in the 2010 elections and several internal procedures that came to light after he commissioned an outside audit of the department. Last month the Republicans voted to elected Rose Grimaldi as their new commissioner, ousting current commissioner Pamela Mandryk.

The Utica committee voted to reelect Frank Meola as their city chairman, who out tallied fellow councilman James Zecca 35-24.

Mitch Ford, the County Chairman who was also reelected, said “I’m happy for all of the winners and look forward to working with everyone to move the party forward. We have a lot of work to do and we plan to work as a team.”

By Larry Tanoury Jr.