Archive: News

Kathy Miller (D) won the race for Lansing Town Supervisor Tuesday with 68.4% of the vote.  Edward J. LaVigne (R) won a seat on the town council, receiving 1,246 votes, and Ruth Hopkins (D) won the second open seat with 978 votes.  Highway Superintendent Jack French (R), Town Clerk Debbie Crandall (R), and Town Justice John Howell (R) were all reelected in uncontested races for those seats. "I'm obviously pleased with the results and I want to thank everybody that did help me," Miller said after the election.  "I had a cadre of people who worked very hard.  I think there is a lot to do and I'm ready to get down to work and do what needs to be done for the town."

Miller received 1323 votes, more than double the votes cast for independent challenger Connie Wilcox.  There were 10 write-in votes for the Supervisor position.  LaVigne and Hopkins were challenged by Andra Benson (R) who received 900 votes, and Michael Koplinka-Loehr (D) who got 840.  There were no write-ins for Town Council positions.

Wilcox says that people have told her they thought she was too closely aligned with outgoing Supervisor Scott Pinney, and would continue his legacy if she were elected.  She says that is not true, but the perception was there.

"I was pleased with the results.  It was a long shot at best," she said.  "I ran an independent campaign.  I did it all on my own.  I didn't have an army of people helping me, or a lot of financial backing.  I am proud of the service I have given this town for the past eight years and I am looking forward to doing a lot more for the community."

Miller is currently in year two of a four year term as councilwoman.  This means that she will have to appoint a new council member to fill out her term when she goes into office in January.  She says she has a number of good people in mind, but doesn't want to say who until she has talked it over with the rest of the council and talked to their choice as well.  Meanwhile, she has reviewed the law governing appointing council members.

"It reads like the supervisor appoints a member, but I'm not sure that's true," she says.  "All I can say is I won't appoint.  It will be a group decision because whoever it is has to work with everybody and everybody has to be on board and pleased with the choice."

Miller says the first thing she intends to do is to meet with every town employee.  She says she will do more listening than talking.  And her top agenda item is long term planning.

"One of the things is that I really want to work on a five year budget," she says.  "I think we can start right away on that, too.  We're going to have a lot of input.  We're going to need a lot of information.  Certainly the new board will."

Both newly elected council members say they are pleased with the way the campaign went.

"I thought that all four candidates ran a very clean, issues only campaign," LaVigne says.  "I appreciate that.  I think everyone who ran had Lansing at heart.  I am pleasantly surprised.  I am humbled, and I have a greater appreciation of the political process."

"I had a lot of great help from a lot of good people," Hopkins says.  "I thought everybody campaigned really hard and respectfully.  Campaigns are great because going door to door is such an educational experience, to hear what folks have to say about the town and how much they care."


Crandall had the highest number of votes of any Lansing candidate, at 1,611 for Town Clerk.  There were five write-in votes.  French received 1,583 votes for Highway Superintendent.  There were six write-ins for that position.  Howell garnered 1,467 votes, with 3 write-ins for the Justice position.

Voter turnout in Lansing was 31.5% Tuesday, with 2077 of 6601 people voting.  The highest turnout in District 1, where 39.67% of registered voters cast votes.  Next highest turnout was in North Lansing.  The lowest turnout was in the Village of Lansing, with 31.92% in District 5, 28.24% in District 6, and only 15.95% in district 7.

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