Anita Dugatto was re-elected to a second term as Derby’s mayor Tuesday, beating Republican challenger Richard P. Dziekan by 112 votes, according to unofficial numbers.
“It was close,” Dugatto told supporters with a smile and a thumbs up, after announcing the numbers at her campaign headquarters.
Unofficial numbers had Dugatto at 1,464 votes and Dziekan at 1,352.
Dugatto said she was saving her official victory speech for a celebration party held at The Hops Company, a new beer garden on Sodom Lane in east Derby.
But in an interview after the results were announced, Dugatto said her team is “laying all the groundwork” for what she said would be improvements in town.
“Now we can hit the ground running,” Dugatto said.
She said a widening project on Route 34 downtown and requests for proposals for a new city center plan would be her first task in her new term.
See more from Dugatto in the short video below.
In his concession speech to a roomful of dejected supporters at his Elizabeth Street headquarters, Dziekan praised Dugatto.
“I congratulate Anita. Our campaign was honest and fair between and her me. We’ll respect the wishes of the Derby voters and get behind our mayor.”
Dziekan thanked his campaign manager Sam Pollastro for his efforts.
“Sammy, we’re divorced,” Dziekan joked.
Watch the video below for more:
Dugatto lost 281 votes compared to her first mayoral campaign in 2013 when she unseated Republican Anthony Staffieri. Dziekan Tuesday did slightly better than Staffieri did in 2013, picking up 18 more votes compared to Staffieri’s 2013 total.
“We did a good showing and I think we put a good scare in them,” Dziekan said.
Dziekan said his immediate plans include a vacation with his wife, Kristen.
Pollastro said there were 731 days until Election Day, 2017, implying that the Republicans are ready for the next campaign.
The Republicans won two seats on the nine-member Board of Aldermen. Seven seats are held by Democrats.
Thomas Donofrio was elected in the First Ward. Donofrio is unaffiliated, but was endorsed by the Republican Town Committee and ran on the Republican line.
Staffieri, the former mayor, was elected to represent the Third Ward.
Staffieri said he did not campaign this year.
“I wanted to see if people would remember me, and I got voted in without knocking on one door,” he said. “I stayed out of the limelight and I guess they had something to worry about — getting re-elected.”
Democrat Arthur Gerckens, the current president of the Board of Aldermen, was re-elected to represent the Second Ward.
Gerckens and Staffieri do not like each other.
Their animosity toward each other caused the Derby race to take a sharp turn toward the negative in the final days of the campaign, with Gerckens and Staffieri exchanging last-minute insults in the letters section of The New Haven Register. Democrats early Tuesday posted a scathing Staffieri post on Facebook.
Don’t expect a Gerckens-Staffieri ticket in the next municipal election.
If Gerckens retains his role as Board of Aldermen president, he said he plans to “put (Staffieri) at the end of the table” and tell him “you can speak only when spoken to.”
“He’s dead to me,” Gerckens said before election results came in Tuesday. “I have no use for him.”
Note: Gerckens submitted a guest column Wednesday morning saying he shouldn’t have said that.
Staffieri said he does not respect Gerckens.
“He has never shown respect to our country or our way of life,” Staffieri said. ”He has no experience in leadership and he has no love for his country. This man has no business in public life. He has a marked black stain on his reputation.”
According to the unofficial results, Third Ward Aldermen David Anroman, a Democrat, was not re-elected.
The Aldermen’s race was different this year in that two Republican Aldermen — Peter Olenoski and Joe DiMartino — left the party to run as Democrats. Both were re-elected to the Board of Aldermen.
Judy Szewczyk, a Republican and member of the tax board for many years, was not re-elected. NOTE The City of Derby made a mistake in its unofficial tally Nov. 3 and issued some new totals Nov. 4. Szewczyk was, in fact, re-elected.
Click here for more info on the new totals.
Two familiar Democrats — George Kurtyka and Jim Stadt — were not re-elected to the Derby school board. NOTE The City of Derby made a mistake in its unofficial tally Nov. 3 and issued some new totals Nov. 4. Kurtyka was, in fact, re-elected.
New additions to the school board include Casey Picheco, a Republican who has previously served on the board, and Janine Netto, who ran on the Republican line. Both are active parents in the community. Note: The new tally Nov. 4 showed Picheco not getting a seat on the school board.
Click here for more info on the new totals.
Derby Treasurer Keith McLiverty was also re-elected. In 2013, McLiverty ran on the Republican line and won a close race. This time around he ran with the Democrats and declined a GOP endorsement.
“While I am always greatful and appreciative of the supporters, I also look at the no votes and reflect on what I can do better or different to earn their support snd serve them better,” McLiverty said in an email Wednesday morning.
McLiverty called for unity in Derby politics moving forward.
“The day after the election, we all have to work together to make our home town successful. Well, that day is today, so let’s work together,” McLiverty said.
Dan Foley, Jr., a retired Derby educator who ran twice for mayor as a Democrat, was elected to his first full term on the Derby Board of Education.
Foley had been appointed to the school board to fill a vacancy. He received the most votes of any candidate on the ballot, excluding the candidates for mayor, according to unofficial results.
DERBY ELECTION RESULTS, AS SUBMITTED TO THE STATE ON NOV. 4, 2015
