Five Kids First pols make November ballot

Carl Glassman was the only Kids First candidate not to make it on the ballot.

By: Linda Seida
   In the race for an opportunity to win six seats on the New Hope-Solebury Board of School Directors, Republican voters heavily favored the incumbents while Democrats opted for change and cast their votes for the challengers in the primary Tuesday.
   All candidates for the school board except one, Carl Glassman, made a showing in the primary and will be on the ballot in November.
   William Behre, one of a group of six challengers who ran on a campaign under the banner of Kids First, said Tuesday, "Given the fact that none of us are incumbents, I think we have to be generally pleased with yesterday’s showing. Of course, in NH-S, the folks running on the Republican ticket do have an advantage going into the general election, so some folks from our group continue to be underdogs. That’s OK, though, we’ve been underdogs all along."
   Amanda Elefante, another member of the Kids First slate, said, "I am excited and thrilled that we had five out of our six candidates make it through the primary."
   Voters in New Hope and Solebury also solidly endorsed a state bond issue to spend $625 million for "maintenance and protection of the environment, open space and farmland preservation, watershed protection, abandoned mine reclamation, acid mine drainage remediation and other initiatives."
   In New Hope, voters cast 148 yes ballots and 35 no ballots in response to the bond question. In Solebury, 562 voters said yes while 121 said no.
   In Bucks County, the bond passed with 73 percent of the voters approving it.
   Six seats on the Board of School Directors in the New Hope-Solebury district are up for grabs in the November election. Four terms are for four years each. Two terms are for two years each. All candidates in Tuesday’s primary cross-filed on the Democratic and GOP tickets.
   Four challengers who were part of a six-person team running under the banner of Kids First snagged the Democratic slots for the four-year terms. Mr. Behre, Ms. Elefante, Megan O’Brien and Tamara Baldasari defeated incumbents David Dozbaba and Christine Flynn, the board vice president.
   Ms. O’Brien won 223 votes from Solebury and 87 from New Hope for a total of 310. Mr. Behre earned a total of 268 votes, 204 from Solebury and 64 from New Hope. Ms. Elefante garnered 267 votes, 205 from Solebury and 62 from New Hope. Ms. Baldasari won a total of 256 votes, 179 from Solebury and 77 from New Hope.
   Democrats in Solebury gave Ms. Flynn 165 votes, and New Hope voters gave her 50 for a total of 215. Democrats in Solebury gave Mr. Dozbaba 144 votes, and New Hope voters gave him 27, for a total of 171.
   Although the Kids First team defeated Mr. Dozbaba and Ms. Flynn on the Democratic ticket, the two incumbents won slots on the GOP ticket, along with Mr. Behre and Ms. O’Brien.
   Ms. Flynn walked away with the most Republican votes, 477. Seventy came from New Hope and 407 from Solebury. Mr. Dozbaba received the second highest total from Republicans with 382, 50 of them from New Hope and 332 from Solebury.
   Mr. Behre won 82 votes from New Hope and 329 from Solebury for a total of 411. Ms. O’Brien took home 347 votes, 279 from Solebury and 68 from New Hope.
   Losing out on the Republican ticket were Ms. Baldasari and Ms. Elefante. Ms. Baldasari won a total of 281 votes, 218 from Solebury and 63 from New Hope. Ms. Elefante won 343 votes, 277 from Solebury and 66 from New Hope.
   In the race for two two-year terms, Democrats chose challengers Laurence R. Fieber and Margaret M. Depp over incumbent Sean J. Hopkins and Kids First candidate Carl A. Glassman.
   Mr. Fieber earned 282 votes, 208 from Solebury and 74 from New Hope. Ms. Depp won 238 votes, 165 from Solebury and 73 from New Hope.
   Mr. Hopkins garnered a total of 176 votes, 137 from Solebury and 39 from New Hope. Mr. Glassman earned 216 votes, 141 from Solebury and 75 from New Hope.
   Republicans favored Mr. Hopkins, an incumbent, with 411 votes, 361 from Solebury and 50 from New Hope. Mr. Fieber also won endorsement from Republican voters with a total of 520, 433 from Solebury and 87 from New Hope.
   Ms. Depp earned 262 votes, 218 from Solebury and 44 from New Hope. Mr. Glassman earned a total of 222 votes, 160 from Solebury and 62 from New Hope.
   In the municipal races, incumbent New Hope Mayor Laurence Keller faced no challenge on the GOP ticket and earned 133 votes. His Democratic rival, Elaine Daniels, won 92 votes. They will face each other in the Nov. 8 election.
   A third mayoral candidate, Democrat Frederick Viskovich, was not listed in the primary results reported by the Bucks County Board of Elections. A spokeswoman for the board said she was not sure if Mr. Viskovich had pulled out of the race.
   All four Democratic candidates for New Hope Borough Council won slots to run in the November election. With no Republican candidates running in the primary, the Democrats are virtually assured of winning their terms.
   The high vote-getter was Claire E. Shaw with 109. Next was incumbent Councilman Edward Duffy with 107. Incumbent Vice President Sharyn S. Keiser won 105 votes. Councilman Randall C. Flager won 97 votes.
   Also in New Hope, Republican tax collector Denton L. Kanouff fended off a challenge from Victoria E. Keller, winning the primary 115 to 39. There were no Democratic candidates.
   In Solebury Township, Michael A. Kennerley ran unopposed on the GOP ticket for a six-year term on the Board of Supervisors. He earned 416 votes. No Democrats filed to run in the primary.