July 27, 2009

The one contested district

The most interesting part of tonight's nominating convention was the tight contest for the two 2nd District slots.
Newcomer Allen Marko actually racked up the most votes, with 11, while incumbent Kevin McCauley got 10. Former city Councilor Tom Ragaini got nine.
Most of Ragaini's backers sought to give him a leg up by casting "bullet votes" for only Ragaini so that their second potential vote wouldn't add to one of his opponents' tally.
But it turned out that the strategy didn't quite work because, well, three Ragaini supporters also voted for someone else. If none had, the contest would have been a deadlock at nine apiece, leaving it perhaps to the town chairman to break the tie.
Despite the narrow loss, Ragaini didn't sound like he would contest the decision in a primary. He said he didn't want to split the party or hurt its chances.
For those who are really into these things, here's the vote breakdown among the 2nd District's Democratic Town Committee members. I'm sorry that I don't know one name, but if someone tells me, I'll fix that.

78A
James G. Hopkins -- Marko & McCauley
Jeffrey G. Merrow -- Ragaini
Jody J. Trestman -- Marko & McCauley
Jacqueline McCauley - Marko & McCauley
Bruce C. Lydem -- Ragaini & Marko
William M. Wolfe, Jr. -- Marko & McCauley

78B
Allen A. Marko -- Marko & McCauley
John J. Boi -- Marko & McCauley
Christopher N. Roberge -- Marko & McCauley
Sandra C. Stafford -- Marko & McCauley
Kevin V. Lacolla -- Ragaini & Marko
William J. Veits - -Marko & McCauley

79A
Paula L. Positano - Ragaini
Westley S. Hoadley Jr. - Ragaini
Thomas J. Ragaini - Ragaini
Jen Ragaini -- Ragaini
Arthur Brent Cyr - Ragaini
Anthony D. Dell'aera -- Ragaini & McCauley

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

After reading your blog tonight, Steve, I consider Tom Ragani a class act if he chooses not to primary. He is absolutely right. A primary would split the party. Tom has always put the party first and this just proves he continues to do so. I'm sure that will be remembered in the future.

Anonymous said...

the missing Ragaini is Jen Ragaini, his daughter or daughter in law.

Steve Collins said...

Thanks, 11:51

Anonymous said...

Tom may be a class act in choosing not to primary, but it definitely is not a class act to ask for bullet voting.

Anonymous said...

Ragaini never did a dam thing when he was on city council in the past. The DTC would have to be crazy to endorse him again. Looks like Ward's plan to get his sidekick in failed. Thank God!

Anonymous said...

Marko mucty be defeated. He is a certified nut.

Anonymous said...

Tom does a hell of a lot more for this community than some schlep (that'd by you 1:32 AM) who sits on his keester all night thinking up baseless, pointless, nasty little comments for the blog.

Anonymous said...

Cockayne:

When is your first fundraiser? Maybe I'll just send a check. Get me a sign ASAP!

Anonymous said...

Left wing nut job Marko has his sights on bigger things than Council.

Anonymous said...

Ragaini isn't primarying because Ward does not want to have to take sides.

Anonymous said...

It's easier for Ward not to have to take sides. He wouldn't know how to choose if he had to.

Anonymous said...

Ragani is Wards lap dog. Now what will Ward do?

Anonymous said...

"Not take sides"??? Puh-leeze. The whole bullet-vote scheme was an attempt by the Ward organization to oust McCauley and replace him with Ward's man Ragaini. They knew Marko had the votes for one endorsement, so the Ward machine strong-armed everyone in the precinct to bullet-vote for Ragaine. You really think they all did it spontaneously?

Anonymous said...

Looks like there is no love lost between Ragaini and McCauley.

Maybe it is the Ward influence.

Anonymous said...

Marko a better candidate than McCauley? One must be nuts to think such drivel.

Anonymous said...

I don't think McCauley has any opinion of Ragaini one way or the other. But he's pissed because the Ward machine used strong-arm tactics to get their man nominated. That wasn't Ragaini's doing.

Anonymous said...

But it is OK when McCauley uses/used strong arm and bullying tactics for what he wanted.

Double standard?

Anonymous said...

5:29 pm:
Point #1: You're a liar.
Point #2: The Ward machine made a woman cry because she had promised McCauley she would vote for him, but then the machine told her she had to bullet vote for Ragaini. They're a bunch of thugs.

Concerned Constructive Conservative said...

Apparently the left-wing of the local Democrat Party (aka McCauley, Marko and their supporters, ones that favored Zoppo and most likely are the most adamant Obama and Ned Lamont people) doesn't support Art Ward.

This makes Art Ward as mayor so much more palatable and thus proves he is deserving of our support.

Anonymous said...

Concerned Conservative: if you knew why McCauley, Marko, and their group don't support Ward, you wouldn't say that. It's personal and has nothing to do with politics.

Anonymous said...

12:54, If it's a personal vendetta and has nothing to do with politics, then McCauley, Marko, and their group should step down or be removed from office...IMMEDIATELY

Anonymous said...

Go back and re-read this thread. Ward waged a proxy war to get rid of McCauley. He failed. So why should McCauley abandon the people in his district who elected him in two primaries and two general elections? Do you really think Bristol would benefit from a rubber stamp city council? Ward seems to.

age 2 and regressing said...

check with anyone who voted any way and you will see that the bullet voting was not initiated or organized/promoted by ward in any way but those of you who still are pissed that he won 2 years ago will still accuse him of being responsible for rain on a wedding day - you act like idiots - roll over and die.