Portsmouth council to retain balance if results hold

I think the mudslinging started right at the top, with Trump and Hillary, and it just filtered right down into the town here."”

Town Council member David Gleason

I think the mudslinging started right at the top, with Trump and Hillary, and it just filtered right down into the town here."”

Town Council member David Gleason

PORTSMOUTH — With more than 1,500 mail ballots still to be counted, only  96 votes separate the seventh and final seat for Town Council and two other candidates not far behind.

If Tuesday night’s results hold up, however, the council will have the same party makeup as it does now: three Democrats, three Republicans and one independent.

The top vote-getter was Republican Keith Hamilton, the current Town Council president. Two other Republicans, incumbent Elizabeth A. Pedro and former council member Paul F. Kesson, were also among the top seven.

The list was rounded out by three Democrats: incumbent Kevin M. Aguiar and the husband-and-wife duo of Linda L. Ujifusa and J. Mark Ryan — both political newcomers — as well as incumbent David M. Gleason, an independent.

However, the race was a tight one, with Republican Debra Cardoza only three votes behind the seventh and final seat. And another Republican, Larry Fitzmorris, was fewer than 100 votes out.

Contentious race

Sixteen candidates — seven Democrats, six Republicans and two independents — ran for seven, two-year seats.

It was a lively and often contentious race, especially after the Town Council last month agreed to a settlement in the so-called “Heidi Drive” case.

The town is paying a $800,000 settlement to Rhode Island Nurseries Inc. to resolve litigation that resulted from the 2001 Town Council’s abandonment of the “paper” public road.

In advertisements and letters to local newspapers, Democrats accused several candidates — those who were either members of the 2001 council or who supported the road abandonment — of costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“I think the mudslinging started right at the top, with Trump and Hillary, and it just filtered right down into the town here,” said Mr. Gleason, who was himself accused by Democrats of supporting the road abandonment as a private citizen in 2001. 

“I didn’t like the position I was put in to have to write a letter to defend myself for being a citizen in town and having my own opinions about what was right and wrong,” he said. “I think the whole Heidi Drive thing happened because the Democrats didn’t have a good slate of people. I think they skipped the (Portsmouth Concerned Citizens) meeting because they didn’t have people who could answer the issues of Portsmouth. I think it was a weak slate on their part and they needed to find something to run with. It became a smear campaign.”

Mr. Aguiar agreed it was a heated campaign.

“It’s unfortunate the way things played out, but at this point if the council makeup remains the way it is, we’ve got to put our differences aside and work towards what’s best for the town. It appears we may be three-three-one again,” he said, referring to the makeup of Democrats, Republicans and independents. “That’s about as even as you get. At that point, we get back to work as a council.”

John McDaid, a local blogger and journalist who made his first run for office, came in dead last among the council candidates, with 2,418 votes as of Tuesday night. Still, he struck an upbeat note.

“I am delighted to have the number of votes that I have and the support that I’ve seen,” he said. “I recognize that Portsmouth has voted for a council that has balance. It appears to have, if these numbers hold up, three Democrats, three Republicans and one independent. I think that’s a good sign; it’s a sign of balance in the town. I look forward to seeing them work together to help the town out over the next two years.”

Tuesday’s results

Here’s how the results stood Tuesday night. The top seven vote-getters will win two-year seats.

Keith E. Hamilton (R): 3,816 votes (8.1 percent)

Paul Francis Kesson (R): 3,383 (7.1 percent)

Kevin M. Aguiar (D): 3,212 (6.8 percent)

Elizabeth A. Pedro (R): 3,207 (6.8 percent)

David M. Gleason (I): 3,125 (6.6 percent)

Linda L. Ujifusa (D): 3,101 (6.5 percent)

J. Mark Ryan (D): 3,099 (6.5 percent)

Debra Cardoza (R): 3,096 (6.5 percent)

Lawrence J. Fitzmorris (R): 3,003 (6.3 percent)

Thomas Richard Vadney (R): 2,760 (5.8 percent)

Leonard Barry Katzman (D): 2,758 (5.8 percent)

Constance L. Harding (I): 2,648 (5.6 percent)

Judith J. Staven (I): 2,618 (5.5 percent)

Elias J. Wheeler (D): 2,613 (5.5 percent)

John Lane McMahon (D): 2,474 (5.2 percent)

John G. McDaid (D): 2,418 (5.1 percent)

Mail ballots

Jacqueline Schulz, the town’s registrar of voters, said her office processed 636 regular mail ballots which voters had until 8 p.m. Tuesday to deliver back to the Board of Elections in Providence.

Another 942 emergency mail ballots (ballots voted at the canvassing office between Oct. 19 and Nov. 7) were processed and hand-delivered to the Board of Elections earlier Tuesday, she said. New legislation allows the state to certify and begin counting those ballot prior to 8 p.m. on election night, Ms. Schulz said.

Turnout appeared strong Tuesday. By 4 p.m., 5,649 out of a total of 14,350 registered voters in town — 39 percent — had turned out at the polls, Ms. Schulz said.