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WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2009. November 13, 2009: County Legislator Bill Ryan declared victory today in his race for legislative District 5, and said he would seek reelection as Chairman of the Board of  Legislators.  He said he could not reveal whether outgoing County Executive Andrew Spano (defeated by Republican Rob Astorino last week by a landslide, 58% to 42), had cut the County Budget Spano will present Monday) because he did not know, saying the Legislators would be briefed by Spano and hour before the presentation by the County Executive Monday morning.

 In an interview with WPCNR by telephone this afternoon, Ryan (shown on Election Night when he predicted victory and was proven correct based on a recanvass adjustment and splitting the absentee ballots, reported today he received about half the 400 or so absentee ballot votes and won by 130 votes over challenger Bob Hyland. WPCNR projected after provided a fix on where Ryan was going into the absentee ballots that Mr. Hyland needed 75% of the absentee, paper ballot count to nose out Mr. Ryan.

WPCNR interviewed him on the process — and what lies ahead now that re-election is behind him. Here is the transcript of that interview:

Mr. Ryan: “Remember that afternoon when I stopped by your house? It seems like decades ago, and then to have this week added on to everything. You’ve been able to see with some of my (previous) races anyway, I’m not used to such a slim margin, cutting it this close. But it was a close one this time.”

WPCNR: Where did the discrepancy come about Monday, what district?  (There was a 100 vote error reported in the original Board of Elections tally reported Tuesday evening on the Board of Elections website.)?

Mr. Ryan:  It was District 8 (Ridgeway School). I was pretty confident Election Night that our numbers were going to hold up. The system of runners, John, going from the polling places back to the (Democratic Party) tabulation center had always worked really well.  We get a very very good indiciation, it’s highly accurate, we get a good indication as to whether or not we have won or lost based on the machine totals. That night, I saw the numbers, they were tight but I felt I could be confident in those.

       When the Board of Elections posted its canvas sheet totals that had me down and not winning,that caused me to go back to our original  tabulation and we were able to identify in District 8 in White Plains, there was an election night total that had me ahead in this district and the Board of Elections was posting this total of 4 votes for Ryan and a 102 for Hyland and it didn’t make any sense. They believed their sheets and posted their numbers.

       I retained counsel Wednesday, and told counsel this is the place to start, and District 8 has got to be opened the day the recanvassing begins and it’s got to be looked at because the night of the election,  it showed me the winner  and sure enough, John, when they opened up District 8, it wasn’t what the canvassing sheet said. it was exactly as what our runner had taken the numbers and taken them back to Democratic headquarters. What that did, was that turned close to 120 votes, adding my numbers back to me, and taking my numbers away from him, that was a spread of 120 votes.

WPCNR: How did you do in the absentee ballots (counting) Thursday?

Mr. Ryan:  As you know it takes a number of days, sometimes it takes weeks. Once they sat down, both sides (Republican and Democrat)  decided that they were going to sit there for the duration and count everything. There were over 400 pieces of paper at that table.

           There were 310 about absentees and the rest were emergencies and affidavits. They kind of followed the election. That night Thursday evening, there was not a piece of paper left on that table. My attorneys dropped our objections to the other side’s stuff, their attorneys dropped the objections to ours. I ended up adding 10 votes to my total. Number was adjusted down.

 The final number the Board of Elections gave us going into the paper was corrected, it had taken votes from me, and was corrected to 120. We went into the day (of absentee counting)  with a lead of 120 and they then saw a 10-vote margin, with a margin of 130 votes.”

WPCNR: So you ended up splitting the absentees and paper with Hyland? Congratulations.

Mr. RYAN: Yeah.

WPCNR: Congratulations.

Mr.  RYAN: I appreciate it.  I really do.  I appreciate the good coverage you gave to us because people certainly weren’t going to find it anywhere else, that’s for sure.

WPCNR: Going forward, since the past is the past, do you anticipate seeking reelection as Chair of the Board of Legislators?

Mr. RYAN: It’s my intention to seek reelection to the chair. That process will come up later in the year. Right now as the leader within the government, I have this unique responsibility of guiding the legislature through some very important year end activity, not the least of which is a massive budget that we will be presented with on Monday. Between the budget and the housing implementation plan, and our involvement with the medical center. I have to guide them through this last part of the year, then turn my attention to reelection to this position. It will be my intention I am going to  tell the legislators I’m going to seek reelection to the seat.

WPCNR: Since Mr.  Spano is now simply a ghost, you are the point man on the budget here.

Mr.RYAN: Dynamic, totally new.

WPCNR: Is it your position to defend the budget?

Mr. RYAN: He’s (Spano) going to do what he has to do as the executive. He’s going to put his budget together and deliver it to us. Tuesday carried a very important message and I believe it’s a message that goes beyond county government.

I certainly accept the message here, but I’m going to make sure that the legislators and others in government  and that includes the schools understand that voters and residents are putting their foot down. Incumbents were clobbered on Election night. Voters want things done in a smarter way. They want government  to be more efficient. They want things to be less expensive and they want us to a much better job in balancing service delivery with cost. 

         I tell you voter anger is not going to be limited to this past election. We’re going to continue to see this until they see officials at the local, state and federal level start to give them the results they are looking for.

WPCNR:  Could you give us a preview of the budget? Is it down or up?

MR. RYAN:   I had a discussion with the County Executive to confirm his release date and time. It’s going to be Monday at 11. I’ve arranged with legislators to meet with him prior  to that press conference,  but they usually play it pretty close to the vest. The direction he is taking has not been shared by him with me. So I’m  going to find out a little bit ahead of time, but not much before 11 o’clock on Monday.

WPCNR: Did he do some last minute revisions?

MR. RYAN: I got to think he did. It’s such a tremendously complex document,  you tweak something over here and it might affect a thousand different lines in the budget. It’s a big job when you change it. But, I have to agree with you after Tuesday night, it’s quite possible there were some changes put into the budget.

WPCNR: Have you been working with Mr.  (County Executive-Elect Rob) Astorino on the budget?

MR. RYAN: His first budget is going to be this time next year.  He certainly as the new County-Executive-Elect, he is going to have the ability to talk to the  administration and the  board about what he’d like to see the 2010 budget (beginning in January) look like.

I called him. We had a good conversation. Very cordial. Rob and I are friends.  We decided we’re going to sit down, the two of us on the direction of government, our service delivery responsibilities and I assured him, I wanted us to be partners in governing this county  so that people residents and taxpayers could benefit from a good relationship that is more about improvements than it was about political fighting and squabbling. I don’t want that to be a part of it.

WPCNR: Does Mr. Astorino have the power as County Executive (in January) to withhold funds in the budget at his discretion?

MR.RYAN: They do have the authority to do some of that in certain areas, not all. They have the authority over a substantial number of contracts that affect services. In all the different functional and program areas in the county, they do have some authority, but the Board of Legislators has tremendous authority as well.

             It’s always the Board of Legislators that has the ultimate authority to spend.

WPCNR: Are you going to have monthly budget previews as the year goes on?

MR. RYAN: What I have insisted on (as Chairman of the Board) is the budget committee  being active throughout the year in releasing information and discussing with our major cost centers and major contractual agency partners issues of concern, both substantive and financial. That certainly would be my intent under another term with me as Chairman. That goes to expanded and improved transparency, and ties in to what I am trying to do with the website to put as much information as possible for people to try and look at it.

WPCNR: Two months ago the County was looking at being $80 Million down in sales tax collections. Do you have a handle on current figures on the sales tax and other revenue shortfalls?

MR. RYAN: I’m sure they do (the County Executive’s office) . The Board (of Legislators) hasn’t made a call to (the) Budget to give that report during the month of October and with the budget coming on Monday, we’re going to be calling our Budget Officer (Anne Reasoner) up to talk to us about all the different revenue categories, because we’re going to have to do some revenue estimates.

WPCNR TRANSITION 2010. From County Executive-Elect Rob Astorino’s Transition Office. November 13, 2009: Westchester County Executive-elect Rob Astorino (R-I) today announced the launch of the website that will serve as the official website of his transition team.

The site provides information on County Executive-elect Astorino’s vision for Westchester, and invites citizens to offer their ideas for running the County more efficiently and cost effectively.  It also invites those interested in serving on the Astorino Transition Team or in the Astorino Administration to submit resumes and cover letters.  The website address is: www.astorinotransition.com