Peekskill Republican Party

Over the past few weeks, I have issued a number of messages and communications to our friends and supporters highlighting various issues and matters as the local political campaigns wound their way to a conclusion. It is time for one last message associated with the campaign as the Peekskill Republican Party now turns our attention to the future.

Obviously, we were hoping for a somewhat different result on Election Day than what the voters delivered. We celebrated two great victories with the elections of Rob Astorino as our new County Executive and our own John Testa as the new County Legislator representing District 1 on the County Board of Legislators. Unfortunately, Chris Hanzlik was beaten out for Mayor and Joe Torres, Sue Sheridan and Tony Washington were defeated in their runs at City Council seats. While all the votes have not been counted and finalized, it looks as though Sue may have come up less than 40 votes shy of gaining the last council seat.

We are very proud of the excellent job our candidates did as they ran an honest issues oriented campaign pointing out those issues that they believed to be of vital importance to the future of our city. Responsible management of the city's fiscal resources and sound economic development policies that will create real long term job opportunities and solid tax revenues in our community were two of their major themes. Both issues will not go away simply because the most recent election is a thing of the past. In fact, as time goes by, these two issues will gain an even greater significance as our homeowners and taxpayers will expect their government to deliver its' services in an ever increasing cost effective manner.

There have been a number of people that were energized by this past election who will help us carry our message into the future. Our number one job now is to make certain that those who were elected to lead our government do so in a respectful, honest, transparent and prudent manner. Being the "loyal opposition" is a very important role in a democracy and we will most assuredly carry out this tradition as the days, weeks and months unfold.

In closing, I want to thank all of you who helped during the campaign and all of you who supported our efforts in a multitude of ways. We are very grateful for your friendship and the trust that you have placed in us over the years. The Peekskill Republican Party will continue to care about our community and all of its citizens. At the end of the day, that is what matters most.