PRIMARY ELECTION: Corwin bests Mike Cole
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal
By Joyce Miles
Jane Corwin bested incumbent state Assembly member Michael Cole in the Republican primary election for the 142nd District on Tuesday.
Corwin’s win virtually guarantees her a seat in the next Assembly, since she’ll go onto the November general election ballot with three of four party lines. Republican Jeff Bono of Newstead placed fourth of four in the GOP primary but has the Working Families line going into the general election.
Cole had no other party backing, so he’ll be out of office when his term ends in December.
Corwin, who blitzed the district with more than a dozen political mailers in the past month, most highly critical of Cole’s conduct as an assemblyman, said she reads the districtwide vote as a case of Republicans wanting a change in their state representation.
“I think people are looking for change and they’re thinking it has to come from outside the usual circles,” she said.
Corwin won 45 percent of the Republican vote across the two-county district, which includes the city and town of Lockport and Town of Royalton. Cole garnered 35 percent of the vote. Manufacturing shop owner Leonard Roberto of Alden took 17 percent and consultant/day trader Jeffrey A. Bono of Newstead got 3 percent of the vote. Results do not include absentee ballots, which won’t be opened and counted until next week in either county.
Corwin, a stay-at-home mom with strong business experience on her resume, had the backing of GOP leaders in Niagara and Erie counties going into the race. The leadership abandoned Cole after he was caught up in impropriety involving a female state legislative intern in early 2007.
Corwin said Cole called her shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday, as vote tallies in the two counties passed the 80 percent mark, to concede he’d lost and offer his congratulations.
“He was very gracious. He offered his assistance to me, which I very much appreciate ... and will be happy to accept,” Corwin said. “We both have the best interests of this district at heart.”
Cole was elected an assemblyman in the spring of 2006, to fill the remainder of the late Sandra Lee Wirth’s term, then was elected to a full, two-year term in November 2006. In his concession statement, he said serving was a privilege.
“It has been the single greatest honor of my life to represent our community in the (Assembly),” Cole said. “I know that our district will be in very capable hands, and it is my hope that Jane’s experiences as our legislator are as rewarding for her as they have been for me.”
Democratic candidate Dennis Cehulik was knocked off the ballot in a residency challenge by Cole.
GOP voter turnout in the two counties was about 29 percent of registered Republicans in the district.
