Voters choose Stein, O'Keeffe

By Scott Merzbach
Staff Writer

Published on April 04, 2008

Bringing more efficiency and effectiveness to the Select Board and working in a collaborative manner are goals for two new Select Board members who ousted one-term incumbent Hwei-Ling Greeney in her re-election bid Tuesday.

Diana Stein, of Red Gate Lane, and Stephanie O'Keeffe, of Butterfield Terrace, easily won the positions in the five-way race, tallying 2,203 and 2,139 votes, respectively, with Greeney in third with 1,393 votes, Irv Rhodes, of Pondview Drive, fourth with 794 votes and David Keenan, of Shays Street, finishing a distant fifth with 196 votes, according to unofficial results reported by Town Clerk Sandra Burgess.

Another incumbent, School Committee member Chrystel Romero, was defeated in her effort to win a full-term on the committee, losing by a better than 2-1 margin to Catherine Sanderson.

Turnout 22.6 percent

The 3,695 voters who came out represented a 22.6 percent turnout of the 16,373 registered voters, Burgess said. The turnout was the best since 2005, when 35.2 percent of voters cast ballots, primarily due to a potential change in the town's form of government.

In other races, Harrison Gregg won another term as moderator, holding off a challenge for the second consecutive year from Nancy Gordon by a 2,172 to 851 tally.

Aaron Hayden, who is leaving the Planning Board after two terms, and incumbent Margaret Roberts, won seats on the Amherst Redevelopment Authority. Roberts, with 1,284 votes, bested Carol Gray, with 962 votes; Hayden beat Jim Oldham, 1,471 to 892.

John Coull won a position as Elector under the Oliver Smith Will over Kevin Joy, 1,334 to 860. Coull, the father of O'Keeffe, replaces David Farnham, who stepped down from the post.

The new members of the boards and committees will take office at the next scheduled meetings, which for the Select Board is Monday. Each victor is sworn in by the town clerk at a time convenient to that person.

A winner's focus

Celebrating her victory at China Dynasty, Stein said she believes Amherst voters appreciated that she brought specifics, rather than platitudes, to the campaign. "I think they were looking for a more efficient board," Stein said.

Stein's campaign focused on bringing new revenues to Amherst, including advocating for the local-options meals tax and enhancing commercial development in responsible ways, with one proposal being to reinvigorate the nearly vacant Tucker-Taft building with small retail shops.

Calling the town "money starved," Stein said Amherst will change if it continues the cutting that has taken place for the last 27 years since Proposition 21/2 imposed spending limits on communities. "Everyone hopes we can make the financial changes the town needs," Stein said.

Divisions left from debates over moving to a mayoral form of government and approving tax-cap overrides remain - and need to be healed, Stein said.

"I hope to be a bridge between the different factions," she said.

Stein praised her campaign manager, Leo Maley, and treasurer Cynthia Brubaker, noting they worked hard on her behalf, helping send 1,400 letters in January and 5,000 postcards in late March and making 275 phone calls days before the election.

Gathering with supporters Tuesday at Rafter's, the O'Keeffe campaign posted results on a white board.

"I'm overwhelmed," O'Keeffe said. "I'm incredibly appreciative for all the support I received, and incredibly gratified for all the people who worked on my behalf."

O'Keeffe said finding ways to work together to achieve solutions will be central to her role on the board.

"It's about finding the ways you can cooperate and focusing on parts we can agree on," O'Keeffe said.

O'Keeffe has been attending Select Board meetings for 18 months, transcribing detailed notes that she posts on her inamherst.com Web site. She said she remains committed to making government more accessible, transparent and efficient.

She said she plans to continue posting Select Board news to the Internet, but the information she will provide will likely take a different form now that she is to be a member.

Because she and Stein have both been attending meetings for several months, O'Keeffe said they will be able to hit the ground running to deal with budget issues and Town Meeting warrant articles.

O'Keeffe thanked both Greeney and Rob Kusner, the incumbent who did not seek re-election, for their service and commitment to the town.

Greeney said Wednesday she will continue to push themes of keeping Amherst affordable for residents, strong and welcoming for businesses and green for the environment, but now as a newly elected Town Meeting member.

"I will definitely keep an eye on their performance," Greeney said. "I hope I have set a high enough bar on these issues."

Greeney, who held her campaign rally at Panda East, said she recognized the hard work her supporters, from all walks of life, put into the campaign. "This is a party to honor all my campaigners," Greeney said. "I am gratified for them running such a strong campaign for me."

Rhodes said he saw the divisiveness that exists in town. He said the new board members should step up and put politics aside.

"I would hope the town would start concentrating on that," Rhodes said. "I am hoping people will band together and collaborate."

Keenan, who spent $24 on his campaign, said he believes he had more fun than any other candidate.

"So many good things came out of this that there's no way I could think of myself as a loser," Keenan said.

Tough on incumbents

Though incumbents have usually fared well, this marked the second consecutive year a Select Board member went down to defeat.

Last year, Robie Hubley, elected in 2004 with 2,674 votes, was defeated in a three-way race for two seats, getting 1,155 votes. Similarly, Greeney's support dropped precipitously from the 3,433 votes she received in her win in 2005. This year, Greeney carried no precincts. Stein won in Precincts 1, 5, 6, 7,8 9, and 10, while O'Keeffe carried Precincts 2, 3, and 4.

Both O'Keeffe, with 72 votes, and Sanderson, with 87 votes, received write-in support at last year's elections.