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Tabelski sweeps all wards en route to big City Council victory over Preston

By Mike Pettinella

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Incumbent Republican Adam Tabelski recorded a resounding victory Tuesday night, outpolling his Democratic opponent Duane Preston in all six wards to hold onto his Councilman-At-Large seat on the Batavia City Council.

Tabelski, 37, a former mayor of the Village of Medina, tallied (unofficially) 2,660 votes to 1,979 for Preston, a Batavia businessman who currently serves as the chair of the city's Planning & Development Committee.

UPDATE (by Howard): The initial totals for this story came from canvassing conducted by the GOP. The county's election site reports totals of 2,776 for Tabelski and 2,006 for Preston.

The unofficial ward totals were as follows:

Ward 1 -- 564-447
Ward 2 -- 292-173
Ward 3 -- 613-478
Ward 4 -- 599-365
Ward 5 -- 226-174
Ward 6 -- 366-342

"I'm really excited -- excited and ready to keep working for the residents of this city," Tabelski said at Terry Hills Restaurant, the Republican Party's election-night headquarters. "I work hard throughout the year, and when the election comes around, the results will speak for themselves."

Tabelski has held the seat since January when former Council member John Deleo left to run (successfully) for a seat on the Genesee County Legislature.

An account manager for Wendel Engineering, he has many years of experience in the political arena, having served as a trustee and then mayor in Medina for five and a half years, and having worked for a state legislator for 12 years.

He said that winning every ward was a "great feeling," but it's not something to dwell upon.

"I'm more concerned about smart planning, and I believe the city is on the right track," he said. "And I want to be part of the process going forward."

Tabelski said he wants to keep taxes "as low as possible" but noted that residents want services, and it's "a balancing act" to weigh the services provided against the cost of such services.

Preston, a longtime Batavian, said he appreciated the chance to run for the position, and hopes his stance of no more tax increases hits a chord with City Council going forward.

"We gave it a try," Preston said at Dibble Family Center, host of the Democrats' election-night gathering.

"I think I shook it up a bit. We've had tax increases in nine out of the last 10 years -- all 10 if you county the trash (pickup). At least I hope it's in Council's head that we don't need to raise taxes every year, and that we can think outside of the box."

Adam Tabelski gives a brief "acceptance speech" at Terry Hills Restaurant after being informed of his win over Duane Preston in voting for the Batavia City Council Councilman-At-Large seat. Preston, left, and Michael Plitt, the new Genesee County Democratic Party chairperson, converse at the Dibble Family Center. Photos by Mike Pettinella.

Rich Richmond

Hillary Clinton and her supporters called half of Trumps supporters the basket of deplorables; racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and Islamophobic and it appears now we can add lemmings to the basket of deplorables.

Nov 9, 2016, 7:42am Permalink
Mary E DelPlato

don't forget one of those services was completely cut off from us and yet taxes water rates and other fees still went up...assessments went up...in 2003 I didn't need a permit for roof work ..now I do..so that's another fee...the population of Batavia surely has decreased has there is nothing keeping garduates here...so that means more increases for those of us who stay here..

Nov 9, 2016, 8:41am Permalink
Dave Meyer

John, seriously? You know as well as anyone that if you're a republican in this town, you just get elected. A Democrat, matter how qualified, probably has no shot. Mr. Preston is a life long Batavian who has been involved in city government as a volunteer and is a business owner.
I'm not saying Tabelski isn't qualified, but he moved here from Orleans county and was hand picked by the republicans to replace DeLeo. Once that happened, he was a lock because of his affiliation regardless of the fact that he supported Molino's tax increase proposals.
People bitch about tax increases yet they still vote that party, hence - lemmings.

Nov 9, 2016, 12:14pm Permalink
Ed Hartgrove

Dave. You wrote, "You know as well as anyone that if you're a republican in this town, you just get elected."

You do understand the meaning of the word "elected", don't you?

Someone runs for a position (regardless of whether they were "hand picked", or, just decided to run). Then, "the people" decide, by voting, who they want representing them.

It's a fairly simple concept. If you think a Democrat would be a better choice, might I suggest that you either, (a) spend time convincing the majority of voters to switch the party they vote for, or, (b) encourage more Democrats to inhabit the city (and, vote), so the Republicans wouldn't stand a chance.

Calling people names doesn't (usually) work very well - as in, calling tens of millions of hard-working Americans "deplorables". Crap like that (sometimes) tends to just further encourage people to "rise up and be heard".

Nov 9, 2016, 3:44pm Permalink
Brian Graz

For this one time I mostly agree with Dave Meyer. Although instead of using lemmings, it would have been more appropriate [timely] to call them deplorables.

As for Ed's argument, again I agree mostly, but there is a very narrow minded propensity in this community/county for most people to automatically be Republican and thus simply vote Republican without even knowing anything about the other candidates.

Partisan politics is the epitome of ignorance.

BTW, I'm a registered Republican who voted for Preston., because he was 'hands-down' the better qualified candidate.

Nov 9, 2016, 7:57pm Permalink
Dave Meyer

Ed,
[lem-ing]

noun
1.
any of various small, mouselike rodents of the genera Lemmus, Myopus, and Dicrostonyx, of far northern regions, as L. lemmus, of Norway, Sweden, etc., noted for periodic mass migrations that sometimes result in mass drownings.

The point is that the voters in this town often believe that party affiliation is the sole qualification to earn their vote. So they follow these candidates 'off the cliff and drown'.

As in, we're "drowning" in the tax increases that Mr. Tabelski has supported. He *SAID* that he supported lower taxes. His voting record would prove otherwise.
I voted for the other candidate in the hope that his voting record would prove to be the opposite. For me, it wasn't about the candidates' qualifications....it was about Tabelski's voting record.

Nov 10, 2016, 7:13am Permalink
Tim Miller

RE: "deplorables"...

The same week that comment was made, a nationwide survey noted that 52% of Trump supporters did not believe President Obama was an American. It is absolutely deplorable that 52% of any group would believe that, regardless of whether that belief was due to ignorance, racism, or mental illness.... So, as impolite as that deplorable declaration was, it certainly was not inaccurate.

Nov 10, 2016, 11:23am Permalink
John Roach

Remember when the Left kept saying how they were worried the "deplorables" would turn violent and how the Trump people had to accept the result when Hillary won? Now they are the ones who refuse to except the results and in places have turned to violence.

Nov 10, 2016, 12:24pm Permalink
Dave Meyer

John, good of you to point that out, but I think we both know that if the result had gone the other way the reaction would have been AT LEAST equal to what has occurred.

I despise trump with a passion because he's a narcissistic, misogynistic, racist blowhard who I believe has overstated his abilities, but I also realize that I have no choice now but to see if he can deliver. If he does, then good on him. He does have the advantage of a complete republican congress, so we'll see if those guys can now deliver.

Nov 10, 2016, 12:52pm Permalink
Ed Hartgrove

Well, Tim, I didn't hear about the "national survey" that you speak of, until now. And, even if I had, I certainly wouldn't have put much stock in it.

Here's why. I rate "national surveys" to be (about) as reliable as "polls". (Note: Here is where I wish thebatavian had a "search function", where I could search solely for my previous comments - what a timesaver that'd be).

Anyways, somewhere in my previous comments in the past 6 months, I explained why I don't listen to "polls" (or, surveys). They're unreliable.

I'm guessing (yes, it's only a guess) that the average "poll" or "survey" is (probably) conducted by contacting 25,000 participants (or less). Even IF a MILLION people were contacted, and they ALL gave the same answer, who's to say the next 5-million might not answer the exact opposite way? That certainly doesn't sound very reliable.

Also, in one of my previous comments, I told a (true) story of being in high school, and, having teachers hand out mimeographed copies (that was pre-photocopier, but, after stone-etching) of "surveys". As they didn't have us sign our names to the "surveys", some of us used to "skew the numbers" by giving the least likely answers. So, why would anyone listen to the results of surveys? (Unless they're LEMMINGS).

I'm 68 years old, and, I've NEVER been contacted, by phone or in person, to participate in a "survey". And, I don’t remember anyone telling me that they have, either. Not saying that it doesn't happen - just that it's never happened to me. Wouldn't you think, somewhere in 68 years, it "might've"? Again, that certainly doesn't sound very reliable.

You're perfectly welcome to believe that "52% of Trump supporters did not believe President Obama was an American". Heck, you can even believe that 100% of Trump supporters think that way. That's one of the great things about being an American - we are allowed freedom of thought. And, yep, you and/or Hillary can even tag someone with the label "deplorable", if that's what you want to do.

But, I personally think that lumping someone who is ignorant (ie., uneducated, uninformed, illiterate ...), or someone who suffers from "mental illness", with racists, is far more deplorable. Especially the people who are mentally ill.

After all, you are the one that wrote "... regardless of whether that belief was due to ignorance, racism, or mental illness". The way I read that, you (apparently) have no problem saying someone who suffers from mental illness is deplorable. Nice going, Tim.

Nov 10, 2016, 2:50pm Permalink
Ed Hartgrove

Oh, Dave. Thanks for the "refresher" on what a lemming is.

If I remember correctly, when I purchased National Lampoon's album, "Lemmings" (back in the mid-70s), the back cover explained what lemmings are. (Kind of) sadly, I gave all my LP's away when I moved to FL (I wasn't about to haul 700+ pounds of plastic in the back of my Subaru). But, happily, I have a half-dozen copies of ALL of the audio content of those albums. They're each contained on little pieces of plastic, smaller than my thumbnail. No scratches, no skips, no warpage, no "bulk".

Of course, there's also no "artwork" that the LP covers had, but, Oh Well!

Life's too short to worry about such things.

Nov 10, 2016, 3:24pm Permalink
Frank Bartholomew

Lets hope we don't end up like we did the last time we had a republican in the WH,, Let me refresh your memory,War in 2 countries,gas prices that reached $4 a gallon,mass unemployment,the housing market crash,and rising costs for consumer goods.Say what you want about Obama,but at least trump walks into a pretty stable state of the union.Not like the mess GW left for Obama to clean up.

Nov 10, 2016, 3:54pm Permalink
Rich Richmond

Dave,
You said in part, “IF THE RESULT HAD GONE THE OTHER WAY THE REACTION WOULD HAVE BEEN AT LEAST EQUAL TO WHAT HAS OCCURRED.”
To the contrary; President Obama was elected twice and that didn’t happen.

Nov 10, 2016, 9:53pm Permalink
John Roach

Very good point Rich. There are individual acts of violence by people on the left and right. But when was the last time you had mass violence by the right? The Tea Party protests had nobody breaking windows, stealing, setting fires or throwing things at the police. That is only found when the left is out.

Nov 11, 2016, 6:14am Permalink
Tim Miller

52% of Trump supporters had a deplorable belief...
http://www.dailynewsbin.com/opinion/hillary-is-right-about-the-deplorab…

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2015/08/trump-supporters-think-…

Now, we have no idea if the belief was due to ignorance (they were never told otherwise), stupidity (they were told, but managed to forget that Hawaii was a state), or bigotry ("He couldn't be a "Murican... he's dark and has a muslim name!").

"66% of Trump's supporters believe that Obama is a Muslim to just 12% that grant he's a Christian. 61% think Obama was not born in the United States to only 21% who accept that he was."

That was pretty deplorable.

Nov 11, 2016, 4:01pm Permalink
Tim Miller

Ed - thank you for pointing out my insensitivity to those with mental illness. It was a poor attempt at a worse joke intending to imply racism was a mental health issue. My apologies. I've since updated my thinking on the subject in the post immediately above with links to the surveys showing the deplorable figures (pun intended).

I've read of two possible reasons (so far) on why the polls were so fare off.
- The first was that folks were just too darn embarrassed to say they were in favor of a pussy-grabber who would walk into teenagers dressing rooms being president. Although that does have a certain logic behind it, given the cheering I've heard from supporters of the pussy-grabber-in-chief I give it little credence.
- The second involves exit polls where voters were asked when they decided who to vote for President. 8% decided in the week leading up to the election. That's about 1 in 12 voters. Credit where credit is due - FBI Directory Comey may have turned the election with his October Surprise letter concerning Anthony Weiner - 10 days before the election. http://www.motherjones.com/files/blog_2016_exit_poll_decide_vote.jpg

Regardless... the pussy-grabber will be inaugurated on January 20th of next year. At that time, he becomes President of the United States of America. He becomes your President, he becomes my President, he becomes our President.

Nov 11, 2016, 4:22pm Permalink
Ed Hartgrove

OK, Tim.

As for the " ... FBI Directory Comey may have turned the election with his October Surprise letter concerning Anthony Weiner - 10 days before the election" statement, I agree. He may have.

Likewise, he may have (possibly) "influenced" the way people voted, when he (possibly) let Hillary off the hook, when he recommended that the Justice Department not pursue charges against her. I tended to put that whole episodic week into (my) perspective.

[On (Monday) June 27, Loretta Lynch (the U.S. Attorney General - and, the person who actually has the say on who is prosecuted, and, who isn't), met (unknowingly to the general media) with Bill Clinton on her jet.

Four days later, on (Friday) July 31, Loretta Lynch (the U.S. Attorney General) PUBLICALLY ANNOUNCED that she would accept "whatever" the FBI Director decided concerning whether or not to pursue charges against Secretary Hillary Clinton. (Oh, sure. Several days later, she said that, if she had to do it over again, she wouldn't, because it "didn’t look good". Oops! Too late! - And, if a no-name, news "stringer" hadn't seen (and reported) Bill Clinton getting on Lynch's plane, do you think we ever would have heard about it? I doubt it.

Three days later, on ( Monday) July 5th, Comey recommended that no charges be pursued, because, "our judgement is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case". --- Comey is, basically, a "cop". Since when do "cops" decide whether the "gov't" pursue charges? NEVER!! "Cops" present the "evidence" that they have collected, and it's THEN up to the prosecutor (District Attorney, Attorney General) to decide whether to pursue charges.]

In addition, FBI Director Comey added one little word in his carefully worded announcement - "intent". As in, "we don’t believe Secretary Clinton 'intentionally' broke any laws". HUH? There's no "intent" wording in the law. Besides that, she "intentionally" set up, and used, an unsecured computer server in her house. She "intentionally" used MULTIPLE, unsecured phones, ipads, etc., AFTER she had been admonished NOT TO. She allowed her attorneys (who DIDN'T have the requirements to read classified material) to access, view, and delete, emails that were "just personal stuff" (ie. yoga exercises, birthday wishes, etc). Now, I'm not saying those attorneys deleted anything classified. But, JUST THE FACT that she ALLOWED THEM ACCESS to such material is UNLAWFUL. And, extremely dangerous. And, allowing them access to classified material shows "intent". She intended for them to view the emails.

As if "intent" really is a defense. "I'm sorry, officer. I didn't have any intent to speed". "I'm sorry, your Honor. When I left my home that evening, I certainly had no intent to drive home drunk." Yeah, try that "intent" defense in court. How far do you think that'll go?

So, Tim. Again, Comey may well have (inadvertently?) influenced the voters, quite possibly both ways.

As for WHEN people decided to vote, I've talked with a couple people who said that, had they not voted prior to the last-week "wikileaks" email releases, they (might) have voted differently. Some said that the emails wouldn't have changed the way they voted. So, I guess it works both ways.

And, finally, you're correct. Come mid-January, he's our president. The "R's" have the Senate, the House & the Presidency. The ball's in their court. If they screw it up, it's on them.

Nov 11, 2016, 9:21pm Permalink
Ed Hartgrove

Oh, yeah! Here's a good one. (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjZoljZcVcw )

The "words" are fine. It's the "scene" surrounding the words that got me laughing.

Oh, just as an aside - there's been reports of "stars" that have said that they're "moving" (out of the USA?), should Trump win the presidency. Of course, MOST of them didn't say where they were moving to.

Cher said she's moving to Jupiter. Uh, would that be the planet Jupiter, or Jupiter, FL, or Jupiter, CA, or Jupiter, NC. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Samuel L. Jackson said, " “If that (mother _ _ _ _ er becomes president I will move my black a_ _ to South Africa.” (Quote censored by me).

There's others on the list. I'm not sure who they all are (or, what they all are noted for), but, here's a small list of them:

1. Miley Cyrus (I don't see a downside to that one)
2. Chelsea Handler
3. Lena Dunham (I'm guessing she isn't the "intelligent" dummy in Jeff Dunham's luggage)
4. Jon Stewart
5. Raven-Symone
6. Whoopi Goldberg
7. Ne-Yo
8. Bryan Cranston

Let's see if they put the "power of their purse" where their mouth was. Six-to-one says no more than two of that list "moves" out of the country for any great length of time (4 months or longer).

Nov 11, 2016, 10:14pm Permalink
Rich Richmond

There are two sides to every coin and the other side of the coin of the Obama Presidency

http://www.martinoauthor.com/list-obama-failures/

IRS targets Obama’s enemies
Benghazi
Spying on the AP
The ATF “Fast and Furious” scheme
Sebelius demands payment
The Pigford Agriculture Department Scandal
The General Services Administration Las Vegas Spending Spree.
Veterans Affairs in Disney World and neglecting vets
Solyndra
New Black Panthers Voter Intimidation
The hacking of Sharyl Attkisson’s computer
Obama’s LIES about the Affordable Care Act
“I’ll Pass My Own Laws”
NSA Spying on American People

Foreign Policy

Lack of solidarity with Israel
Disaster with the Arab Spring
Crimea
Leaving Iraq too soon and letting ISIS take over
Handling of Syrian Red Line
Calling ISIS “JV”
Failing to Recognize ISIS as a Radical (or Devout) Muslim Movement
Returning the bust of Churchill to the Brits
Lack of Confidence by NATO nations
Signing a Disastrous Nuclear Deal with the Mullahs of Ira
Paid $5 Billion & Released 5 Taliban Prisoners For Deserter Bergdahl
Waging war by attacking Libya without Congressional approval
Allowed the building of Chinese bases in the South China Sea and off the coast of Somalia at the entrance to the gulf of Aden

14. Paying ransom to Iranian for hostages- and using foreign currency in unmarked plane
15. Lying about paying ransom (which media ignored!)

16. Pays tribute to Japanese at Hiroshima on US Memorial Day

17. Obama trashed America 18 times on Asian Tour
Domestic Policy

Failure to secure the Border
Illegals bringing guns, drug and diseases through the southern border
Bowe Bergdahl swap
Passing on the keystone pipeline
9 Trillion dollars more in debt
Vast expansion of government
Racial Division at all-time high
Inviting Bomb Boy Ahmed to White House
Disrespect for Cops
Failed economic stimulus plan
Constant disregard for the Constitution and tyrannical rule
China overtook America as world’s largest economy
Double Downgrade
Housing policies failed to stop foreclosures
Price of healthcare has drastically risen for those purchasing it
Education policies failed to curb college costs
Highest percentage of Americans on Food Stamps and Medicaid
Record 92,898,000 Americans over 16 years not working
Lowest Labor Force participation rate of 62.7%
Denying the notion of American Exceptionalism
Securing the Olympics for Chicago in 2016
Naming numerous Communists/Socialists/Progressives to Czar Positions
Mismanagement and cover up of Terrorist shootings in San Bernardino, California
Mismanagement of Gulf Oil Spill
Disastrous Vetting Process of “Immigrants” from Muslim Nations
Refusing to Listen to CIA/FBI that there is no way to properly vet certain immigrants from Muslim nations

27. Fort Hood Shooting
28. Colorado EPA Disaster
29. Veto of 911 Crime Bill- which was overturned
30. Worst economic recovery since the depression with anemic GDP numbers
31. Over 94 million Americans out of the workforce

Nov 14, 2016, 7:50am Permalink
John Roach

#27 is one of the more outrageous. Calling the mass shootings "workplace violence". That denied our soldiers a lot of benefits.

Nov 14, 2016, 10:23am Permalink
Jim Urtel Jr

America got it right! Let`s see how Trump does before we criticize him! I am so sick of the negativity and protesting. We had the election, Trump won, get on board!!!!

Nov 14, 2016, 7:40pm Permalink

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