Commissioner, row office nominees set for Nov. 3 election
Washington County Democrats appeared to have chosen one newcomer and one of two long-time row office employees as a standard-bearers for the fall with 160 of 176 precincts reporting unofficial results Tuesday night.
In the clerk of courts race, an open seat due to the retirement of the Washington County officeholder with the longest tenure, Kristin L. Marcy of Stockdale had 6,624 votes compared with 7,473 for Canonsburg resident Frank Scandale. The Republican candidate, Gary Hoover, bowed out of the race when his nominating petitions were challenged for lacking enough valid signatures.
Marcy, 42, assistant deputy clerk of courts, got into the race after Barbara Gibbs of Ellsworth announced she would not seek a ninth, four-year term.
Scandale, 47, who is an insurance agent in Monaca, Beaver County, like Marcy, was seeking county office for the first time.
In the race for Democratic nomination for prothonotary, Joy Schury Ranko, assistant deputy prothonotary, bested Colleen Murphy Arnowitz, a teacher who had held the office for a single term ending in 1999.
Ranko had 8,615 votes to Arnowitz’s 5,690.
Ranko, 55, of North Strabane Township, will square off in the fall against Republican candidate David D. Tennent III, 57, of Venetia, who works as an occupational therapist.
All row officer candidates are seeking four-year terms.
Arnowitz, 61, of Monongahela, in 1992 succeeded long-time prothonotary Bob Franks, defeating Franks’ deputy Phyllis Ranko Matheny, who staged a comeback three years later. Matheny chose not to seek a sixth term this year.
In the Washington County commissioners’ race, incumbent Democrats Larry Maggi and Harlan Shober appeared to fend off four challengers on their ticket while incumbent Republican Diana Irey Vaughan will be sharing the GOP nod with Mike McCormick of Peters Township.
The vote totals on the Democratic ballot were Maggi, 9,858, Shober, 6,399, Judith L. Fisher, 4,667, Corey N. McConn, 1,491, Allen “AJ” Williams, 2,616 and Randy Barli, 2,128.
On the Republican ticket, Irey Vaughan led the ticket with 5,650, followed by 4,718 for McCormick and 3,570 for newcomer Nick Sherman.
Maggi, 64, a former state trooper, is seeking his fourth, four-year term as commissioner following a stint as Washington County sheriff. Shober, 70, a former Chartiers Township supervisor, retired AT&T manager and owner of Shober Homes Inc., is making his second try for a seat on the board of commissioners. Irey Vaughan, 52, a Nottingham Township resident, is the senior member of the board who is seeking her sixth term. McCormick, 66, of Peters Township, is making his first try for county office after two unsuccessful runs for Congress against Democrat Frank Mascara, who died in 2011, eight years after himself losing the seat in the House.
In the fall, voters will choose two candidates with the three top vote-getters taking oaths of office in 2016, the same year that Washington County property owners will be receiving information on updated tax assessments for the first time in about three decades. The Washington and McGuffey school districts went to court to bring about a new assessment, and the commissioners entered into a $6.9 million contract with Tyler Technologies Inc. in 2013.
Running unopposed were district attorney candidates, Peter V. Marcoline, Democrat, who will challenge incumbent Republican Gene Vittone in November; incumbent Democrat Treasurer Francis King, who faces Republican challenger David A. Borodaty; incumbent Democrat Register of Wills and Clerk of Orphans’ Court Mary Jo Poknis, who had no opponent on either major ticket, and incumbent Democratic Coroner S. Timothy Warco, who was similarly situated.