One of the most closely watched factors in the Saratoga Springs elections Tuesday was the role of Saratoga PAC. WAMC’s Southern Adirondack Bureau Chief Lucas Willard reports that some are calling the PAC the biggest loser of the bunch.
In the months leading up to Election Day, Saratoga’s own political action committee raised more than $50,000. The organization’s board includes local businesspeople and professionals. It mailed a survey to more than 14,000 local residents. More than 1,100 responses through the mail and online were used to endorse a bipartisan slate of candidates in Saratoga Springs and in the Malta town supervisor’s race.
But on election night, the PAC’s candidates fell short. Republican John Safford lost to incumbent Democratic Mayor Joanne Yepsen. While Yepsen outraised Safford, Safford’s run for mayor got a boost through mailers sent by the Saratoga PAC.
Democrat Cynthia Young lost to Republican Vincent DeLucia in the Malta Town Supervisor’s race.
Citizen group SAVE Saratoga — formed in 2013 to oppose Saratoga Casino and Raceway’s pursuit of a full-scale casino license — came out in 2015 against Saratoga PAC.
On election night, founding member Sara Boivin said the results show a pushback against the PAC.
“There’s a fervor here. There’s a fervor for politics here. And I think people are really interested in preserving what they have and they want a serious sense of balance, and I don’t think the PAC was offering that,” said Boivin.
After declaring victory, Yepsen asked her supporters if they feared “big money” influencing elections, which she said afterward was a reference to the PAC.
“The fear at every door that I went to, it was either about land use issues, the High Rock Park, the golf course, or the PAC. And no one likes the idea of an organization raising a lot of money and buying somebody’s vote from them,” said Yepsen.
The endorsed candidates who did pull through were Democratic Commissioner of Finance Michele Madigan, who rejected her endorsement, and Commissioner of Accounts John Franck, who ran unopposed.
Skidmore College professor of government Bob Turner has studied the Saratoga PAC and its effect on local politics with his students. After the results came in, Turner said Saratoga PAC appeared to be the biggest loser of the night.
“They spent heavily on McTygue and Wirth, against the two most vulnerable incumbents, and both of them lost fairly decisively,” said Turner.
Incumbent Public Safety Commissioner Chris Mathiesen pulled in 54 percent of the vote over Republican Richard Wirth’s 45 percent. Republican Anthony “Skip” Scirocco defeated Democrat Bill McTygue in the race for Commissioner of Public Works 53 to 46 percent.
Moreover, Turner said low voter turnout may have had a more significant impact.
“The low voter turnout is a function of weak challengers running against incumbents and the tremendous negativity of the race, which suppressed turnout,” said Turner.
Bob Manz, chairman of Saratoga PAC’s Board of Directors and C.O.O. of local development company D.A. Collins, emailed a statement congratulating the incumbents on their victories and thanked voters for their feedback. .
He said the organization will continue reaching out to voters and “will now advocate for the priorities that more than 1,100 citizens told us need to be acted on by our city’s leaders with focus on improving our city’s infrastructure and revitalization of our south Broadway corridor.”
