14 candidates down to 4
Butler County will have a totally new board of commissioners next year.
In Tuesday's primary, Republicans Leslie Osche and Kim Geyer and Democrats Jerry Johnston and Kevin Boozel won their parties' nominations for the Nov. 3 ballot.
Incumbent Democratic Commissioner Jim Eckstein came in last place in his party's race. Incumbent Republican commissioners Bill McCarrier and Dale Pinkerton did not seek re-election.
According to unofficial results, Osche of Butler Township received 4,755 votes, or 14.7 percent of the GOP votes, and Geyer of Adams Township 4,283 votes, or 13.3 percent.
Johnston of Butler Township received 4,332 votes, or 29 percent of the Democratic votes, and Boozel of Mercer Township received 3,623 votes, or 24.3 percent.
But Geyer's second-place finish was not known until the last votes were counted, and she edged out Bob O'Neill of Cranberry Township by just two votes.
O'Neill came in third with 4,281 votes, followed closely by Lisa Metcalfe of Cranberry Township with 4,216 votes.
Then the other GOP candidates were: Larry Thompson of Oakland Township with 4,063 votes, Jeff Smith of Butler with 4,058, Jim Keffalas of Butler Township with 2,690, Justin Trainor of Penn Township with 1,765, James Butler of Prospect with 1,163 and Mark Lux of Clay Township with 470.
In third place for the Democrats was Dave Johnston of Saxonburg with 3,504 votes, just 119 behind Boozel. Eckstein of Butler Township received 2,992 votes.The tallies include absentee ballots, but not provisional ballots.For the Republicans, Thompson started off with an early lead, but fell to second and eventually ended up fifth. Meanwhile, Geyer's second-place finish was not known until the counting was complete.“It was up and down,” said Ed Natali, chairman of the county Republican Committee.Osche said she was surprised by her win, saying she thought she might have had a shot at making second place.“I really had this going a different way,” Osche said.She said running was an amazing experience, and said she appreciated working with the other candidates.If she wins in the general election, she said the first thing she would like to do is look at the county budget and make a long-term plan, as well as look at the operation of the prison and to work on economic development. She said intensive research into this will begin soon.“We have a lot of work to do,” Osche said.Geyer said she did not expect to pull out a win. She noted that she beat O'Neill by two votes.“It's a good reminder to all of us that every vote counts,” Geyer said.She said she will wait until the results are made official to really start celebrating. She said she initially went to bed thinking she came in sixth place, but began receiving phone calls of congratulations in the middle of the night.O'Neill's third-place finish and Metcalfe's fourth-place finish speak to the growing importance of the Cranberry area in county politics, Natali said.“That's the real growing part of the community,” Natali said.With 10 Republican candidates, Natali said he knew it would be a close race. He said the real surprise was that Smith came in sixth place, noting that he has 20 years of political experience in the county.He also pointed out this could be the first time in county history that two women serve as commissioner at once.Natali is optimistic that the GOP will retain its majority on the commissioners since there are 20,000 more Republican voters than Democratic voters in the county.“But never take anything for granted,” Natali said.Jerry Johnston, 65, was happy with his win, and thanked his volunteers and supporters.“We worked very hard,” Johnston said.He said he was not really surprised by the win, saying that during his campaigning he had heard from residents that they are not satisfied with the current commissioners.“The sentiment was we needed change,” Johnston said.He said his number one promise, if elected commissioner, would be to restore order to the board. He also said he wants to reduce the county's debt and keep the county working within its means.However, he noted that the primary is just the first step and that he still needs to win in November.“We've got our work really cut out for us,” Johnston said.Eckstein, 58, said he was shocked that he did not win. He said he expected to at least finish second. He said he was not sure what caused the result.“It's a good question,” Eckstein said.He said he won by 100 votes in the previous primary, and said that political activists do not often win elections.“I'm very happy for the four years I had. I tried my very best,” said Eckstein, who has been controversial in his three and a half years on the board.He is not sure if he would run again in four years, and said he will continue to do his best during the remainder of his term.Boozel, 43, PA 211 Southwest project manager for the United Way of Allegheny County, did not return a call for comment.The four candidates will compete for the three commissioner seats in the fall.
