Moe, Leszcz re-elected by wide margin

It was a victory night for the incumbents in Laurel Tuesday, Nov. 1 as voters gave Mayor Craig Moe a third term, with 50 percent of the vote, in a contentious race with former City Council member Michael Sarich and Ethics Commissioner Valerie Cunningham. City Council incumbents also retained their seats.

City Council President and at-large Council member Michael Leszcz received 1,058 votes in his race against Laurel Boys and Girls Club athletic director Adrian Rousseau, who received 727 votes.

Ward 2 council members Frederick Smalls and Donna Crary were uncontested for their seats on the council, as were the Ward 1 candidates, Council member Valerie Nicholas and H. Edward Ricks. Ricks served on the council in the 1980s and Nicholas was appointed to fill Gayle Snyder's seat this summer when Snyder retired for personal reasons.

Although a few absentee ballots have not been received and decisions have to be made regarding 24 provisional early ballots and four provisional absentee ballots, the margins for the unofficial tallies are not close enough to be changed from the results released on election night.

City officials said they were pleased with the election turnout, considering that in past years it has been as low as 700 ballots cast out of more than 14,000 eligible voters. Nearly 1,900 residents went to the polls this year and half cast their ballots for Moe, who received 953 votes. Moe's opponents were neck and neck, with Sarich receiving 496 votes and Cunningham 454.

At his victory party at the cabana at the Greenview Drive Pool, Moe, surrounded by victorious City Council members and other supporters, said he felt good about his big win.

"I appreciate the support I got from the community and I'm real pleased with the turnout," Moe said. "I worked hard and knew I'd be attacked and I understood the criticism on policy, but the other things, I didn't want to be involved in and stayed away from."

Many residents and candidates have described the mayoral and at-large races as negative, with candidates making charges and counter-charges against each other. In addition, Sarich asked the Maryland State's Attorney and state prosecutor to investigate alleged election law violations after an anonymous mailer was mailed to resident criticizing his qualifications for the mayor's office.

In an interview before the polls closed, mayoral candidate Valerie Cunningham said, "I am disappointed at the level of acrimony being displayed in this election and how it's gotten away from the issues. There are real concerns about quality of life issues that need to be discussed and I'm disappointed that some candidates have turned the election into mud-slinging."

Leszcz also expressed disapproval regarding the negative campaigning, but at the victory celebration, he was feeling good about receiving the most votes of all of the candidates. He said is looking to the future and issues he plans to work on when the re-elected candidates and new council members are sworn in Nov. 28.

"My first priority is to get the mall done," Leszcz said, referring to the multi-million dollar renovation of Laurel Mall, which has a new developer who announced last week that he has secured signed leases from a major retailer and national theater company for the mall.

Moe agreed that renovation of the deteriorating mall is a priority of his as well. But in the short term, Moe said he plans to get a bit of rest now that the grueling campaign is over. Longer term, he plans to follow up on issues that were brought to his attention by voters as he canvassed various communities and on Election Day at the polls.

"People told me they are concerned that we live within our tax rate and about the city's infrastructure. They said they like the bike paths and want to see some of our programs expanded like those for youths and adult programs," Moe said. "It's important that we continue to get the word out to the community on what we're doing and that we follow up on the mall and other economic development projects and get them finished."

Ricks, who is making a return to the council, said the election has given city officials a new mandate to undertake as they look at numerous issues that were brought to their attention by voters and candidates during the campaign season.

"Some issues were brought to our attention in an extreme way that we'd not seen before, involving Main Street, the mall and the Laurel Boys and Girls Club," Ricks said. "We've learned some things about Main Street that we hadn't thought of before, such as relaxing historic district regulations or offering more money to put different businesses like coffee and ice cream shops, or something to bring families to Main Street. We need to do things where businesses would be open at night."

Rousseau and other officials with the Laurel Boys and Girls Club have repeatedly criticized city officials for not supporting the club financially. Ricks did not call for city aid at this point, but called for the council to determine why the club's building is in disrepair. And although club officials have said the majority of their members are Laurel residents, Ricks is still not convinced and said, "I won't talk about city funds for them until I see the membership. … If the club can't handle those in the city, then maybe we should look at taking the facility over."

With many issues on the table, including if the early voting process and the way those ballots were tallied needs to be tweaked, considering the heated race for the mayor's office and the at-large seat, Moe said healing is needed at this point for the city's residents and officials.

"With three people running for mayor, this brought the community out and now I want to bring the community together," Moe said. "The election process worked and it's over. Now it's time to come together and work together and that includes the other candidates if they want to be involved."

'We worked really, really hard'

After the unofficial results came in Tuesday night, the crowd of roughly 25 at Sarich¹s campaign headquarters on Main Street was speechless for several seconds before someone shouted "Cunningham split the vote!"

Some in the group continued to talk about how the people of Laurel wanted change and Sarich might have won had another challenger not been in the race. Others sighed, resting heads in hands. A few held back tears. Still others remained silent.

One of the people at a loss for words was Sarich. After taking a moment, he said: "If that's the case, then congrats to them."

Visibly upset, Sarich remained positive as he told one of his supporters, "We're very, very proud of what we've done. We worked really, really hard."

A few minutes later, Sarich addressed the room.

"Everyone who's worked on this campaign has been fantastic," he said. "You did not waste a vote. We appreciate you guys."

Rousseau was also shocked to hear the news. His first reaction upon hearing the results was to say, "You have got to be kidding me."

After taking some time to process the results and express his frustration with the status quo, Rousseau had a few positive things to say.

"We had a great cause and I still feel we made a difference in this community and woke some people up," he said.

And it¹s not the end, Rousseau said, noting there will be challengers in the council elections in two years and the mayor and council elections in four.

"This is by no means the last time you heard from some of us," he said.

Sarich, asked if he would consider running again, said, "I'll always be involved with my hometown. I'll always be involved with the community that I love and I live in."

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