RVC Election 2011: Murray Ousts Bossart for Mayor

RVC United Party mayoral candidate Fran Murray, along with his running mates Nancy Howard and Mike Sepe, swept the village election Tuesday night, garnering 8,887 votes to the Concerned Citizens Party's 4,839 in unofficial results.

Murray will take over as mayor of Rockville Centre, as his father did more than two decades ago. "I think it was a very clean-run campaign. I thank [Mayor] Mary Bossart for all she did for the Village of Rockville Centre," said Murray, who garnered 3,011 votes to Bossart's 1,534. "Going forward, the people of Rockville Centre came out and voted for what they believed in, what they think should be right for our village for the next four years."

Howard (2,874 votes) and Sepe (3,002 votes) will take over the trustee seats occupied by Deputy Mayor Chuck Joyce and Trustee David Krasula (1,693 votes), who served on the board for the past four years. 

Howard said she felt that the RVC United Party had a better grasp on what village residents wanted. "I'm sure that the other candidates' heart and effort were in the right place, but I think that they didn't necessarily have a real sense of what the community really wanted," she said. "The community spoke to us early and that's what we ran on."

Sepe echoed Howard's sentiments.

"People want to vote for something," he said. "I think people want to vote for positive messages and for ideas and programs that will move the village forward."

Bossart said she was "disappointed in the results."

"I think it's a very tough economy and people would prefer not to have to deal with some very harsh facts — that's the whole story," Bossart said, speculating on the reason why she was voted out of office. "We can't have everything that we want all the time — difficult choices have to be made."

Results of the vote on the Rockville Centre Fire Department's proposed $21 million bond will be posted Wednesday morning.