Marc Citrin beats incumbent to become Tuxedo Park mayor

Three months after they went to the polls, Tuxedo Park residents finally have a new mayor.

Marc Citrin, who challenged incumbent David McFadden, won by six votes in a recount conducted by the Orange County Board of Elections and upheld in court.

“Starting tomorrow, it is with humility and a sense of purpose that I will assume the role as your mayor,” he said Sunday in a statement. “I would like to thank Mayor David C. McFadden for his gracious concession and for his many years of service to the village.”

Citrin was sworn in on Friday, immediately after the court agreed to dismiss McFadden’s petition contesting the recount.

McFadden extended his “best wishes to the incoming mayor.”

“I am profoundly grateful for the privilege of serving you and the Village of Tuxedo Park during what has been nine truly exceptional years. Additionally, I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to the more than 25 trustees and numerous appointed board members with whom I have collaborated since my initial term in 2005.

“Above all, I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to the dedicated village employees who have worked tirelessly alongside me, particularly over the past six years.”

A blizzard of filings

Ever since the election on June 20, the air at Orange County Supreme Court has been thick with legal filings by Citrin, McFadden, and Claudio Guazzoni de Zanett, who identifies himself as the village’s public advocate.

Guazzoni started things off with a successful election-day petition to stop the count of absentee ballots. But although Guazzoni celebrated Citrin’s win on Friday, he did not get the inspection he wanted of 30 contested absentee ballots, which would have resulted in an even longer delay. He told The Photo News at the time that the village clerk, Elizabeth Doherty, had been distributing absentee ballots to people not registered to vote in the village, such as the children of residents who had grown up and moved away.

McFadden also sought, and did not get, a review of absentee ballots that were cast but not counted as part of the canvass and recanvassing of total votes.

In light of its dismissal of McFadden’s petition, the court said, it “does not reach any substantive aspects of the Petition with regard to whether any absentee ballots that were not counted should have been ‘cured’ and/or counted.”

The village’s motion to serve a cross-claim was also denied as moot.

‘Swear him in again’

Citrin’s priority throughout has been to cut through the legal tangles in favor of a timely result. He wanted the approximately 150 uncontested absentee ballots opened and counted, and the approximately 30 contested absentees set aside unless the lead proved surmountable.

Judge Maria Vazquez-Doles ruled on Friday that Citrin won both ballot counts, the first by the village and the second by the county board of elections. The results are identical in both: Citrin 201, David McFadden 195.

The judge authorized the clerk to administer the oath of office “if necessary again.” That’s because there was a first swearing in, on Aug. 15, after the county board of elections completed its recanvass. Doherty swore Citrin in on Aug. 15 but, on the advice of the village lawyer, did not accept his filing of the oath the next day because McFadden was contesting the recanvass.

McFadden asserted he had 15 days to contest the recanvass, but the judge said the law allowed for only three days, which meant he had to act by Aug. 18. He failed to do so. The judge said the 15-day window applies only to village elections conducted by the county board of elections in the first canvass.

Citrin said in his Sunday statement that it is “time to put the election behind us and get on with the business of governing.”

“I pledged during the campaign to consider the views of all residents and I will keep that pledge,” he said. “To those who supported me, I thank you for your trust. To those who did not support me, I will work hard to earn your trust and I will always strive to make our village a place that we are proud to call home.”