It’s at least another four years for the man who’s served as Allegany County district attorney for more than the last decade.

Challenged for just the second time in his 12-year tenure as district attorney, Terrence Parker beat Ross Scott by a nearly 2,200-vote margin, 5,073 to 2,881, according to results from the Allegany County Board of Elections.

“Obviously, I’m gratified,” Mr. Parker, endorsed by the Republican and Conservative parties, said. “It shows that the electorates understood the difference between qualifications and attack ads. All my opponent did was run empty attack ads the whole time.”

“I’m disappointed I lost,” said Mr. Scott, the Democratic and Independent challenger. “That shows that Mr. Parker has a lot of support.”

The results were surprising to the defense attorney running on a campaign full of several reforms.

“Just about everybody I bumped into yesterday and today said they were going to vote for me,” Mr. Scott said. “Perhaps I was overconfident. I thought I’d be very close to even with him.”

Mr. Scott doesn’t plan to run again, but he does hope Mr. Parker adopts some of the reforms from his platform, like opening all the town and village courts to the public and making sure charges submitted by police are constitutionally valid.

“I want to do everything I can to help him be a better D.A.,” Mr. Scott said. “I don’t know if he wants to accept any of my suggestions. What I’d really like to do is sit down with him and have a serious discussion on the changes.”

What can people expect from the district attorney for the next four years?

“It’s going to depend upon what happens with society,” Mr. Parker said. “This year we’ve seen a big increase in the number of offenses and violations. We’ve seen some serious offenses happen, and if the economy stays bad, we may see more of that. I’m not in the business of creating my own work. I kind of respond to what occurs.”

Mr. Parker said he hopes the state budget improves so he can secure grant funding for new initiatives that help the at-risk population, much like drug court does.

After Election Day, it’s back to business for the longtime district attorney, who ran a campaign based on his nearly 30 years of experience.

“I’ve got a grand jury in the morning,” he said, “and I’m going forward with that as if nothing else happened.”

(Contact reporter Tyler Briggs at tbriggs@oleantimesherald.com)

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