OLEAN - Linda Witte has apparently been elected the city’s first woman mayor, upsetting incumbent Mayor David Carucci by a vote of 1,808 to 1,623, according to unofficial results from the Cattaraugus County Board of Elections.

But Mayor Carucci isn’t ready to concede the race just yet. Because the candidates are only separated by about 185 votes, Mayor Carucci said he is waiting for an official count and to see how absentee ballots will affect the vote.

“After speaking with my campaign manager and supporters, we’re not going to concede,” he said. “There’s about 300 absentee ballots out there. If we’ve done our work and we do well in the absentees then we’ll go from there.”

Mrs. Witte said that’s OK.

“That’s his choice,” Mrs. Witte said.

Mrs. Witte said people in the city were a little frustrated with the last four years and the vote showed that.

“I think it just came down to getting people out to vote and rallying our base and obviously they wanted a change,” she said.

Mrs. Witte said the hard work put into her campaign paid off. She said she is looking forward to starting her new position.

“I think my experience on the council and my experience as a legislator should help,” she said. “I’ll just bring those tools to the job and we’ll make some good decisions.”

Mrs. Witte acknowledged that she has a lot of work ahead of her.

“I think we (the city) have to live within our means and that will be my focus,” she said. “That and working with the Common Council. I think together we can get it done.”

Mayor Carucci said that he suffered from low voter turnout. About 3,400 city residents cast votes in the mayor’s race, about 1,000 less than in 2005.

“We knew that if it was a low voter turnout that we’d be in trouble and it’s a very low turnout and we’re in trouble,” he said.

Mrs. Witte defeated Mayor Carucci in four out of seven of the city’s wards. She earned nearly 400 votes in Ward 1, her home ward, about 100 more votes than Mayor Carucci. The two candidates were nearly tied for votes in Ward 2, Mayor Carucci’s home ward, at about 300 votes apiece.

Results in Ward 2 were held up as there were problems with the voting machines, keeping both sides in suspense as all other wards finished reporting their totals. Many supporters in the Republican Headquarters, realizing that Mayor Carucci was behind in votes, held out hope that Ward 2 would push the mayor to victory.

A reserved jubilance fell over the Democratic Headquarters as it became apparent that Mrs. Witte won. Mrs. Witte said that being a familiar face to voters helped her to gain votes.

“I think the people in all seven wards know me because I ran as a county legislator for two different races and I ran as alderman,” she said. “It’s not like I was someone they had to get to know. I think that helped me in Ward 1 and 2.”

Mayor Carucci wished Mrs. Witte the best of luck if she is victorious after the official count. If he loses, he said that life will go on.

“I never counted on the mayor’s job for my sole income to begin with,” he said. “I’ll be an independent businessman again somewhere in the community and life will go on.”

Mrs. Witte said she is pleased to be elected as the city’s first woman mayor and acknowledged that there are a lot of women who lead in all levels of government.

“It shows me that people in our community have faith that a woman can do the job,” she said.

She also thanked Charlotte McLaughlin and Joyce Melfi for paving the way. Those two women have run for mayor in the past.

“Without those two paving the way, things might have turned out differently,” she said.

(Contact reporter Brian Lothridge at blothridge@oleantimesherald.com.)

Reader Comments

There are 14 comment(s) comments to this story.
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of bradfordera.com.

Jerry wrote on Nov 4, 2009 6:53 PM:

" I think Carucci should realize that the people of the city are tired of his my way or the highway thinkinging. Give it up we don't want him. "

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Michael DiBenedetto wrote on Nov 4, 2009 8:53 PM:

" We live in New York.It will not matter who is Mayor of this town. "

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Mary Avery Murrin wrote on Nov 4, 2009 10:15 PM:

" Mrs. Witte might also applaud my mother, Mary Avery, for being the first woman to run for the Mayor's office in the City of Olean. "

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James wrote on Nov 5, 2009 7:45 AM:

" Considering how hard they worked for him, I'm sure the staff of the OTH is absolutely devastated by Carucci's loss. "

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FedUp wrote on Nov 5, 2009 8:42 AM:

" The Mayor's arrogance finally has caught up with him! Carucci thought he was an untouchable due to certain people who were backing him. I think Linda Witte owes much to Joyce Melfi who would have been Olean's first woman mayor had they not teamed up against her. The former mayor Quinlan and others really made sure Melfi was not going to be their next mayor. Hopefully now all parties work together for the good of our great city of Olean. Please people, let's get back to making Olean the great place it was and will always be!!! "

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eoleang wrote on Nov 5, 2009 9:06 AM:

" Sometimes we don't know what we got until it's gone. "

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Realist Guy wrote on Nov 5, 2009 11:10 AM:

" I think it's too late for anyone to turn this city around. Just wait until you see the tax increases. Mike is right, it's still NY. ABANDON SHIP! "

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Bubs wrote on Nov 5, 2009 12:24 PM:

" If Carucci is such a great business person, why doesn't he do the math and realize he has no chance of winning. He's down by 185 votes with roughly 300 absentee ballots remaining. He'll need 243 of the 300 votes (81%)...Yeah right!

He should go back to washing cars and driving people around town. He's driven Olean into the ground with his high taxes and don't forget about all the bonding he did that will really screw up the future of the city when they come due down the line. "

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TooBad wrote on Nov 5, 2009 2:44 PM:

" Taxes will continue to rise & it doesn't matter who the mayor is. We live in NY, the land of high taxes. It just shows that people have no idea what they are talking about when they blame Carucci for the high taxes. "

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Glad I dont live in Olean wrote on Nov 5, 2009 3:19 PM:

" Wow, maybe everyone has forgotten that Carucci got thrown into a pile of garbage four years ago, garbage that had been piling up since Mayor Ash retired. I honestly think that he has done a decent job thus far, too bad he wasn't given another term to really make an impact. Good luck with Witte folks. "

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Jim wrote on Nov 5, 2009 5:28 PM:

" The A.B. C.vote beat Mr. Caruccie "

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bruno wrote on Nov 5, 2009 8:04 PM:

" hey , toobad..your very right on ''ny'' land of high taxes.....but carucci was out for himself and im sure he got his ''cut'' if you know ''what i mean''! "

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