Vote lures only about a quarter of residents

Friday, March 12, 2010

BROOKLINE – A lackluster election with only five contests in 18 open town and School Board seats drew a lackluster response: Barely a quarter of Brookline voters cast ballots Tuesday.

Incumbents Clarence Farwell and Jack Flanagan won the two open three-year seats on the Board of Selectmen, defeating John J. Carr, who ran unsuccessfully for the board last year.

The contest for road agent, a one-year seat that for years has been occupied by Jerry Farwell, pitted the incumbent against challenger Paul Cambray, who lost to Farwell 524-382.

And there were two candidates for a three-year seat on the Hollis/Brookline Cooperative School Board, where incumbent Fred Hubert, who got 425 votes to challenger William Newsham’s 305.

Jim Solinas won a three-year seat on the cooperative Budget Committee, and James Murphy won a three-year seat for moderator, handily beating Harry Haytayan 502-325.

Overall, 911 ballots were cast, roughly 26 percent of the town’s registered voters.

Newcomer Ernie Pistor was the only candidate for the three-year seat on the School Board, which opened when longtime board member Marcia Farwell retired. Christopher Adams, Patricia Lynch and Betty Hall ran unopposed for the three open one-year seats on the school Finance Committee.

And if Marcia Farwell, who served 30 years on the School Board, was hoping for a smooth exit from town politics, she may be in for a surprise.

Farwell won the school clerk race with 19 write-in votes.

Hattie Bernstein can be reached at 673-3100, ext. 24, or hbernstein@cabinet.com.