Wentworth bond passes

Ahlquist, Benedict, D’Andrea, Sullivan win election to the Scarborough Town Council.

SCARBOROUGH — While voter turnout statewide was hovering in the mid 30s on Election Day, Nov. 8, turnout in Scarborough reached 52 percent, fueled in part by a local bond question that asked voters for permission to borrow up to $39.1 million to rebuild Wentworth Intermediate School.

That question sailed to victory with 63.3 percent of the vote (4,792 to 2,784), prompting squeals of delight from school administrators and building committee members gathered to hear results read aloud in the high school gymnasium.

"We are extremely excited," said Wentworth Building Committee member Christine Massengill, who also won election to the Scarborough school board.

"We are going to celebrate and we are going to hit the ground running. We have a meeting Monday morning of our steering committee to take the next steps," she said.

Across the board, Scarborough voters did not deviate from the larger trend line, posting similar numbers to statewide results in defeating two Citizen Initiatives to expand gambling in Maine, beating back a recent change in voter registration rules and, on the regional level, approving a $33 million bond to repair and renovate the Cumberland County Civic Center.

In the Town Council race, incumbent Karen D’Andrea (4,757 votes) topped a field of four candidates vying for three open seats. In pre-balloting debates, D’Andrea alone among the candidates promised without reservation to increase school funding next year.

Richard Sullivan Jr. also won his return to the council, capturing 4,472 votes.

Following unsuccessful runs in 2009 and 2010, retired contractor James Benedict will be the sole new face on the council when it convenes next on Nov. 16. He received 3,774 votes to beat out first-time candidate Paul Andriulli (3,695 votes) for show spot in the field.

Andriulli was circumspect in his loss, noting that many of his fellow candidates had lost their first runs at public office as well.

"What do you say, I don't know," he said. "Maybe we'll get some feedback from people and find out what it was. Maybe it was because I was the only one who was vocal against the school board. I knew we needed a new school but I was maybe the only one who said I would be against the [Wentworth] bond.”

In a second Town Council race, incumbent Ron Ahlquist bested Planning Board member Kerry Corthell 3,534 to 2,850 to serve out the remaining two years of a term vacated by Councilor Michael Wood, who retired due to conflicts created by a job promotion.

Corthell chalked up her own defeat to simple math – she's lived in Scarborough three years, Ahlquist 57, which, she speculated may have had something to do with a rash of sign thefts.

"I had signs missing almost as soon as I put them out," she said.

Still, what seemed to frustrate Corthell most was the number of people who voted in the referendum questions who, based on the numbers delivered by Town Clerk Tody Justice, appear to have ignored the municipal races.

"I'm surprised more people didn't vote there," she said.

Meanwhile, everyone was a winner on the undercard, where all candidates ran unopposed. Two members of the Wentworth Building Committee, Massengill (5,305 votes) and Kelly Noonan Murphy (5,658 votes), won seats on the school board.

All three candidates for three seats on the Scarborough Sanitary District Board of Trustees were incumbents, leading to little suspense in victory for Charles Anderson (5,327 votes), James Greenleaf (5,510 votes) and Robert McSorley (5,102 votes).

Support for a $33 million bond to repair and renovate the Cumberland County Civic Center was strong in Scarborough, where yes claimed 59.4 percent of the vote. The tally was 4,315 yes to 2,944 no.

Scarborough voters turned down both gambling initiatives. Question 2, which would have allowed a Scarborough Downs to pull up stakes and relocate to some other community within 25 miles (Downs owners have promised a move to Biddeford), narrowly lost locally, 3,786 to 3,876. Question 3, which sought approval for a Lewiston casino went down by a wider margin, 2,769 saying yes and 4,880 saying no. Both measures also failed in the statewide vote.