Village of Goshen election results

GOSHEN — Rory Kennedy Brady won the justice seat in the Village of Goshen Tuesday, in the day's sole upset.

The three incumbents on the village board ran as a slate — Mayor Kyle Roddey and Trustees Ed Char and Pete Smith — and were all re-elected. But the one challenger, Jason Wilson, came close, especially for a political newcomer. (See sidebar for vote tallies.)

Thomas Cione, the Town of Goshen Justice, lost his bid for village justice, an office he held for 12 years before resigning in November for health reasons. Saying he was now recovered, Cione ran to get his old seat back but lost to Brady, an attorney who works for his family's law firm in the village. Brady is also a village trustee, a position he'll leave when he's sworn in as judge.

Cione and many of his supporters cited his long experience with the law, an argument that worked well when he beat back two challengers in 2012. But this year he faced an opponent with serious legal experience, starting with his training under the Hon. Robert Onofry, the Orange County Surrogate Court Justice and Acting Supreme Court Justice, and including his experience as a sentencing advocate for Court Consultation Services, a private firm.

"I am so proud that I will be serving the Village of Goshen residents as the Judge for the next two years," Brady wrote on his Facebook page. "I would like to thank my wife, family, friends, and all of my supporters for their unwavering assistance during the campaign. Finally, I would like to thank my opponent Tom Cione and thank him for his years of service to the village. Tonight is a night to celebrate our victory because tomorrow I begin working to become the best judge I can be for our village."

The village board must now appoint someone to fill the remainder of Brady's term.

Roddey was the biggest vote-getter of the day. He acquired a can-do reputation in his first term, having tackled many thorny problems that had bedeviled the village for years. He began an ambitious program to fix sewer infrastructure that had long been backing raw sewage into the streets, and cleared away the old village landfill that had been languishing for years past the state's due date, among other achievements, while keeping tax increases under 2 percent.

"Thank you Everyone!" Roddey wrote on his Facebook page. "I was re elected Mayor! Ed Char and Peter Smith were re elected Trustee! And Rory Brady was elected Village Justice! Thank you to Goshen! You ain't seen nothing yet!"