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Wednesday, May 21, 2003

By Johnna A. Pro, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

In the Allegheny County Council races last night, incumbents Dave Fawcett and Brenda Frazier weathered serious challenges for their seats, while a political newcomer captured the Democratic nomination in a race in District 6 that turned out to be a cliffhanger until the last votes were counted.

Countywide, the race that had the most potential for excitement was the Republican race for an at-large seat pitting two former allies against one another.

	More Primary 2003 Coverage • Visit Allegheny County's election page for more details on county races. • Download a detailed .pdf file of unofficial primary voting results for Allegheny and Westmoreland counties published in the late edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this file. Tables with primary results for Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene and Washington counties will be published in Thursday print editions of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. • For more reports from around the region on yesterday's primary visit our Elections page

But the suspense was short-lived as incumbent Fawcett captured an early lead in the race against Edward G. Saxon and maintained it to victory.

Fawcett, 44, credited County Executive Jim Roddey and his fellow council members for helping him in the race.

"I think what happened was the members of council and Jim Roddey pulled together as a team and supported me and that made a big difference," Fawcett said.

On the Democrat side, John DeFazio had no challenger for an at-large seat. Both he and Fawcett will be unopposed in the general election, unless an independent candidate emerges in the race.

District 6 encompasses Baldwin Borough, Baldwin Township, Brentwood, Castle Shannon, Clairton, Jefferson Hill, Pleasant Hills South Park, West Elizabeth and Whitehall.

District 13

Incumbent Brenda L. Frazier, 62, D-Stanton Heights, was able to fend off a challenge from Richard Stahl, 59, of Fineview, who ran with the endorsement of the Democrats.

Because there are no Republican candidates, she is virtually assured a four-year term come the general election.

"We didn't take anything for granted," Frazier said.

District 6

In early returns last night, the Democratic Party's endorsed candidate Dominic Serapiglia appeared poised for a rout over political novice Joan Cleary.

But the nurse from Brentwood steadily chipped away at Serapiglia's lead and captured the nomination by just 186 votes according to the unofficial tally.

Dr. Joseph Rudolph, of South Park, came in third.

"This is only the beginning of the race," said Cleary, 51, in her first run for political office. "I spent 25 years as a nurse being an advocate for my patients, now I want to be an advocate for District 6."

Cleary will face Republican candidate Linda J. Book, 46, of Whitehall, an aviation administrator with Corporate Air and a member of Whitehall council.

District 10

In District 10, council's only predominantly black district, last night's election gave former state Rep. Bill Robinson, the endorsed Democrat, a chance to resurrect his political career after losing his House seat to Jake Wheatley.

Robinson, 61, easily beat Marlene Russell and faces no Republican opposition.

District 11

Within 90 minutes of the polls closing, it was apparent that Councilman Richard Fitzgerald, D-Squirrel Hill, would retain his seat.

The incumbent had only a perfunctory challenge from Earl Jones Sr., of Hazelwood.

On the Republican side, there were no candidates, thus assuring Fitzgerald a win in November.

District 7

Neither Rick Schwartz, the Democratic candidate, nor Eileen Watt, the Republican, had challengers. The two will face each other in the fall.

Jan Rea, R-McCandless, and Vince Gastgeb, R-Bethel Park, face no opposition in the fall..

Referendum

Also on the countywide ballot was a referendum asking voters if a section of the home rule charter should be repealed so that county council members could seek another political office while serving. The measure was defeated.