Published: September 19, 2007 12:49 pm      

ROYALTON ELECTIONS: Lang bests Rhoney in supervisor race

ROYALTON — Dick Lang is poised to be the next town supervisor after snatching the Republican line from Cal Rhoney on Tuesday.

Lang, a Republican council member rebuffed by the town GOP committee and instead endorsed by the Democrats, scored a 323-300 win over Rhoney in primary voting.

“It was hard work, but it looks like we’re ahead,” he said late Tuesday. “I thank the voters of Royalton who believed the same as I do: that the Royalton community doesn’t want to borrow any more than they can afford.”

The supervisor primary turned largely on the topic of town finances. Rhoney, who won a one-year term last fall just as the town’s financial collapse was coming to light, campaigned on the premise that he’d already taken the necessary steps to turn the finances around, while Lang camped out with critics of spending and debt they deemed excessive.

Rhoney still has the backing of the Independence and Conservative parties going into the November general election but he said late Tuesday he doesn’t plan to campaign too hard.

“It’s hard to win without a major line,” he said. “But it’s all right. I found out early that people don’t like what I’m doing. It’s better than finding out a couple years down the road.”

Also Tuesday:

• In a contentious double primary for lines in the highway superintendent’s race, incumbent Superintendent Terry Nieman bested challenger Randall Hagie 342-255, but in the Conservative primary he lost to Carson J. Kelley by a vote of 24 to 7. Nieman was backed by the Conservative committee over Kelley, a 30-year party member.

The vote was satisfying to Kelley.

“We did very well. The voters made a statement,” he said. “They should have backed me in the first place.”

Kelley also is endorsed by the Democrats and will be Nieman’s major party challenger in the November race.

• In a five-way GOP primary for three town council seats, the GOP’s endorsed slate won handily. In order of their vote counts, results were: Jennifer H. Bieber, 437; Dan Bragg, 367; Brad Rehwaldt, 352; Harry Nachtrieb, 288; and Scott Wymyczak, 227.

Nachtrieb stays in the race through November thanks to his endorsement by the Democrats. Bieber also is backed by the “other” party in town.

Wymyczak, the sole candidate to run on one line, and without backing from any major or minor party committee, said after polling that he doesn’t plan on going away quietly.

“It looks like the cards are stacked in Royalton, with the Democrats endorsing Republicans,” he said. “If they can’t win one way, they’ll try to win another way.”

Wymyczak said he’ll be campaigning for “true” Republicans only now: Rehwaldt, Bragg and Rhoney. He’ll be asking Republican-registered voters to vote for Rhoney on the Conservative line in November, he said, and also will ask them to “hold their third (Council) vote.

“It’s time for true Republicans to get up,” he said. “If they’d come out (Tuesday), the vote would have been different.”

Contact reporter Joyce Miles at 439-9222, ext. 6245.