In his campaign for a Syracuse Common councilor-at-large seat, political newcomer Kurt Schmeling said former teacher and fellow Republican council candidate Robert Gardino served as his coach during the race.

‘I think he still enjoys being a teacher because he did one hell of a job for me,’ Schmeling said before the results were tallied.

It seems as if the teacher should have kept a few lessons to himself. Although the mentor’s loss to incumbent Bill Simmons was not as pronounced as the near 6,000-vote drubbing his student took, the end result was still the same. Gardino’s Democratic rival, Bill Simmons, will serve his third term as the representative of the 5th district for the council.

‘It’s always good to see that people have confidence in what you do,’ Simmons said after his victory was assured.

As part of the goals for his upcoming term, Simmons listed quality of life as a continued priority along with aiding the youth of the community through after-school and summer programs. Since he will also continue to serve as the Common Council representative for the Syracuse University area, he cited issues between temporary and permanent residents as a ongoing problem.

‘We have to try to make sure that the students and permanent residents continue to coexist in a peaceful manner and respect each other,’ he said. ‘We want to work on a better working relationship between two groups.’

Simmons had no specific plan of action on how to relieve tension beyond a continued relationship with the Office of Government Relations.

On a night of several landslides, Simmons and Gardino went back and forth in one of the evening’s most hotly-contested races. This did not stop both of them from keeping low profiles during their respective party’s gatherings. Gardino did not post a single sign on the wall of the reception area which was otherwise littered with other campaign paraphernalia, and he was then conspicuous by his absence shortly after the results were finalized. Meanwhile, Simmons had scant few boosters around him most of the night aside from his family, who detailed the sacrifice they made to keep Dad in office.

‘I had to miss a couple of football games to help him,’ said son Jawan Simmons.

With all precincts reporting, Simmons recorded 2,732 votes to Gardino’s 1,865. All elections were plagued by low voter turnout, not unusual for off-year contests, but still annoying to some.

‘My feeling is that the terrorists win,’ said Steve Westlake, a Republican supporter. ‘They should just wait until we vote ourselves out of existence. If this is such an off- off-year election, then why do we even have them?’

Published on November 4, 2003 at 12:00 pm