May 22, 2003 By Paul Sunyak 11 min read

Within a day of becoming the Democrat nominees for Fayette County commissioner, incumbent Vincent A. Vicites and former state Sen. J. William Lincoln each said they’ll work together to unify the party heading into the November election. Vicites, who easily won re-election with an unofficial 13,832 votes, and Lincoln, who garnered 9,406 votes to oust incumbent Sean M. Cavanagh, said they have no problems with each other and Vicites said he’s interested in forming an official team.

“I’m going to request that we do so,” said Vicites. “I want to show my leadership. I think it’s important that we unify and that we work together. All nine candidates (for county office) that were nominated, we should run as a unified team in the fall.”

Vicites said he feels he can be “the consensus-builder” who unifies the Democrat Party. He appears to have a willing partner in that effort in Lincoln, who knocked frequent Vicites foe Cavanagh out of the picture by 958 votes in a successful political comeback.

“I think I’ll have no problem working with Vince Vicites whatsoever,” said Lincoln. “In fact, I see a real good blend of his experience and my experience working well together. Vincent and I are going to meet very shortly, in the next week … but I don’t see any problem (arising).”

Vicites confirmed that he also looks forward to such a meeting, now that the primary is over and the party has selected its two nominees. Vicites said that he’s prepared to judge Lincoln as an individual and not based on his ties to party chairman Fred L. Lebder, with whom Vicites has no relationship.

“I intend to reach out to Sen. Lincoln now that we’re the Democrat nominees, to work together to make sure that we elect two Democrats in November,” said Vicites. “I intend to sit down and talk to him and work with him on this fall campaign. It’s important that we stay unified. I want to unify the party.

“I deal with people one on one,” continued Vicites. “And Bill Lincoln and I have always gotten along. We’ve always had a good working relationship in the past. He is one of the candidates that I said during the campaign that I could work with. I feel that I can work with Bill and work together to do what is right to improve the quality of life for the people of Fayette County.”

Lincoln was equally effusive in discussing his ability to work with Vicites: “I have always had a good relationship with Vince. People who are friends with both of us have sometimes had a problem with one or the other of us, but I think that’s probably a normal thing when you have people with strong personalities who are in public office.

“But he and I have always been able to maintain a decorum between us that we didn’t beat each other up in a verbal sense,” added Lincoln.

Cavanagh, however, said he saw the handwriting of a political deal on the wall weeks ago, when Vicites attended a Lincoln fundraising dinner. “Vicites went to Lincoln’s party,” said Cavanagh. “And Lincoln and (Republican nominee) Joe Hardy had their (election night) party at the same place, the Uniontown VFW.”

Regarding their primary election wins, Vicites and Lincoln each expressed appreciation to the voters who responded to their respective messages and to the campaign workers who helped them secure victory.

“I’m very grateful to the voters for their support, and to the people who worked on my campaign and helped me in different ways,” said Vicites. “They really believed in me and worked extremely hard.”

Said Lincoln of his success, “I think it was a strong effort by a lot of very good friends of mine. I probably enjoyed this campaign more than any other I’ve been involved in, (because) I think I could probably see more clearly what I wanted to do. There was more of a purpose, I guess. It was something I kind of enjoyed.”

Noting that he was practically recruited to run, Lincoln said he’s pleased that on a campaign budget of probably $75,000 to $80,000, he and his supporters were able to devise a winning strategy going up against “the big boys with the bucks,” a reference to the $100,000-plus war chests of Vicites and Cavanagh.

“The task of running against the class bully (Cavanagh) and two other candidates, all three (of them) incumbents, I don’t know that a lot of people would have been up to taking that on,” said Lincoln. “I just think it was an interesting campaign and I’m glad it’s over.”

Lincoln said he’s eager to take office next year and begin crafting a plan that includes building on past accomplishments and cultivating favor with Democrat Gov. Ed Rendell. Lincoln said there was an “assumption early on” that the next three commissioners would be himself, Vicites and Republican Hardy. He talked as though that configuration is a foregone conclusion, even though Angela M. Zimmerlink will be on the fall ballot as a Republican candidate.

“I can’t see it (the next administration) being very partisan,” said Lincoln. “Mr. Hardy is a person who I have a great deal of respect for and I can’t see the personalities of Mr. Hardy and Mr. Vicites and myself clashing. I think all three of us are looking forward to doing a lot of good things for Fayette County.”

Lincoln said that although he set out to run a positive campaign, it unfortunately “got caught up in the morass of Bill Lincoln and Fred Lebder and Cavanagh,” which forced him to respond to a Cavanagh advertising strategy that was taking a toll and had to be answered. “Unfortunately, most of it (the Cavanagh assertion) was untrue,” said Lincoln.

Vicites said he also pledged a positive campaign and would have continued that strategy even if he’d been negatively attacked, which wasn’t the case. He said he ran a grassroots campaign that included targeted door knocking at 1,000 homes and phone calls to another 14,000.

Vicites said the “very competitive race” made him work harder as a candidate and brought out new initiatives and ideas from all five Democrat and all six Republican candidates. But Vicites said he wasn’t surprised to see Cavanagh, with whom he’s had a contentious relationship, defeated.

“It doesn’t surprise me. All I can say is that I wish him well in his future endeavors,” said Vicites. “That’s about all I can say. I think that a lot of the things I heard on the campaign trail about the county’s future, and what direction they wanted to go – such as improving the image of the county, having stability and a board of commissioners that worked well together … I think they felt that they wanted new commissioners that would complement my efforts as chairman and the things I was trying to accomplish.”

More succinctly, Vicites said voters know he has a cooperative nature and that, “They felt it was time to choose somebody that I could work with.”

Incumbent Commissioner Ronald M. Nehls, who finished last in the five-person Democrat field with 4,971 votes, said he was extremely disappointed in his showing, particularly since he felt he performed well in his first and only term.

“I tell you the truth: I’m embarrassed, flat and straight out. I’m actually ashamed,” said Nehls. “My performance as a commissioner, the things I stand for, really couldn’t generate any more than they did in the election? It’s really disappointing to me.

“The voters, they sent me a big-time message: That me being a commissioner was a joke,” continued Nehls. “I accept that – and I’ll try to accommodate their wishes as quickly as possible.”

Nehls said that this election proves to him that Lebder, who engineered Nehls’ own victory four years ago, still has what it takes to make a significant dent in political outcomes.

“There’s one thing sure out of this: Fred Lebder’s still a capable individual in the political arena in Fayette County,” said Nehls. “Four years ago, he took an inexperienced man (me) and got him elected into office. (Tuesday), he took an experience man (me) and took him out of office.”

Nehls said it’s unlikely that he’ll run for elected office again. He said his youngest daughter is about to start college and he plans to find another job that will permit him to meet her educational expenses.

But in a parting campaign shot, Nehls said he read with great interest Vicites’ pre-election comment concerning the need to elect commissioners with whom Vicites can work.

“Vince said, ‘Give me somebody I can work with and I’ll show you how to make this county proud.’ To that I say, ‘I don’t know that there’s anybody that Vince can work with, because it’s his way and his way alone.’ He talks – but he doesn’t listen,” said Nehls.

In rebuttal, Vicites said, “The only thing I can say to that is, talk to the people I work with and they’ll tell you differently. Talk to all the row officers, the legislators, the municipal officials. I’m sure they’ll all vouch that I have good working relationships with everybody.

“I definitely listen more than I talk. I think people know that,” concluded Vicites. “Ron’s entitled to his opinion and I wish Ron well in his future endeavors.”

Reflecting on his loss to Lincoln, Cavanagh said he was amazed that after a term characterized by several great successes, voters found him unworthy to return to office.

“It’s amazing that when you do a good job – bring in more than $650 million of new construction, projects, the unemployment rate was 6.6 percent in November, you reassess the county, you promote tourism – yes, I’m amazed that you can do a good job and still be painted that you’re the problem,” said Cavanagh. “I’m amazed that you could work your heart and soul out, and still you lose.”

Fourth-place finisher Vincent Zapotosky garnered 7,947 votes, only 501 fewer than Cavanagh. A relative unknown as the campaign began, Zapotosky turned in quite a showing, finishing with 18 percent of the Democrat vote compared to Cavanagh’s 19 percent and Lincoln’s 21 percent.

“I want to make sure that I congratulate not only the winners on both sides, but all the candidates,” said Zapotosky. “It was a wonderful process and we all have something to be proud of. I think we gave people of Fayette County a choice and obviously they all spoke (Tuesday).”

Zapotosky said that while he would have preferred to nail down one of the two Democrat nominations, he was pleased overall with his finish.

“You enter a race to win. Obviously, I didn’t enter to finish third, fourth or fifth. But I believe that (voters’) belief in me was positive in nature,” said Zapotosky. “I hope that if I do run for public service again – and make no bones about it I do want to be in public service- – that they will be receptive to my message and who I am.”

Zapotosky also thanked the 42 percent of registered voters that turned out at the polls, regardless of which candidates they voted for. He said he plans to get “about two weeks of rest,” which will begin after he gathers up campaign signs.

Zapotosky said that if the winning candidates in November take up his campaign idea of making retention of young people a top priority, he will consider his candidacy a success. Beyond that, he said he plans to work to elect the two Democrats in the general election.

“This (race) was something that my heart and my gut was telling me to do. I really believed, and still believe, that I would have made a good county commissioner,” said Zapotosky. “The only motivation was my motivation. That’s why I filed (to run). I believed in the people and I believed in what I was about.

“I really believed that I could make Fayette County a better place. That’s the only motivation I had.”

Vicites said he wished Zapotosky well for his efforts in the primary. “He worked hard. Vince is a good guy,” said Vicites.