ELECTION DAY — PEF President-elect Ken Brynien distributes a mid-day vote tally sheet to members of his slate in the presence of a representative from the American Arbitration Association. Brynien is standing between Dennis Anderson, PEF Executive Board member, and Secretary-Treasurer-elect Arlea Igoe. — Photo by Richard Dillard

Brynien-Igoe ticket sweeps PEF elections

By DEBORAH A. MILES
PEF members elected Ken Brynien as the union’s seventh president in last month’s hotly contested race for the top leadership post.

The official election results posted by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) show Brynien won by a vote of 7,874 compared to 7,024 for his challenger, Michael Del Piano.

A total of 15,376 mail ballots were scanned, according to AAA, which conducted the election for PEF.

The rest of Brynien’s election slate, called “Members 1st,” also won election for statewide offices.

“We ran on a platform focusing on mobilization, with a commitment to be a politically powerful union achieving improved job security, better contracts and pension reforms,” Brynien said. “With this victory, we can now aggressively move this agenda forward. And, we need to work together as a unified membership.”

Brynien, a PEF vice-president since 1997, has been a psychologist at the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities in Central New York since 1985. The president-elect also served as the statewide chair of PEF’s Political Action Committee, and was chair of the 2003 PS&T contract team.


Members also elected Brynien’s running mate, Arlea Igoe of Albany, as secretary-treasurer. Igoe, a supervisor of electronic data processing, defeated Carlos Garcia of Colonie, by a vote of 7,794 to 7,019. Igoe is a PEF trustee and was twice a PS&T contract team member.

Three vice presidents were also elected. They are incumbents Joe Fox of Troy, who received the highest number of votes among all the candidates, and Patricia Baker of Brooklyn. Lou Matrazzo of Latham will also be switching his PEF Region 8 coordinator hat to that of vice president.

One new trustee was elected on the “Members 1st” ticket, Julio Munoz of the Bronx, who fills Igoe’s seat. Incumbent trustees Olubiyi Sehindemi of the Bronx and Robert Reynolds of Chenango Bridge also ran on the winning ticket.

In contested elections for regional coordinators, PEF members elected Kevin Hintz of Buffalo as the new Region 1 coordinator; Tom Comanzo of Albany as the Region 8 coordinator; and, Vernetta Chesimard of NYC as Region 10 coordinator.

The nine other incumbent regional coordinators were unopposed and were, therefore, automatically re-elected.
All of the officers and Executive Board members officially take office on August 1.

“It is our goal and desire to have a transition which proceeds smoothly, efficiently and seamlessly,” said PEF President Roger Benson. “I believe an orderly and professional transition to the next administration will reflect positively on the union and significantly benefit our members.”

The Communicator July/Aug. '06

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