Major power shift coming to county with two from GOP to serve as commissioners

Joe Pitre, who won District 3 over Democrat Tim Fontneau of Dover (Courtesy photo)

DOVER - More than 40 years of Democrat control in county government will soon end after for the first time in recent memory two Republicans will serve as Strafford County commissioners.
Joe Pitre, R-Farmington, and Sean Leavitt, R-Dover, were both elected on Tuesday and will join Democrat George Maglaras of Dover, who has been on the board since 1982.
Leavitt defeated incumbent Deanna Rollo, 12,005 votes to 11,497 in District 3, while
in District 1 Pitre edged out Democrat Tim Fontneau of Dover, 11,904 to 10,591.
Pitre said on Wednesday he had a lot of help getting over the finish line.
"I was surprised that I won, but I had a lot of help along the way. I have to thank people like (state reps) Glenn Bailey, Cliff Newton and Tom Kaczynski."
Pitre said he was excited to be joining the board with a fellow Republican after so many years of Democrat rule over the county's fiscal policy.
"I am excited to have two Republicans on the Strafford County Board of Commissioners and looking forward to our righting the ship," he added.
Maglaras was the only commissioners running unopposed in the first election after a house bill passed last year changed how Strafford County commissioners are elected from at large to by district.
While lawmakers say the intention of HB 75 was to have the three commissioners elected by district depending on where they reside, language in a state statute allowed them to pick any district to run in, even if they didn't live there.
The statute reads, in part, "To hold the office of county commissioner, sheriff, county attorney, county treasurer, register of deeds, or register of probate, a person must have a domicile in the county for which he is chosen. In addition, to hold the office of county commissioner in the counties of Rockingham, Belknap, Grafton, Merrimack, Hillsborough, Cheshire, Sullivan, Coos, and Carroll, a person must have a domicile in the district from which he is elected at the time of his election."

The statute failed to list Strafford County, too.

Rollo and Leavitt, who both live in District 2, ran in District 3, which prompted lifelong District 3 resident and District 3 candidate Cliff Newton, a Republican, to file a complaint with the Ballot Law Commission in July.
Assistant Atty. Gen. Kevin Scura said the BLC, however, had no standing to rule in such a case.
Newton said today that although he was disappointed at the way the BLC decided the case, overall, he was happy that at least now the Board of Commissioners will have two Republicans.
"The law we passed to require Strafford County Commissioners to run by district, instead of at-large works," Newton said. "We now have better and more equal representation for all towns and cities in the county."
HB 75 redistricts Strafford County into three county commissioner districts as follows:
District 1: the towns of Farmington, Middleton, Milton, New Durham, wards 1, 5, and 6, of the city of Rochester, and wards 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the city of Somersworth
District 2: wards 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the city of Dover, and the towns of Durham, Lee, and Rollinsford
District 3: Barrington, wards 5 and 6 of the city of Dover, Madbury, wards 2, 3, and 4 of the city of Rochester, and the town of Strafford.
Maglaras was not immediately available for comment for this story.