Nov 6, 2013 3 min read

Washington County Recorder of Deeds Debbie Bardella and Controller Michael Namie, both Democrats, secured fifth and fourth terms, respectively, handily defeating a pair of Republican challengers.

With the last of the county’s 184 precincts tabulated shortly before 11 p.m. Namie had 16,625 votes from unofficial returns to Angela Carrier’s 11,239.

“I’m truly honored and thankful that the voters of both parties have chosen to allow me to represent them for another term as controller,” Namie said after a night of monitoring election results from his home.

“I will continue to be the fervent watchdog of taxpayer dollars with the same independence as I have done in the past.

I’m going to make the right decision on behalf of the taxpayer every time.”

Namie, 49, a resident of Canton Township and graduate of Washington & Jefferson College, was elected county controller in 2001 after serving as deputy controller for a decade.

Carrier, of Peters Township, was making her first try for county row office, as was her fellow GOP member Nancy Carr of Washington, who lost to Bardella.

Bardella, who could not be reached immediately for comment, had 15,749 votes to Nancy Carr’s 12,279. Carr had previously run for mayor of Washington. She won a write-in nomination in the May primary after no GOP candidate filed for the row office.

Bardella, 58, of Speers, has been running the recorder’s office for four, four-year terms. She began working as a clerk-typist there after graduating from Avella High School. She later became assistant deputy and deputy recorder.

Three unopposed candidates, two on the ballot of Washington County judgeships and another running for a third term as sheriff, coasted to victory.

District Judge Valarie Costanzo had 20,034 votes while First Assistant District Attorney Mike Lucas logged 19,295, according to unofficial returns for two seats on the bench.

The real contest for the Washington County bench occurred in the May primary when Costanzo, 43, and Lucas, 45, each emerged as the top two vote-getters on the Democratic and Republican ballots from a field of eight.

Lucas, a Carroll Township resident, and Costanzo of Cecil Township, pursued vacancies due to the retirements last year of Janet Moschetta Bell and Paul Pozonsky.

Pozonsky is facing a host of criminal charges filed in connection with alleged wrongdoing while in office.

Costanzo, a former assistant district attorney who has been a magisterial district judge for the past 14 years in Cecil, Mt. Pleasant and Robinson townships and McDonald Borough, was the sole woman in the judicial primary. Judges are elected to 10-year terms with their salaries, paid by state taxpayers, currently pegged at $173,271.

Sheriff Samuel Romano, 48, of Canton Township, hasn’t experienced a suspenseful election night since 2005 when he ran for the office of which he had been a deputy. Romano had 22,979 votes while 183 were recorded as write-in names.

He has had no opponent in either the primary or general election contests of 2009 or 2013.

Like other Washington County row offices, the sheriff’s salary is $73,544.