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Politics & Government

Osborne Declares Victory Over Najarian

Najarian concedes after elections office finds poll worker, data entry errors in GOP county commissioner race results.

Updated: May 20, 12:30 a.m.

Brad Osborne declared victory over David Najarian in the race for the fourth spot on the Republican ticket for Lehigh County commissioner after the official vote tally gave him a 30 vote lead with 16 provisional ballots left to count. 

Tim Benyo, chief clerk of the county Voter Registration office, said Osborne, currently a South Whitehall Township commissioner, was ahead by 30 votes in the official count, as of late Thursday afternoon. On election night, unofficial results showed Najarian, a Lynn Township supervisor, as nabbing the fourth nomination with 6,057 votes compared to Osborne’s 6,024.

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But in doing the official count this week, Voter Registration staff discovered four errors by poll workers and one in data entry that put Osborne head by 30, Benyo said. They were still counting provisional ballots Thursday afternoon but expected to have the official count completed Friday morning. Without the provisional ballots, Osborne had 6006 votes to Najarian’s 5976, according to Benyo. There were only 16 provisional ballots so they would not change the outcome. 

Najarian was part of the Republican slate that formed in response to the county's 16 percent tax hike and Republican Commissioner Dean Browning's refusal to vote last fall to send the budget back to County Executive Don Cunningham for steep cuts. The slate included three other candidates -- Scott Ott, Lisa Scheller and Vic Mazziotti -- all of whom won GOP nominations Tuesday night. The slate targeted Browning for defeat and animousity rose during the race with each side complaining about the other's campaign ads and mailers. 

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Osborne avoided aligning himself with either side and said he planned to continue to run a positive campaign in the run-up to the November election. "I decry the negative tone that became dominant in this primary," he said Thursday in a prepared statement. He promised to look for ways to increase efficiency in county government to avoid further tax increases.  

Reached at home Thursday evening, Najarian said he called Osborne to concede the race and congratulated him. "I know he'll do well for Lehigh County," Najarian said. 

"I'm very proud of the campaign we ran and look forward to supporting conservative candidates that support lower taxes, reduced spending and greater government transparency," Najarian said in a prepared statement. 

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