Lois
POUGHKEEPSIE – Republican Dutchess County Comptroller James Coughlan
has conceded defeat to Democrat Robin Lois.
She narrowly defeated him on election day, but absentee ballots counted
after widened her lead. “It is evident that we came up around 600
votes less than my opponent, which is less than one percentage point short
of victory,” he wrote in an email to supporters late Friday afternoon.
“It’s my wish and expectation that every single absentee ballot
be counted but at this time I graciously concede to Robin Lois in our
race for Dutchess County Comptroller,” Coughlan wrote.
Lois said over the next month she will be “focused on the transition
to make sure that I can hit the ground running for Dutchess residents
and taxpayers when I take office in January.” She said she is “humbled
to have earned the trust of the voters to be their next comptroller and
I look forward to getting to work.”
He said he was proud of the “positive and issue-based campaign”
he ran focused on his “effectiveness” over the last eight
years. During his time in office, Coughlan said he worded toward “restoring
the fund balance after it was recklessly depleted, returning $10 million
of unspent tax dollars to the treasury from vendors that didn’t
perform proper reconciliations or work, and consecutive years of no tax
increases and tax reductions.”
Coughlan said he “strictly monitored the Dutchess County Airport
and Resource Recovery Agency while managing the $450 million operating
budget and with my legal and financial experience rescued multiple not-for-profit
agencies from insolvency maintaining services to our citizens of greatest
need.”
