As of 11:30 p.m.,Tuesday, with 17 out of Bedford’s 18 voting districts reporting (94 percent), Menken had 3,190 votes to Gabor’s 1,794. Menken will go on to serve a full four-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2013. The race began when Town Justice Kevin Quaranta, who had served in the position since 2004, died in July at the age of 56. Former Bedford Supervisor John R. Dinin was appointed by the Town Board to serve in Quaranta’s stead until the end of the year, when the newly elected justice will take over.
Menken said he is grateful to all the people in Bedford who supported him throughout the campaign, which began following the untimely death of Town Justice Kevin Quaranta. “It’s a bittersweet victory because of the fact that I am succeeding my good friend Kevin Quaranta. My desire had been to serve with him. He was a mentor and a role model, and instead of serving with him I’m succeeding him,” he said.
Both Menken and Gabor had previously run in the Democratic primary for town justice in 2009. Menken, an attorney, lives in Bedford with his wife, Julie and children, Jacob and Emily. He has served as the chair of Bedford’s Zoning Board of Appeals since 2003 and is the president of the Bedford Village Fire Department, where he serves as an active firefighter and an EMT.
Menken, who was initially nominated by the Bedford Town Democratic Committee, is also first vice chair of the Westchester County Charter Revision Committee and a former Mount Kisco Village Attorney.
The town of Bedford lost a lawsuit against the Westchester Board of Elections when it filed an action this September to set the new justice's term as the remainder of Quaranta’s unexpired, three year term, rather than a full four-year term.
Menken will join Justice Erik P. Jacobsen, who has one more year left to serve in his term.
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