Hollingsworth, McLean to represents GOP in village election this November

by Dan McClelland

GOP candidates for village trustee this fall, Jason McLean and Clint Hollingsworth, briefly pulled off their masks Tuesday after the GOP caucus for a quick team photo behind the Aaron Maddox hall. (McClelland photo)

The Village of Tupper Lake Repubilican committee, directed by Ray Bigrow, nominated incumbent trustee Clint Hollingsworth and political newcomer Jason McLean to run for two open trustee spots on the village board this November.

The lightly attended caucus Tuesday was held in the spacious meeting hall of the Aaron Maddox building, with the 25 or so party faithful sporting face coverings and social distancing.

In his bid for a third two-year term as trustee, Mr. Hollingsworth will be running on the GOP line for the first time. He recently switched his voter registration from Democrat, on whose line he ran the first two times.

The trustee, who oversees the electric department, garnered 19 votes Tuesday night. Mr. McLean received one less and a second political newcomer, planning board member Jan Yaworski, managed a respectable 13 votes.

Joanne Clement was the caucus secretary. Counters were Trustee Ron LaScala, who also switched political affiliation in recent years to Republican from Democrat, and Ray Tarbox.

Deputy Mayor Leon LeBlanc was the first to rise to nominate a candidate and he nominated Jan Yaworski. Mayor Paul Maroun seconded her nomination.

Mr. LeBlanc rose again to nominate Clint Hollingsworth. His nomination was seconded by Trustee Ron LaScala.

Mr. LaScala then nominated his friend Jason McLean. Ray Tarbox seconded Jason’s nomination.

Mr. Bigrow called three times for more nominations and there were none. The mayor then forwarded a motion to close nominations and it was seconded by Mr. LeBlanc. Mr. Bigrow and his caucus officers then conducted a secret paper ballot to select the two candidates.

The two successful candidates were asked to briefly address the caucus.

Clint Hollingsworth thanked his new fellow party members for their support as he runs for this his third term on the village board.

“I believe in the past four years I’ve accomplished a number of things as a member of the board. I always tried to look forward and look out for prosperity for our village and our community in general!”

“There are many personnel issues that routinely come before the village board. It’s more than just being a taxpayer.” There are business issues to consider. “We are running a community!” he stressed, saying he tries to balance those things in all his decisions.

He said he has enjoyed overseeing the electric department during his time on the board and he is very proud of the department’s record and its accomplishments under his watch.

Mr. Hollingsworth said the village is fortunate to have good, dedicated crews working on its behalf and its residents. “We have a great group of guys” in all our departments.

“It’s been both an honor and privilege to serve the village” and he said he looks forward to re-election on November 3.

Jason McLean, who is married to the former April Tyo of this village, told the caucus members he has been a property owner in the village for over ten years.

“I have watched the village board go through a very difficult time of late during this COVID crisis and I feel some of them may be getting burned out and may be looking for new life to give the board new energy.”

He said if elected he would be most happy to provide that new energy for the village board.

Mr. McLean is a registered nurse at Adirondack Health and also an accomplished carpenter. In fact, he was one of the first members of Clint Hollingsworth’s crew when he opened his contracting business here.

Not running in Tuesday’s caucus was multi-term trustee, David “Haji” Maroun, who now lives in the township and thereby is ineligible to serve as village trustee.

Mr. Maroun does plan, however, to continue to direct the Keepers of the Diamond, the committee that has been working very hard since last summer to bring the River Pigs team and the Empire League semi-pro baseball to Tupper Lake.