By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Three races for two Crawford County commissioners’ seats took place during Tuesday’s primary election with one candidate getting in the fast lane for one of the seats.
In a tightly contested race for the seat that is being vacated by Steve Reinhard, 206 votes separated first place from third place between Republican candidates Michael Schiefer, Mo Ressallat, and Terry Gribble. In the end it was Ressallat grabbing the victory with 2,652 votes. Schiefer finished second with 2,512 votes, and Gribble finished in third with 2,446 votes.
A dejected Gribble explained that he was disappointed that his attempt for the seat didn’t pay off.
“I am terribly disappointed that I didn’t win. I thought knocking on a thousand doors in Crawford County and attending 12 out of the 16 townships meetings and all the other things I did would be enough to get people to want to support me and move me forward in this position,” Gribble said. “Apparently they wanted to have what they had for several years with Mo, so congratulations to Mo.”
Gribble hasn’t ruled out possibly running for an office in the future, but it will take time before he makes a decision on his future in the political landscape.
“It is a possibility, but I am going to have to take the time and digest this. I am just very disappointed,” Gribble explained.
In the Republican race for the seat held by Doug Weisenauer, it was the incumbent who handily picked up the victory against opponent Jeff Sheerer with a 2,638 to 1,396 vote advantage.
Weisenauer explained some of the projects he hopes to complete if re-elected as commissioner.
“There are a number of projects in the county I would like to continue working on. We have issues with the courthouse dome roof project, Children’s Services is a big one. That takes a long time to understand the financial side of that, so I hope to get that solved soon, and get the finances on track,” Weisenauer said.
Weisenauer will face Bucyrus City Council member Daniel Wirebaugh, who ran unopposed on the Democrat ticket, in November’s election for that county commissioner seat.
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