Republicans choose new chairwoman

CANTON — The St. Lawrence County Republican Committee's new chairwoman is a relative unknown but already has proven herself as a dedicated campaigner.

Nancy K. Martin, Madrid, unseated two-year Chairwoman Janet L. Kelly in a close race at Thursday's annual committee meeting. Mrs. Martin has worked behind the scenes for the party for more than a decade and recently set her sights on the top spot because a looming retirement from Gouverneur Correctional Facility will give her time to devote to the committee.

"I made over a hundred phone calls," she said.

The committee has 84 members. While her short-term goal is hanging onto and winning GOP seats at the federal and state levels, Mrs. Martin said she wants to flesh out committee membership to its potential maximum: 204.

"We need to get our numbers up and have contacts in every district to help us get candidate support and voters registered," she said.

She defeated Ms. Kelly by 272 in the committee's weighted voting system that gives members a voice equal to the number of people from their district who voted for the Republican candidate in the last gubernatorial election. More than 3,600 votes were cast by the 50-plus committee members in attendance. Many carried proxy ballots for absent members.

Before the meeting, Mrs. Martin made the rounds at the Best Western University Inn, shaking hands and asking for support. Ms. Kelly, Ogdensburg, was conciliatory in defeat and spent about five minutes after the meeting talking with Mrs. Martin.

"I won't desert the party. I'm going to keep campaigning," she said.

Ms. Kelly was elected chairwoman in 2006. She came in after state Assemblywoman Dierdre K. Scozzafava, Gouverneur, volunteered in January of that year to fulfill the nine remaining months of Joseph A. Gray's term and bring stability to the committee.

Ms. Kelly was known as a stern leader who was not afraid to scold committee members for a lack of effort. She recently admitted she did not expand committee vacancies as promised because she was sidetracked with a series of high-profile elections.

When asked after the vote what direction she'd like to see the committee go, Ms. Kelly ironically pointed to the kind of energy that members said they see in Mrs. Martin.

"I'd like to see them get younger blood in and get our registration back up," Ms. Kelly said.

Mrs. Martin, 55, is an institution steward at Gouverneur Correctional, a job similar to a business manager. She worked previously for the state Office of Mental Health and Ogdensburg Correctional Facility. She and husband Roger L. have an adult daughter, Megan.

Mrs. Martin was born in Pittsford but has lived in the north country since graduating in 1971 from SUNY Canton, then known as Canton Agricultural and Technical College.