Candidate makes special delivery at Schaghticoke polling place

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

Most candidates for office spend their time kissing babies. But one candidate in Rensselaer County on Tuesday ended up delivering one.

The delivery happened at the local firehouse, which on Tuesday was a polling place.

Dominic Pasinella, a candidate for the Schaghticoke Town Board and also chief of the local Melrose Fire Department, responded to a call for help at his firehouse Tuesday morning for a woman in labor.

The woman and her husband were en route from Cambridge to Samaritan Hospital in Troy.

When they realized they wouldn’t make it to the hospital, they pulled into the Melrose Fire Department and called for help.

“That happened to be where all the voters were,” said Pasinella, who responded to the call.

He’d been to the department earlier in the day to vote himself.

He helped deliver the baby in the firehouse meeting room.

“I’m probably the only one running for office in the country who had the chance to deliver a baby at a polling place,” Pasinella said Tuesday afternoon.

Pasinella, a Democrat, was challenging two incumbents Tuesday for a town board seat. Looking to retain their seats were Republicans John Rustin and David Akin.

Pasinella estimated about 10 or 12 voters waited outside to hear news of the birth, cheering when they heard it was a healthy baby girl.

“Everything was fine with the baby,” Pasinella said.

Shortly after, the family was off in an ambulance from Hoosic Valley Rescue to finish their trip to the hospital.

Asked about the standard image of candidates kissing babies, Pasinella laughed. “I delivered one.”