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Longshot bid turns into serious candidacy
Unexpected primary win puts Mohan in thick of race for Amherst supervisor
By JESSICA KELTZ
Reporter Contributor
Satish Mohan decided to run for Amherst town supervisor to make a point about democracy.
UB engineering faculty member Satish Mohan decided to run for Amherst town supervisor to make a point about democracy. After an unexpected win in the Republican primary, Mohan is now in the midst of a serious challenge to longtime incumbent Susan Grelick
PHOTO: NANCY J. PARISI
"I was very surprised," the associate professor of civil, structural and environmental engineering says of his win in the Republican primary in September. "I was just trying to do an experiment in pure truth," by going against the party-controlled structure and putting forth new ideas.
But now, after that upset victory in the primary over Sweet Home school board president Dirk Rabenold, he's in the midst of a serious challenge to longtime Democratic supervisor Susan Grelick.
Mohan says he plans to take a four-year leave of absence from his faculty position at UB if he is elected.
"I had no support from any party," Mohan said of his primary bid. "I just made people aware of the town's problems and my solutions to those problems. I'm sure people voted in the primary for my solutions and made me win against a major party's endorsed candidate."
A native of India who has lived in the United States for 31 years, Mohan says he believes his victory shows that democracy can work.
"It proves that the real power in a democracy lies in the people and not a few bosses, and that also proves that democracy in our society does work. It is alive," he says.
When he first moved to Amherst 19 years ago, Mohan busied himself with his job, his family and, for a time, running a small business on the side. But over the years, he and his wife found that their children received wonderful educations in Amherst schools, only to move away as adults to find jobs. He also saw what seemed to him to be uncontrolled growth in the town, with traffic congestion worsening and more than 1,000 houses beginning to sink. So he decided to run for office.
"I thought everything was nice, everything was good," upon first moving to Amherst, he says. "But when I noticed the sinking of homes and then the flooding of neighborhoods, the civil engineer in me started to challenge me and motivate me and push me to do something that is related to my profession." He points out that his expertise as a civil engineer will help him fix many of the problems facing Amherst should he be elected.
His platform includes improving town-gown relations and getting UB to work more with Amherst and the larger Western New York community.
"Universities are tax-exempt entities. While they are an integral part of the town, the student population and also the faculty is attracted to come study or teach here based on the quality of the township around the university," he said. "So it is in the interest of the university to take interest in growth of the town surrounding the university. So far, UB and the Town of Amherst where our university is located—they have not interacted in any meaningful way."
Mohan admits that while he never expected to win the primary, he is running a serious campaign for supervisor, going door to door every night and recruiting his wife and friends to do the same.
He says that despite the problems that motivated him to run for office, he loves living in Amherst, a town that's been a good home for him and his family, and the place where he and his wife intend to retire.
Mohan and his wife, Usha, have three children: Ankur Crawford, Sumita Kumar and Vivek Mohan, and one grandson, Ishaan Kumar.