LANCASTER, N.Y. -- One night after his election night defeat, Lancaster Town Supervisor Dino Fudoli is blaming his loss on what he calls tax-and-spend special interests and the town's public employee unions.

"Yeah, it was a little bit of a shock," said Fudoli, who said that looking back, he thinks he never stood a chance. The one-term Republican added that he had a target on his back from the first day he took office.

"There's powers entrenched here in Lancaster that have been in power for 30 years and maybe longer, and when they see that power structure starting to be threatened, they all banded together and came after us, and they certainly did," Fudoli said.

It all came to a head on Election Day during an exchange with an off-duty town police officer at a polling station:

Officer: "You threatened to punch me in the face."

Fudoli: "No I didn't. I said I want to."

Officer: "You want to? Okay, I want you to step away from my vehicle. I'm concerned about your behavior."

The conversation was recorded by the officer and posted to the police union's Facebook page.

Officer: "I feel intimidated you threatened to punch me. I don't know why you would do that."

Fudoli: "Again, I apologize. It was unprofessional and uncalled for."

Fudoli would not comment in-depth about the conversation, saying he's considering legal action.

"The public sees that kind of stuff and I think it's a lot for show and you know, again, I think there was manipulation there."

Lancaster voters elevated long-time Town Clerk Johanna Coleman to the supervisor's office. Coleman declined to comment directly on Fudoli, his leadership style or his run-in with the off-duty cop.

"I am a non-confrontational person. I don't like confrontation and I will do anything in my power to avoid it," said supervisor-elect Coleman, D-Lancaster.

The soon-to-be first woman supervisor in Lancaster's history says she's looking forward to bringing a different management style to town government, and refuted charges that she would raise property taxes.

"I honestly at this point have no intention of raising taxes. My intention is to look for economies very quickly over the next seven days," said Coleman.

Coleman says Fudoli has already reached out to her, promising a smooth transition. Fudoli, meantime, says this will not be the end of his involvement in town politics.

"There's not an ounce of bitterness in me whatsoever. We ran a good clean campaign. I think that's just the way it is, that's just the business," Fudoli said.