Council President Cindy Burnham, seen here in January with fire police volunteer Carl Colmorgen, says she’ll announce her plans later this week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Contrary to a published report, Red Bank Council President Cindy Burnham says she still hasn’t made up her mind whether to seek a second term as an independent.
One day after she was left off the 2016 Republican ticket, Burnham told redbankgreen that she’ll announce on Thursday whether she’s running and will fly solo in her quest.
On Monday, the Two River Times published an article reporting that Burham had decided on an independent run. But Burnham told redbankgreen that she was “still mulling” the decision.
On Sunday, the local GOP committee chose Brian Hanlon and Kellie O’Bosky Colwell to run for the two, three-year council seats open in the November election. They’re likely to face off against incumbent Democrat Kathy Horgan and her running mate, Erik Yngstrom.
In bypassing Burnham, the Republicans frosted Burnham, who broke the Democrats five-year lock on all six council seats and the mayoralty. Two years later, the Republicans claimed the council majority for the first time since 1990.
GOP Chairman Sean DiSomma, who failed in his own council bid in 2013, engineered the new ticket, which was supported by all three other Republican council members: Linda Schwabenbauer, Mark Taylor and Mike Whelan.
Burnham said she knew going into Sunday’s event that DiSomma intended to exclude her from the ticket, but said she went anyway “out of courtesy to the Republican party that used to run respectable campaigns.”
She called DiSomma “despicable, hateful and jealous.”
The deadline for Burnham to run an insurgent candidacy in the June 7 Republican primary was 4 p.m. Monday.
