Michael Clancy, center, at the Red Bank Middle School in 2015. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Republican Chairman Michael Clancy resigned from the borough Human Relations Advisory Committee Thursday night, continuing to disavow a text message that the committee’s chairman had termed “extremely threatening” to immigrant children.
Michael Clancy in 2015. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Republican Chairman Michael Clancy on Wednesday disavowed a text message that a party loyalist had termed a “disgusting” slap at the borough’s immigrant community.
Amid renewed calls for his resignation from the borough Human Relations Advisory Committee, Clancy sent redbankgreen a statement in which he expressed a “deep empathy for immigrants and children of immigrants, who live in fear of deportation.”
Sue Viscomi at a 2015 board of education meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
[Correction: The date of a controversial text was incorrectly reported in the original version of this article. References to it below have been corrected.]
By JOHN T. WARD
A Red Bank Republican loyalist blasted party Chairman Michael Clancy Tuesday, one day after she was bypassed in favor of a political newcomer to run for borough council this year.
Sue Viscomi, who serves on the board of education, also took aim at Clancy for what she said was a “dumbfounding” and “disgusting” text she claims he sent to her and three GOP council members last month in February asking for a list of undocumented alien students so he could “mail it to ICE,” referring to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.
This year’s council candidates include Democrats Ed Zipprich, left, and Michael Ballard, center, and Republican Linda Schwabenbauer, right. Missing is Schwabenbauer running mate Dana McArthur. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The primary races for two Red Bank council seats will be uncontested in June, with the Democrats and Republicans having firmed up their two-person tickets Monday.
Red Bank Councilman Mike Whelan and Ocean Township Deputy Mayor Robert Accera Sr. will anchor a ticket headed by state Senator Jen Beck. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
After just 14 months on the Red Bank borough council, Mike Whelan is taking aim at Trenton.
The 25-year-old Republican plans to mount a bid to recapture an 11th-District Assembly seat for his party from first-term incumbents Joann Downey and Eric Houghtaling, he told attendees at the GOP’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner in Freehold Friday.
Retired Red Bank police captain Pete DeFazio, at right above, is slated to serve as chief of the borough’s volunteer fire department for 2017, following his election by members Tuesday night.
His swearing-in, scheduled for January 1, will begin DeFazio’s third tour as chief, a post he held in 1987 and 1993. A member of the Relief Engine Company on Drummond Place, DeFazio retired from the police department in 2010, after 35 years on the force. He’ll succeed Chris Soden, of the Union Hose Company, in a tradition that rotates the top job among the borough’s six fire companies.
Hillary Clinton won every district in Red Bank but the fifth, lifting the party’s entire ticket. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
She lost at the national level, but Hillary Clinton won Red Bank, and her coattails helped Democrats pull even with Republicans on the borough council Tuesday night, election returns tallied by the Monmouth County Clerk show.
Clinton captured all but one of the but one of Red Bank’s nine voting districts — the fifth — topping president-elect Donald Trump townwide, 2,633 to 1,510. (The figures don’t include mail-in ballots, said borough clerk Pam Borghi.)
Two Democratic challengers put up strong numbers, but not enough to topple the two incumbent Republicans on the ticket for Fair Haven council Tuesday, according to results posted by the Monmouth County Clerk.Incumbent Republicans sailed to victory in races for four seats on the Shrewsbury Borough Council Tuesday — two for full terms, and two for one-year unexpired terms, according to results posted only by the Monmouth County Clerk.
Erik Yngstrom at Democratic headquarters as the party’s local victory became clear. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Knocked from their perch a year ago, Red Bank Democrats gained parity with Republicans on the borough council Tuesday night, as incumbent Kathy Horgan and newcomer Erik Yngstrom routed three other candidates, according to preliminary results.
The clearest loser in the race was incumbent Cindy Burnham, who ran a distant fifth three years after she broke a seven-year Democratic lock on the governing body.
Incumbent Republican Brian Kelly and independent Kevin Birdsall won the two open council seats in Sea Bright Tuesday, according to results posted by the Monmouth County Clerk.
Presidential race results by county.
Congressional race results by district.
Ballot questions, statewide results.
All maps courtesy of NJSpotlight.com
A message from the Fair Haven Volunteer Fire Department. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge)
Jonathan Peters, incumbent Republican. (Click to enlarge)
Fair Haven voters will go to the polls Tuesday to elect two members of the borough council, each for a three-year term. redbankgreen reached out to the four candidates on the ballot — Jonathan Peters, Christopher Rodriguez, Shervyn von Hoerl and Rowland Wilhelm— with a questionnaire, and all four responded. Below are Jonathan Peters’ answers.
Here’s the ballot: fair-haven-ballot-2016. Polling stations for districts 1, 2 and 5 are at the Knights of Columbus, 200 Fair Haven Road; districts 3, 4 and 6 are at the Community Center on Fisk Street.
Christopher Rodriguez, Democrat. (Click to enlarge)
Fair Haven voters will go to the polls Tuesday to elect two members of the borough council, each for a three-year term. redbankgreen reached out to the four candidates on the ballot — Jonathan Peters, Christopher Rodriguez, Shervyn von Hoerl and Rowland Wilhelm— with a questionnaire, and all four responded. Below are Rodriguez’s answers.
Here’s the ballot: fair-haven-ballot-2016. Polling stations for districts 1, 2 and 5 are at the Knights of Columbus, 200 Fair Haven Road; districts 3, 4 and 6 are at the Community Center on Fisk Street.
Shervyn von Hoerl, Democrat. (Click to enlarge)
Fair Haven voters will go to the polls Tuesday to elect two members of the borough council, each for a three-year term. redbankgreen reached out to the four candidates on the ballot — Jonathan Peters, Christopher Rodriguez, Shervyn von Hoerl and Rowland Wilhelm— with a questionnaire, and all four responded. Below are von Hoerl’s answers.
Here’s the ballot: fair-haven-ballot-2016. Polling stations for districts 1, 2 and 5 are at the Knights of Columbus, 200 Fair Haven Road; districts 3, 4 and 6 are at the Community Center on Fisk Street.
Rowland Wilhelm, incumbent Republican. (Click to enlarge)
Fair Haven voters will go to the polls Tuesday to elect two members of the borough council, each for a three-year term. redbankgreen reached out to the four candidates on the ballot — Jonathan Peters, Christopher Rodriguez, Shervyn von Hoerl and Rowland Wilhelm— with a questionnaire, and all four responded. Below are Wilhelm’s answers.
Here’s the ballot: fair-haven-ballot-2016. Polling stations for districts 1, 2 and 5 are at the Knights of Columbus, 200 Fair Haven Road; districts 3, 4 and 6 are at the Community Center on Fisk Street.
Incumbents Kathy Horgan, a Democrat, and Cindy Burnham, running as an independent, at Wednesday night’s event at the Pilgrim Baptist Church. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Republican candidates for Red Bank council sent emissaries who watched from the sidelines at a community event Wednesday night.
First-time GOP candidates Brian Hanlon and Kellie O’Bosky Colwell disputed the circumstances under which the event, billed as a “community conversation,” came together, leaving them unable to attend, they told redbankgreen. Their expected absence had been termed an “insult” by one of the event’s organizers.
But the event itself turned out not to be as partisan as GOP chairman Mike Clancy had feared, he said afterward.
Reverend Terrence Porter said Wednesday’s event is intended as a nonpartisan opportunity for voters to see the candidates as individuals. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The pastor of Red Bank’s Pilgrim Baptist Church lashed out Monday at borough Republicans, who he said had “insulted” African-American voters in avoiding a candidates’ event planned for Wednesday night at the church.
Reverend Terrence Porter teed up both the current and former GOP chairmen Sean DiSomma for what Porter said was groundless politicizing of an event that was envisioned as nonpartisan from the get-go.
“I’ve never been so disappointed in my experience in Red Bank,” Porter told redbankgreen. Read More
Republican council candidates Kellie O’Bosky Colwell and Brian Hanlon listen as Councilwoman Cindy Burnham speaks at Candidate’s Night on October 18. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
“Tired of hearing politicians make vague promises at election time” only to ignore them afterward, the two Republican candidates for Red Bank council unveiled a “six-month action plan” Monday that calls for a freeze on department heads’ salaries and a study of the water utility.
In their plan, first-time candidates Brian Hanlon and Kellie O’Bosky Colwell pledge they won’t seek re-election if they “do not deliver on their promises.”
Council President Cindy Burnham at the West Side Community Group’s candidate’s forum Tuesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank RiverCenter went on the offensive Wednesday in response to a call by incumbent Councilwoman Cindy Burnham for its elimination.
A day after Burnham, a former Republican seeking re-election as an independent, told an audience that “we need to get rid of RiverCenter,” the autonomous entity’s executive director wrote letter that challenged her on several points, including the sum it collects from downtown property owners.
Republican council candidates Kellie O’Bosky-Colwell and Brian Hanlon at the West Side Community Group’s Candidate’s Night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank residents brought concerns about property taxes, water costs, downtown development, parks and more to a forum that featured all five contenders for two borough council seats Tuesday night.
In a wide-ranging, two-hour question-and-answer session marked by minimal friction among candidates, incumbent Cindy Burnham, a former Republican now running as an independent, touted her “no” votes on a long series of spending bills while three-term Democratic incumbent Kathy Horgan defended tax increases.
Meanwhile, a trio of first-time candidates — Brian Hanlon, Kellie O’Bosky-Colwell and Erik Yngstrom — staked out positions on the arts, parks and schools at an event that drew about 100 to the River Street Commons senior housing facility.
Cindy Burnham, independent. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
One year after Republicans narrowly displaced Democrats as the controlling party in Red Bank government, ending a 25-year reign, voters return to the polls on November 8 with five candidates to choose from for two council seats.
All five candidates have indicated they’ll participate in the West Side Community Group’s annual candidates’ forum at the River Street Commons at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, October 18. For more information about the event, take it here.
To help voters compare the contenders in terms of personal background and positions on key issues, redbankgreen emailed them identical sets of questions late last week. Here’s what Cindy Burnham had to say in response.