Dems running on their record

Incumbents facing freeholder hopefuls

Sunday, October 12, 2003

BY ROBERT E. MISSECK
Star-Ledger Staff

The three Democratic incumbent Union County freeholders are confident they can fend off their challengers in the Nov. 4 election by emphasizing their performances in office.

The three Republicans and two independents on the ballot say those records will be the downfall of the incumbents and for the first time in six years the nine-member board will no longer be an exclusive Democratic club.

Democrats Deborah Scanlon, a legal secretary from Union Township and current chairwoman; Chester Holmes, a retired police officer from Rahway who owns his own security firm; and Alexander Mirabella, an insurance executive from Fanwood, are all looking for another three-year term.

The Republican candidates are Bob Reilly, a former Winfield councilman and mayor who worked in the county's printing services section for 32 years; Stuart S. Kline, an attorney and former Fanwood councilman; and Kenneth R. Hayes, a Roselle resident attending business administration classes at Manhattan College.

There are also two independents in the race as well: Green Party candidate Barbara A. Briemer, a married mother of two from Westfield, and Joe Renna, a Cranford resident who works as a public relations coordinator at the county's Runnells Specialized Hospital in Berkeley Heights.

Both independents say that in addition to controlling wasteful spending and curtailing tax increases, they offer voters another choice.

"This is an opportunity for people to vote other than the two major parties and to hopefully educate people about the larger issues," said Briemer.

"There is no system of checks and balances in place right now," Renna said. "The problem with one-party rule is that the county is overrun with patronage and payback."

County Republican Chairman Ron Frigerio said voters will have the opportunity to break that political hold and have more than just a one-party representation on the board.

"Of course a more open government is an important issue, but the county's efforts to reactivate the old freight line through five towns is another very serious issue, as are the escalating tax rates," Frigerio said.

The county has contracted with the Morristown & Erie Railway to rehabilitate two freight lines that have been out of service for more than a decade: the Staten Island Railway, from Cranford to Linden, and the Rahway Valley Line, from Cranford to Summit.

Five towns have filed suit seeking to block resumption of rail freight. That suit is scheduled to be heard by Superior Court Assignment Judge Edward W. Beglin Jr. in Elizabeth, on Nov. 19.

"They (the freeholders) absolutely lied to the towns involved," Frigerio said of the freeholders' initial statements that work was underway to clean up some of the rail beds for health and public safety reasons, not for reactivating.

He also accused the-all Democratic freeholder board with wasting million of dollars in surplus left by the GOP in 1997 and with raising the tax rate by as much as double digits in some communities to support "wasteful spending practices.

Frigerio also said the county has misused the Open Space, Recreation and Historic Preservation Trust Fund by funding new construction projects like the expansion of the Trailside Nature and Science Center in Mountainside and the acquisition of historical properties.

Mirabella said the Democratic candidates " are very proud of our efforts to preserve open space, and we celebrate the 104 acres of conserved open space that we thought it would take us a decade to achieve but we managed to accomplish in just three years."

The Democrats also point out they have provided $6 million to establish pocket parks throughout the county and have made funds available to provide new or improve existing athletic fields in 20 towns.

Mirabella said the "the economy is a lot different now than it was six years ago and the cost of doing government has increased, especially insurance costs and homeland security costs."

He said the board managed to hold the line on taxes for years until rising expenses forced increases in taxes.

Mirabella said he makes no apology for wanting to reactivate the rail lines under certain conditions to bolster the areas economy.

' ' I made the best decision with the information I had at the time," he said. "You can't please everyone, but from my standpoint, taking control over the train lines and working with the operators and limiting the number of trains and cars passing through was worth it."

Democratic Party Chairwoman Charlotte DeFilippo said the Republicans in Union County "are a party with a history of saying no, but offering no viable alternatives."

She said the GOP "have to be naysayers because the Democratic freeholders have an established record of supplying those programs and services that the public really wants and needs, otherwise the voters would not have returned them to office year after year."

According to Michael Moussallem, deputy administrator of the county's Board of Elections, there are a total of 257,791 registered voters in the county.

There are 87,282 registered Democrats and 40,250 Republicans.

Once again, the bloc of 129,585 unaffiliated voters will play a pivotal role in the outcome of the election.

Robert E. Misseck works in the Union County bureau. He can be reached at rmisseck@starledger.com or (908) 302-1507.