Mother, daughter maintain legacy in public office.
By: Jennifer Potash
For years in New Jersey politics, the last name Karcher called to mind Alan Karcher, the former Democratic speaker of the state Assembly and former chairman of the Mercer County Democrats.
Now, say the name Karcher and the late speaker’s wife, Margaret "Peggy" Karcher, a Princeton Borough councilwoman, or daughter Ellen Karcher, a councilwoman in Marlboro Township in Monmouth County, may spring to mind.
Mr. Karcher’s son, Tim, an attorney who serves on the state Council on Local Mandates, also is continuing the Karcher political legacy.
The Karcher legacy of serving in elective office goes way back. Alan Karcher’s father, Joseph T. Karcher, served in the Assembly from 1930 to 1933. And John J. Quaid, Alan Karcher’s great-uncle, served in the Assembly from 1898 to 1900.
Alan Karcher died of lung cancer in 1999.
The Karcher women, both Democrats, may be the first mother-daughter pair to serve on separate municipal governing bodies in New Jersey at the same time.
Ellen Karcher was sworn in to her first term on the Marlboro Township Council on Jan. 1.
Peggy Karcher, who was appointed to the Borough Council in June 2000 and won election the following November, is beginning the second year of her three-year term. She and her husband moved to Princeton Borough from Sayerville in 1991. Ms. Karcher has completed the class work and research on her doctorate at Rutgers University and is in the process of writing her dissertation.
The mother of a teen-age boy and twin 7-year-old girls, Ellen Karcher moved to Marlboro with her husband, John Hochberg, about six years ago.
When the farmland and open space that attracted them to the bedroom Monmouth County community began to be replaced by housing developments, Ms. Karcher sought to get involved with local government to promote better planning for the town and surrounding region.
"Marlboro is a wonderful place to live and I do not want people to think that I want to be the last person in and then close the door," she said. "There needs to be more thought given to what each development means for the town that it’s not just 10 more houses but how many more kids and cars."
Peggy Karcher said she was not surprised when her daughter announced her intention to seek local office.
"I thought of all my three children, Ellen was the one most likely to do it," she said. "To me, having lived so many years in a political family, it seemed like the next logical step of the next generation."
Her eldest daughter, Elizabeth, lives in Maryland with her husband and two sons.
Alan Karcher may have been surprised to see his wife and daughter choose to serve at the municipal level of government.
"He always said the most difficult position was local politics, particularly because your constituents believe you should be extremely accessible to them," Peggy Karcher said.
In Sayerville, where the Karchers previously lived and where Mr. Karcher launched his career, residents would call the mayor about property line disputes in the middle of the night, Mrs. Karcher recalled.
"In Princeton I think we’re spared that," she said.
Mrs. Karcher helped her daughter on the campaign trail.
When a proposed increase in Marlboro’s municipal open-space tax faced opposition from senior-citizen groups, Mrs. Karcher joined her daughter in visiting senior centers and housing developments.
"They all loved her," Ellen Karcher recalled. "(Senior citizens) would say to me, ‘That’s not your mother, that’s your sister,’ and my mother would ask when we’re going back."
Peggy Karcher said the experience was a lot of fun. And she pointed out to her daughter that some of her highest vote totals came from the districts they visited.
It was a change from Ellen Karcher’s early campaign experiences as a toddler helping her mother pass out fliers and literature for one of her father’s bids for office.
During the campaign in the summer months, Ellen Karcher was touched by stories complete strangers would share with her about her dad and grandfather.
"They didn’t have to stand down there in the heat and tell me this, whether it was a political story about my dad or a professional one where he did the closing of their first house," she said. "It made me feel really good that people remembered him in a positive way."
Growing up, Ellen Karcher said, she could never be sure when a stranger asked if she was related to Alan Karcher what the reaction would be. But the experience helped her develop a thick skin to political slights and jabs.
"Would it be Karcher, he’s right on, or Karcher, is he nuts?" she said, drawing laughter from her mother. "Now that I’m older I realize no matter what people thought about him, he always had strong convictions."
Ellen Karcher said she hopes if her children say their friends’ parents disagree with her on a given issue, "My kids will be able to walk away from that and say she had her reasons and believed it was for the greater good at the end."
Having gained some experience on the Borough Council during her year-and-a-half, Peggy Karcher has passed along some tips to her daughter.
One is getting caller I.D. to get a heads-up when the press calls, Ellen Karcher said.
At least one Karcher has higher political ambitions.
"I will serve my term and look at the possibilities in the Assembly district," Ellen Karcher said.
For now, her incumbent Republican representatives in the Legislature Sen. John Bennett, who will be co-president in the next session, and Assembly members Michael Arnone and Clare Farragher are formidable opponents, she said.
Borough Council, not the state legislature, suits Peggy Karcher fine.
"Yes. I’ve given it some thought and quickly rejected it," she said about running for the state legislature.
She’s happy with being a "force for very measured change in the borough." Local government is not about "creating the parade and leading it," but getting the sense from the community of what it wants and making those changes, she said.
"I don’t think politics on a more global scale works that way," Peggy Karcher said. "It’s important if you’re going to be an assemblyman or a senator that you lead the charge. And I don’t see myself in that role. Ellen would be very good in that role. Alan was excellent in that role."