BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDE
Staff Writer
Edison EDISON — Former Democratic Councilman William Stephens has a theory: If at first you don’t win, run for mayor again.
Stephens, 59, Poll Place, confirmed last week he is running as an independent candidate for mayor in November’s general election.
It will be his second run for the mayoral seat in four years.
“Ever since the day after the last election, people have been approaching me asking me to run again,” he said. “I am very committed to public service and restoring the sense of community that Edison once had, and I think is sorely missed right now. The only way to restore that is if I can get in office as mayor. I didn’t lose by that much last time. So I think I have a good shot.”
Mayor George A. Spadoro, who is running against newcomer Jun Choi in the Democratic Party, was neither surprised nor threatened by Stephens’ announcement of a mayoral run.
“Obviously, he is a very visible person who has been very critical of my administration, so it is no surprise that he has elected to run,” Spadoro said. “My focus is on the primary right now, though. While I am aware of Mr. Stephens’ motives in running, I’m not gong to worry about them until the general election. Still I think my record is a good one that can stand the criticism of a few compared to a township of 100,000.”
Stephens last ran for mayor in 2001, after a seven-year stint on the Township Council.
Instead of running on the Spadoro ticket as a council candidate, he opted to break away from the Edison Democratic Organization’s party line endorsement of Spadoro and try to win the mayoral seat.
Stephens lost his bid for that office by about 600 votes, with Spadoro garnering roughly 4,600 and Stephens winning 4,000.
When he ran that year and split up the mayor’s ticket by doing so, he took two party-endorsed council candidates with him: Antonia Ricigliano, who had just completed her first term on council, from 1998 to 2001, and Committeeman Anthony Russomanno.
“They did a brave thing,” Stephens said. “But they were answering the call of the people. People wanted change and they wanted to represent them.”
Also on the “Stephens for Mayor” ticket was Robert Karabinchak, who recently tried to win the unexpired term of Councilman William Kruczak, who resigned.
Stephens was also a party front runner for council, but he went another route.
“I could have been a councilman again, but I decided that it was time for a change, and I broke away from the Spadoro team,” he said. “The township was hurting then, and it certainly hasn’t gotten any better. I still see an awful lot of people deprived of an opportunity to have input on critical issues, including choosing who will represent them.”
What Stephens was referring to was the turn of events following the resignation of Councilman William Kruczak. The Democratic organization screened candidates to replace him, but the Township Council did not choose the candidate who garnered the most votes, Robert Karabinchak.
He was bypassed and council selected Salvatore Pizzi instead, he said.
“Then, Pizzi is automatically endorsed by the local party organization as a candidate in November, and they say it is uncontested and he didn’t need to screen,” Stephens said. “They ignored a popular vote and then ignored what may have been the will of the majority of the local party to endorse someone else for the council full term.”
Stephens plans to run with a slate of four candidates for council. Though he has not revealed who is in the running for those spots, he did say that one person who will definitely be on his ticket as a council candidate is Ricigliano.
“We are still in the selection process for the others,” he said. “This is going to be a party-fusion ticket, so there are a lot of issues to work out before everyone is comfortable and solid choices.”
Spadoro said that Stephens’ candidacy as an independent with a fusion ticket make him less of a Democrat.
“If you run as an Independent — an individual who is critical of the current Democratic administration and the local Democrats — then you can’t really say you are a Democrat,” the mayor said.
Political party alliances aside, Stephens said the larger campaign issue is letting people know their voices are heard.
“The more people I talk to, the more I realize that they are desperate to be a part of the political process,” he said. “I see people at meetings and all over town, and they continually tell me that they feel as if they’re beating a dead horse trying to get council members or the mayor to listen to them, much less respond.”
Accessibility is something else Stephens said is lacking in the current administration.
“The mayor always seems to be behind closed doors and only available for those ‘look good’ political appearances,” Stephens said. “There is a feeling that he allows special interest groups to dictate what happens in this community. The community belongs to the people, not one person who has an office in Town Hall.”
Stephens has been a Partner Access program manager with AT&T for the past 40 years and has been responsible for all data connections to support outsourced AT&T work.
He has been involved in several community activist endeavors, including trying to halt the development of the Wal-Mart superstore complex slated for Route 27 and Vineyard Road, and serving as president of the Edison Community Association.