BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer
Republican voters in the June 7 primary overwhelmingly voted for David Reed as candidate for the Upper Freehold Township Committee.
Reed received 601 votes against opponent John Masserini, who garnered a total of 287. However, due to an error by the executive director of the township Republican Party, Stanley Moslowski Jr., Masserini’s name did not appear in the Republican column, but was instead put in an adjacent one with no candidate’s names above his.
Moslowski, who is serving his first year as executive director, took responsibility for filing paperwork incorrectly with the county Republicans, saying that he had intended to put Masserini’s name below Reed’s rather than beside it.
During the election, incumbent David Horsnall — who decided not to run for a fourth term on the governing body and whose seat Reed and Masserini were vying for — received two write-in votes.
Republican turnout was 1,785, or 52.49 percent of the township’s registered Republican voters.
Masserini said he was initially very disappointed by the low turnout in certain subdivisions.
“I spent the past few weeks walking developments,” Masserini said. “[People said] they were fed up with the way things are going, but they couldn’t find five minutes to get out and vote.”
Masserini added that he sat at the District 4 polling station for 11 hours during the primary, thinking that people were definitely voting the party line. He said not being on the party line hurt his candidacy a great deal.
“Whether intentionally or accidentally,” he said, “it certainly affected the outcome of the election.”
Masserini said he is still concerned where the community is going.
“I want to make sure things are kept in check,” he said. “It certainly won’t be the last time you’ll hear from me.”
Masserini added that he really feels the township must act to
control growth.
“I’ll keep fighting for it,” he said. “It’s too important an issue just to drop.”
Marc Covitz, the only Democratic candidate running for Township Committee, received 62 votes.
There were 292 ballots cast by the township’s registered Democrats, translating to 28.42 percent of them who voted.
Reed attributed his victory to being a longtime township resident and to being better known than Masserini. He said he has gotten to know newcomers to the township through his volunteer activities in sports and recreation.
“People know me and trust me,” he said, adding that he feels people know he believes in the things he says.
“What I say, I mean,” Reed said.
When asked if he thinks Covitz will be a serious challenger in November, Reed replied, “I never take anybody lightly. Sometimes when you think there will be a shoo-in, a lot of people come out and vote.”
Although 10 times more Republican voters came out for Reed, Covitz said he believes he has a chance to beat Reed in the November election. He said the Republican Party in the township is split. Last year, he said, Democrats Chris Berzinski and Bob Faber had nearly 1,400 voters who agreed with their message.
“I am hoping that many of these voters will agree with my message as well,” Covitz said, “and break from the party line and vote for me in the general election.”
Covitz said that Reed has no plan for controlling growth in Upper Freehold.
“What is his plan?” Covitz asked. “Why does he care if developers have a situation in Upper Freehold that they can live with?” he added, citing a quote of Reed’s from the Examiner.
Covitz said the township should not be nice to developers.
“We need to make things as difficult as we can for them [developers],” Covitz said. “Our goal should be to discourage developers from coming to Upper Freehold. We can do this by increasing our lot zoning to a minimum of 6 acres and by strengthening our ordinances.”
If elected, Covitz would also like to charge impact fees.
“We must also begin to charge impact fees to pay for our roads, schools, parks and open space,” Covitz said.
“Like three members of our Township Committee are currently doing,” he said, “we have to stop talking about controlling growth and start actually doing something about it.”
Covitz said that if Reed is going to take credit for his family’s participation in the farmland preservation program, he must also answer for what he termed “its failures,” referring to the development of the Winchester Estates property on Route 539.
“Since Mr. Reed claims to be so altruistic and civic-minded, why did he not sell this property to the school board, knowing [it] was targeted for the new middle school for at least two years?” Covitz said.
“Mr. Reed claims he didn’t know the school board was interested,” Covitz said. “[But] I find this difficult to believe. This was another example of a landowner holding out for the highest bidder.”
Covitz questioned how the township will pay for new students’ education.
“What is Mr. Reed’s solution for the $840,000 per year it is going to cost Upper Freehold Township to educate the children in Winchester Estates?” he asked, figuring 42 homes with two children per home at $10,000 per year for each child.
“If [the property] was sold to the school board,” Covitz said, “the board would have saved considerably on land for the new school, and we would be saving at least $840,000 per year because no houses would have been built on the land.
Covitz said, “This would have been a Smart Growth measure — something Mr. Reed claims to support — by keeping our schools on one campus instead of spreading them out, as we were forced to do by Mr. Reed’s actions.”