BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer
Eatontown EATONTOWN — Councilman-elect Joseph Questore can finally sit back and savor his victory in last month’s election.
Now that the Grant Avenue resident has received official word that he will join five fellow Democrats on the Borough Council as of Jan. 1, Questore says he is putting together his to-do list for what he hopes to accomplish in the one year that he expects to serve out for the remainder of an unexpired term on the governing body.
Six months after he earned a place on this fall’s ballot thanks to a successful write-in campaign, Questore came out the victor over Republican Anthony “Bubba” Gaetano when all of the votes cast for both candidates were recounted last Thursday at the Monmouth County Board of Elections office in Freehold Township.
A former member of the Eatontown Board of Education, Questore actually picked up one more additional absentee vote over Gaetano, a Memorial School social studies teacher who originally requested the recount after the Nov. 8 election.
The recounted totals gave Questore 1,686 votes over 1,666 ballots filed for Gaetano, a 20-vote margin, according to Hedra Siskel, the administrator for the county Board of Elections.
As to his most recent win, Questore did not elaborate much on the recount itself.
“It is what it is. However it turned out is how it turned out,” said Questore, who lost his school board seat in April. “I’m glad it turned out in my favor.”
The future reuse of Fort Monmouth, which is due to be closed by the Pentagon in 2011, and getting the borough government up to speed with technology and the Internet are in the forefront of the councilman-elect’s mind.
“I’m looking forward to starting [in office] on Jan. 1,” Questore said. “I’m eager to get going with the council and the mayor on working on a plan for the fort.
“I’m also interested in e-government and looking at how we can apply technology to streamlining government while saving money,” he added.
In addition, Questore also wants to ensure that borough residents who could be eligible to use social services offered in the community know of those options.
As part of that initiative, Questore would like to link senior citizens with high school students who could instruct the older residents on how to use the Internet to learn more about government programs such as Medicare Part D or other services.
Such a program could benefit members of both generations, he noted.
“I’m interested in bridging the gap between youth and the elderly,” Questore said. “The seniors could share their stories and the youth could learn from them. They could also help them with modern technology.”
Gaetano, meanwhile, said he’ll be assisting his fellow Republicans as they map out a strategy for the 2006 races.
Though disappointed with the recount results, Gaetano said he would run for office again.
“I’ll definitely give it a shot again in the future,” said Gaetano, who is also a borough firefighter and known in Eatontown for his extensive community service.
“The process worked the way it was supposed to work,” he said of the recount. “But I’ll definitely run again.”
Gaetano filed for the recount after a count of all absentee and provisional ballots showed a 19-vote gap in Questore’s favor.
Questore initially had come to the school board via an appointment to fill an unexpired term on that body. However, he lost that seat in the April school board elections.
Nonetheless, Questore garnered 13 votes in June’s election primary, sufficient to place him on the ballot alongside incumbent Councilwoman Geraldine Hopkins and Planning Board member Carleton “Carl” Sohl, both Democrats.
Hopkins and Sohl handily won the two three-year council seats that had come up for grabs this fall over Councilmen Roy Eisen and William Kinney, two Republicans who had both been previously appointed by the governing body to fill unexpired terms.
Eatontown’s Democrats will hold all six council seats next year. Mayor Gerald J. Tarantolo, who comes up for re-election next fall, is also a Democrat.
Questore will actually complete the unexpired term of Charles Riddle, a Republican, who resigned in October 2004 to move out of town.
In November 2004, the Eatontown Republican Organization named Eisen to fill Riddle’s seat until the end of this calendar year. The results of a special election held concurrent with the general election allowed voters to choose Riddle’s successor for one year.
Eisen, who remains in his seat until Dec. 31, ran alongside Gaetano and Kinney, who himself was named by the Eatontown GOP last spring to succeed former Councilman John J. Collins, who had resigned in the wake of sexual abuse charges.

