No GOP candidate for top spot on ticket.
By: Joseph Harvie
Incumbent Mayor Frank Gambatese will be challenged for the Democratic nomination this year.
Former Mayor Debra Johnson has filed to run in the June 6 primary for mayor, and will face off as an independent Democrat against Mayor Gambatese for the four-year seat.
In addition, incumbent Democratic Councilman Chris Killmurray has filed to run for re-election, but will run unopposed in the primary.
On the Republican side, Lynda Woods Cleary has filed to run for a four-year council seat. The local Republicans were unable to field a mayoral candidate by the Monday afternoon filing deadline.
In order to get a candidate on the November ballot as a write-in, a local Republican would have to receive 44 votes during the primary.
Mayor Gambatese said he wants to see projects that started under his administration construction of Rowland Park on Rowland Road and the proposed township run bus system that would take residents to park-and-rides throughout town completed while he is in office.
"We went to Washington to get $4 million for this township run transit system and I really want to see that get up and running," Mayor Gambatese said.
Mayor Gambatese has been mayor for four years, served as a councilman prior to that for four years and served as a member of the Township Committee for a year before the township changed its form of government. He also served as mayor of West Paterson for three years and was a member of the West Paterson Board of Education. He worked as a senior accountant at ITT in Nutley for 39 years before retiring in 1997. He moved to the township in 1992.
He said that he wants to continue working with residents on solutions to township problems. He pointed to $100,000 the township received from a developer to create a task force to study flooding as an example of that.
The township received $100,000 from Trammell Crow, a developer whose application to construct 1.8 million square feet of warehouse space was rejected in February, but was later approved in March after the company promised to make the donation. The money will be used to study flooding problems in the Davidsons Mill Road area near the N.J. Turnpike overpass.
"There was a problem there and the residents brought it to our attention," Mayor Gambatese said. "And here’s a developer saying here’s $100,000, do a study and let’s see what we can find out about the flooding."
Ms. Johnson said she is running because she enjoys serving the public and wants to pick up where she left off. She left office in 2002 at the end of her term because her mother was sick at the time.
Ms. Johnson was the township’s first elected mayor, winning the 1998 election after the township switched from a committee form of government to a council-manager form. She was first elected to the then-Township Committee in 1994 and later served one year as mayor under that form of government.
She moved to South Brunswick 34 years ago, growing up in Kendall Park, and now resides in Wynwood. She works as general counsel and vice president of legal at Bergen Regional Medical Center in Paramus.
Ms. Johnson said she would like to see the township work on issues, such as how residential development has affected traffic on township roads and Route 1.
"I really believe that when I was mayor we made headway in open space and controlling traffic in town," Ms. Johnson said from her cell phone. "As we are speaking I am commuting to work and I believe we need to look into the Route 1 widening and managing our growth."
She said the local Democratic Party has gotten away from its original platform of slowing growth.
Ms. Johnson said wants to see more interaction between residents and the township and have the township be more responsive to the needs of the community.
"I am a big believer in open government and access to government and I would like to see more interaction between the people who serve us and the people we’re supposed to serve," Ms. Johnson said.
Ms. Woods Cleary, who ran for council in 2004 and finished fifth in a six-candidate field, said she wants to bring a Republican voice to a council that is currently all Democratic.
"At this time there is one party and no representation from anyone else," Ms. Woods Cleary said. "The township has grown in so many ways since I’ve lived here and I think that the people representing it all have good intentions, but I don’t think they are speaking for the citizens of the township. I don’t think they are doing the best work for the citizens of the township."
Ms. Woods Cleary, a resident of Princeton Walk, has lived in town since 1987. She runs a financial consulting business from her home under the name Cleary Woods Consultants.
Ms. Woods Cleary said the township should listen to residents more before government boards make decisions.
"I just think a lot more thinking, in-depth thinking studies, should go in initially, prior to making presentations to the public," Ms. Woods Cleary said. "Once a resident hears that things are being done, they are upset. When they voice their opinion only to find out things will remain as they were, they don’t feel like they are involved."
She said residents in the eastern section of town complained about flooding problems for almost a year before officials decided to look into it. She said something should have been done sooner, and before more warehousing was approved in that area.
She also would like to see more interaction with the township and the state Department of Transportation to ease traffic on congested roads such as Route 1 and Route 27.
Ms. Woods Cleary said seeking a council seat without a running mate for the mayoral seat is a bold statement. She said that it proves she is determined to work for the people.
"The fact that I am willing to do this in a township where people tend to vote for Democrats, nine out of 10 times, for me to have the courage to do this alone, I think tells something about my character," Ms. Woods Cleary said.
Mr. Killmurray said he’s seeking re-election because he enjoys serving the people. He said most of the work he does on the council is to make township employees aware of problems residents have.
"A lot of the work I do is small, behind-the-scenes stuff," Mr. Killmurray said. "I like working on issues that will improve the quality of life for our residents."
Mr. Killmurray has lived in the township for 10 years in the Summerfield community in Dayton. He works as an attorney in the law offices of Hoagland, Longo, Moran, Dunst and Doukas of New Brunswick.
He said he also would like the township continue its open space program and urges farmers to participate in the state Department of Environmental Protection farmland preservation program. He said he and Mayor Gambatese met on April 6 with the contract owners, Joe Morris of Rutherford and his attorney Frank Petrino, of the VanDyke farm, a 200-acre farm with a farmhouse that dates back to before the Revolutionary War.
He said that at the meeting, state Green Acres and Farmland Preservation representatives discussed with Mr. Morris the possibility of preserving the farm. Mr. Morris has an application on file in the Planning Department to build 76 houses on the parcel, without preserving the house.
He said the meeting was used to gauge Mr. Morris’ interest and to let him know the township is interested in preserving the parcel.
Mr. Killmurray said that working on items such as that and the Stanton parcel, a 90-acre parcel in Kendall Park that was preserved in August, are what he enjoys about his position on the council.
"When we started on the Stanton piece people said, ‘Oh you’re never going to get that preserved,’ " Mr. Killmurray said. "But we worked at it and because of the dedication we have to open space, we were able to negotiate a deal."

