Two Democratic incumbents and two Rpublican challengers will compete for two seats on the Township Committee.
By: Jessica Beym
Even though spring has just started, there are at least four residents who are looking forward to November.
Two Democratic incumbents and two Republican challengers filed petitions on Monday afternoon to run in this year’s race for two seats on the Township Committee.
Mayor Tom Panconi, who is seeking his second three-year term and Pari Stave, who is seeking her third, will face Republican candidates Diane Stasi of Old Cranbury Road and Robert Smithers of Petty Road.
Mayor Panconi has lived in Cranbury with his wife and two daughters since 1998 and works to maintain the plumbing at a marine science laboratory in Sandy Hook used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In his term on the committee, Mayor Panconi has worked closely with the public safety departments including the township’s first aid, Fire Department and police force and helped initiate the Cranbury Crawl as a way to get traffic in town to slow down, he said.
"One thing I’ve learned is there is a good sized learning curve," Mayor Panconi said. "For the first few years, you’re just getting going and hopefully, I’ll extend that for another term. It’s a part-time job with full-time hours and we’re a five-member committee that works very well together."
Mayor Panconi said he would continue with his initial goals of maintaining the township’s expenses and working with public safety. He would also like to forge a relationship with the businesses in the village and open up lines of communication with neighboring towns.
"We all have a broad range of goals and you do the best you can, but something new pops up every day," he said.
Ms. Stave, who grew up in Cranbury and moved back eight years ago to raise her son, has been on the committee since 2000 and served as mayor in 2003. For the past 20 years she has worked at AXA Financial, an insurance company in New York.
Ms. Stave said she has gained a lot of experience in her time on the committee, in which she has helped with the preservation of the Fischer, Simonson and Barclay farms, plans for township parks and the Babe Ruth baseball field and the start of the township Web site.
Another three-year term would give Ms. Stave an opportunity to add to her experiences and would hopefully benefit the town, she said.
"I enjoy the work and the people, and I feel like I have built a lot of relationships in the community and outside of the community that can be helpful to Cranbury," Ms. Stave said.
In the future, she said, she would like to try to lessen traffic problems in town, reduce the potential for cell tower proliferation, lessen the tax burden, and continue working on parks and open space preservation.
Even though this is her first bid for a Township Committee seat, Ms. Stasi said, she is familiar with some of the issues the town has been faced since she moved here with her husband, Joe, and their three daughters, in 1997.
Since 1999, Ms. Stasi, has been a member of the Historic Preservation Commission and the Cranbury Historical and Preservation Society. She said she has questioned the integrity of some of the decisions the Township Committee has made regarding spending and historic preservation and thinks that her conservative fiscal values would put a tighter belt on the township’s budget and help reduce the tax burden.
"It’s important to have a voice of reason, someone who is conservative and minds the spending issues of the town," Ms. Stasi said. "I think the community needs it. A lot of Cranbury’s wants are being met and I don’t think they should be. Wants should be put on the back burner."
Ms. Stasi said her love for historical aspects is seen in her volunteerism and her professional work with her and her husband’s construction company, Stasi and Co., in which they develop historic properties in Jamesburg and Monroe. She said she would like to have a say in the decisions regarding the preservation of the historic barns on Cranbury Neck Road and the decisions to set up a cell tower in the Historic District.
"Over the years I’ve served the community with zoning and planning issues regarding traffic and warehouses and I continue to have an interest in that," Ms. Stasi said. "There’s still a lot to be done and a lot of things we still need to be mindful of. The township runs well when we have a balance and the Republican Party needs to have another voice."’
Mr. Smithers, who has lived in Cranbury with his wife and two kids since 2001, is the CEO of Miercom, a telecommunications consulting firm outside of Cranbury. He also is a major in the Civil Affairs Unit of the U.S. Army and was stationed in Iraq last year.
Mr. Smithers did not return calls from The Cranbury Press in time for the Press’ deadline.

