Patten overcomes GOP-aimed backlash

Dems re-elected to council seats

By: Vic Monaco
   HIGHTSTOWN — Republican Bob Patten will return for a second four-year term as mayor after a slim 28-vote victory over Democratic Councilman Walter Sikorski in Tuesday’s election, according to unofficial results.
   He will continue to preside over an all-Democratic Borough Council, as incumbents Larry Quattrone and Dave Schneider won landslide victories over newcomer Republican candidates Ron Niebo and Dave Keeler.
   Mr. Patten overcame both a major Democratic registration edge locally and a national backlash against Republicans seen as a referendum on the war in Iraq. The 63-year-old retired teacher did so by a 719-to-691 margin over Mr. Sikorski, 66 and also a retired teacher.
   "The closeness of the race indicates that the community is seriously divided about its future and direction," Mr. Sikorski said Wednesday.
   "No, no, no," responded Mr. Patten when told of the comment, "the community is now recognizing there are no party lines here. Over the past four years, the people surrounding me have recognized we are one community and everyone is part of it."
   Mr. Patten also attributed his win to several months of studying local voter registration and realizing what he needed to do.
   "I had to gain votes. There are only about 400 registered Republicans. I received 719 votes. That means about 300 Democrats and unaffiliated voters voted for me. I think I was elected by a broad base of people. They weren’t voting along party lines."
   The mayor specifically thanked the Democrats for Patten group for helping him "in a very big way as they did four years ago" along with the Hispanic community.
   Mr. Sikorski disagreed with his opponent’s assessment of his broad base of support.
   "The results of the election indicate the three most diverse voting districts have serious quality-of-life issues that have not surfaced in District 4 as yet," he said.
   District 4 is Mr. Patten’s home and where he received the most support, outdistancing his opponent 237-163. Mr. Sikorski won in the other three districts by a count of 505-457. Mr. Patten’s boroughwide vote total included 23 absentee ballots; Mr. Sikorski’s included 25.
   Councilman Sikorski said he plans to continue to work for the goals he outlined during his campaign, the biggest of which was consolidation of services with neighboring communities in an effort to save money amid skyrocketing local taxes. But he expressed pessimism for the future of that movement.
   "Unfortunately, personalities and ancillary issues cloud the need to purse regionalization and consolidation of services to maintain Hightstown’s fiscal sustainability," he said, declining to elaborate.
   Mr. Sikorski has been involved with ongoing talks between Mayor Patten and East Windsor Mayor Janice Mironov over the possible consolidation of the borough Police Department. Those talks, which began in the spring but have comprised only a handful of sessions, have yet to yield any fruit.
   "I will be continuing to work for those goals but I don’t think that was the central focus of Bob’s campaign," said Mr. Sikorski.
   Some borough observers decried the tenor of the mayoral race, specifically criticizing Mr. Sikorski for pointing out that the borough had failed to enforce an ordinance requiring applicants to the Planning Board — including Jeff Bond and Richard Pratt, members of Democrats for Patten — to disclose their campaign contributions. Mr. Patten continued during the campaign to tout that borough ordinance and two other pay-to-play laws as some of the toughest around.
   Mr. Sikorski defended his campaign tactics, which also included filing complaints with the state Election Law Enforcement Commission over the local GOP slate’s failure to file two required campaign disclosure forms in a timely manner.
   "I think there is confusion as to ethical issues that needed to be raised," he said.
   Asked if it might be more difficult to work with Mayor Patten after the race, Mr. Sikorski said, "I can’t anticipate that."
   Mr. Patten said he sees no problem ahead for the two men.
   "My campaign was very clean," he said. "I didn’t look at what the opponent was doing."
   Asked specifically about the continuation of the police consolidation talks, Mayor Patten said, "I haven’t had the opportunity to think about that" but soon added that he hopes to continue those talks before the end of the year.
   In the race for two, three-year terms on Borough Council, Mr. Quattrone garnered the highest number of votes, 938. By virtue of that, the 64-year-old owner of Dom’s Getty on Mercer Street will be seated for a third, full term after being chosen to fill an unexpired term in 2000.
   Asked to explain his success, which came despite his aversion to any campaigning, Mr. Quattrone said, "You campaign every day of your life."
   "It’s a humble feeling but the people believe in me," he added.
   Mr. Schneider, a 38-year-old restaurateur who is serving as council president, came in second in the race for two seats, with 803 votes.
   Mr. Niebo, a 32-year-old research analyst, received 494 votes while Mr. Keeler, a 57-year-old accountant, garnered 493.
   The vote tallies, which include absentee ballots, are unofficial until certified by the Mercer County clerk.