Two of three candidates are from Montgomery Township
By: Greg Forester
While the District 16 Republican candidates are facing off in a competitive primary next week, the three Democratic candidates including two Montgomery residents are running unopposed.
The Democrats, Montgomery residents Wayne G. Fox, who is running for state Senate, and Michael Fedun, plus William Kole of Hillsborough, both Assembly candidates, will have to wait until November’s general election to feel the real heat of a competitive election in the heavily Republican district, which includes much of Somerset County.
All three Democratic candidates said property taxes remain one of the most important issues facing residents in the District 16 and the rest of the state, but each candidate spoke of secondary issues that needed to be addressed by the state Legislature.
Mr. Kole, who ran for school board in Hillsborough last year, said he has always been interested in politics, despite, at age 21, being much younger than the average candidate.
Besides the property-tax issue, Mr. Kole said he believes the state of the Republican Party around the country might be an advantage to him and his fellow Democrats in District 16.
He said an issue he feels strongly about was the corruption and ethical problems that he believes plagues the state Legislature.
"We need to get rid of unethical behavior on both sides of the aisle," said Mr. Kole, a Fairleigh Dickinson student. "Right now we need an ethics committee for the ethics committee."
A Wharton School graduate, Mr. Fox said the state’s financial situation worried him, especially the large amount of unfunded pension liabilities and the possibility of the privatization of state highways.
"Taking and selling the state’s assets is one possible solution, but improving the state economy and getting more high-paying jobs in New Jersey is a better solution," Mr. Fox said.
Mr. Fox, a former Montgomery Board of Education member, said the recent floods that devastated portions of Manville and Bound Brook demonstrated a problem that needed to be addressed by state representatives.
Mr. Fedun, an attorney and third-generation Montgomery resident, said that property tax is everyone’s major issue, but the Iraq war was also an issue that he felt the state Legislature should take on.
"The message has to come from the ground up," said Mr. Fedun. "It is clear to me that Republicans in the state and around the country are not reading the will of the people in a war without a declared purpose."
Mr. Fedun pointed to Republican President George Bush’s extremely low approval rating in District 16, despite the area being traditionally leaning to the Republicans, as a measure of just how out of touch he believed the other party to be.
Mr. Fedun said the system of distributing state school aid, from which wealthy districts like Montgomery receive very little benefit, needed to be revamped to help out with the property-tax problem.
"Right now we’re receiving only $500 or $600 per student, while we put 10 times that into state coffers," Mr. Fedun said.
All three candidates will be seeking office in a district where past Democratic candidates have sometimes struggled to garner half the votes their Republican opponents received.
They will know who their November Republican opponents will be following Tuesday’s primary vote, which pits Assembly incumbent Peter Biondi and Freeholder Denise Coyle against businessman Stan Serafin.
Kip Bateman will be running unopposed for the state Senate seat vacated by Walter Kavanaugh.

