Three of four Borough Council candidates take part in forum

By Vic Monaco, Managing Editor
   HIGHTSTOWN – Low turnout marked this week’s forum among the candidates for Borough Council. And not just in the media room at Hightstown High, where it was held Tuesday night.
   Controversial Democratic candidate Janice Mastriano did not take part, sending word to the League of Women Voters that she had had eye surgery earlier in the day.
   The hourlong event, attended by less than 20 residents, will be broadcast several times before Election Day. Comcast Channel 27 and Verizon Channel 38 plan to show it at noon, 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and on Nov. 1 and 2.
   GOP candidates Mike Theokas and Ashley Hutchinson and Democratic candidate Isable McGinty, who along with Ms. Mastriano are seeking two seats on the council, participated in the forum.
   Mr. Theokas, the 35-year-old former owner of Theo’s Lakeside Tavern, made crystal clear his solitary position on the need for the consolidation of Hightstown with East Windsor.
   ”I don’t think we can afford to be in the business of borough government,” said Mr. Theokas, who ran unsuccessfully for council last year.
   Asked about the current feasibility study of East Windsor taking over Hightstown police coverage, he said he’d like to give borough police the best resources possible but “if you look at our budget and our current tax situation, I’m not convinced we can do that right now.”
   Ms. Hutchinson, a 36-year-old municipal prosecutor, said she’s going to “need to be convinced” that police consolidation is the way to go. She said borough crime is decreasing and “that’s a trend I want to see continue and I’m not willing to sacrifice that to save a few pennies.”
   Ms. McGinty, a 53-year-old criminal defense attorney, said the borough needs to focus on the economics of running its own police department. “Sentiment is not looking at reality,” she said.
   The Republican candidates expressed support of a recent ordinance amendment that would, among other things, allow the owner of the rug mill property to make a cash payment in lieu of rehabbing or rebuilding the nearby municipal building. Ms. Hutchinson also said the borough is not locked into the maximum number of residential units allowed at the Bank Street site by the ordinance, 130. But Ms. McGinty said that planned number “does not economically fit with our town right now.”
   Ms. McGinty also said there is “much room for further discussion” with the Peddie School over the criticism that too many of its buildings are tax-exempt. But Mr. Theokas said the private boarding school is one of the borough’s “biggest assets,” and Ms. Hutchinson said the school has become the “convenient scapegoat” for the town’s financial woes.
   Ms. Hutchinson repeated her belief that the borough should get some financial relief from the state for the services it provides non-Hightsonians with its many churches and three public schools.
   Each candidate touted his or her experience as less than 20 people looked on. Ms. Hutchinson said her roles as a mother, prosecutor and Planning Board member make her uniquely qualified. As a contract referee, she added, she would be an asset in upcoming borough labor negotiations. Mr. Theokas said, as a businessman, he has much spent much time with budgets and supporting employees.
   Ms. McGinty, a 29-year borough resident and political newcomer, said her experience as a lawyer gives her a keen understanding of legal matters. She repeated that she is running as an independent Democrat because partisan politics has “splintered” the borough. She added that she is well prepared, having read all borough ordinances and “every piece of paper” related to the mill project.
   In a written statement, Ms. Mastriano, a 72-year-old Democrat, said she is on a “first-name basis” with Republican Mayor Bob Patten and can “transcend political differences.” She also touted her nine years on the regional school board in the 1990s and early 2000s.
   As a school board member, she outraged some community members in 2000 with a comment linking gays and pedophiles. For that reason, local Democratic Club President Chris Moraitis pushed an unsuccessful write-in candidate as an alternative to Ms. Mastriano.