By Kristine Snodgrass, Staff Writer
WEST WINDSOR With the municipal election little more than a month away, the three candidates for township mayor are entering the final phase of their campaigns.
Council President Charlie Morgan and Pete Weale are challenging Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh for the seat in the May 12 election, where two council seats will also be on the ballot.
And with a set of complex issues in the forefront, including the redevelopment plan and the municipal budget, the candidates are using different approaches to vie for voters’ attention.
Mayor Hsueh, whose slogan on recent campaign mailings is “Promises Made, Promises Delivered,” said he and his slate are trying to talk to as many people as possible in the weeks leading up to the election.
He is running on a slate called “West Windsor First” along with council candidates Kamal Khanna and incumbent Linda Geevers.
”The general reaction seems to be positive,” he said. “In the campaign, we try to be positive and try to emphasize what we can do and what we need to do to make this community better.”
Mayor Hsueh, who served on council for seven years before becoming mayor in 2000, said on the campaign trail he tells residents that he still sees lots of potential for improving the community.
”I can see very clearly the potential for this town to be not only the best in New Jersey, but one of the best in the country,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Morgan, a council member for 10 years, said he has also been going door to door to visit residents, along with his council candidate running mates Anupam Gupta and Nitin Shah. The candidates, who expect to send out more campaign mailings, are running on the “Best4WestWindsor” slate.
”I’m getting a more enthusiastic reception than mere politeness would require so I’m very pleased with that,” Mr. Morgan said.
Mr. Morgan, who voted against the land use ordinance for the redevelopment plan, said he is working to clear up misconceptions residents hold about issues such as taxes.
”Rather than having an argument over what’s true, these things are susceptible to careful analysis and objective conclusions,” he said. “These things tend to get politicized.”
The campaign has also used more unconventional approaches to reach voters. For one, it recently announced a word search contest on its Web site as well as an essay contest with the theme “What makes a great mayor.”
”Basically it worked beyond my wildest expectations,” Mr. Morgan said of the huge response to the contests. Though all the candidates have campaign Web sites, Mr. Morgan has taken it one step further by joining the social networking site Facebook to communicate with voters.
”If we get young people more involved in what’s going on in government, that’s just fantastic,” Mr. Morgan said.
Though he acknowledged that such Web sites can a cost-effective method of creating dialogue, Mayor Hsueh said he doubted their impact on West Windsor voters.
”At the local level, I really don’t know how effective this is going to be,” Mayor Hsueh said.
Mr. Weale, a 25-year township resident, is using the Internet as an important campaign tool, but he has no intention to join Facebook, he said. He joked that his children disapproved of him joining the site.
Instead, he has taken to a blog, which he updates almost daily, addressing a wide range of issues in the township.
A self-proclaimed “dark horse” in the campaign, Mr. Weale admits he faces the considerable challenge of overcoming two candidates with long histories in township government. The difficulty is compounded by his vow to run a very low-cost campaign.
On the other hand, Mr. Weale said, he is an alternative for voters who aren’t happy with what they’re seeing in West Windsor now.
”Has the township spent too much time on redevelopment while ignoring the basic quality of life issues that make living in West Windsor enjoyable? Are you proud of your current downtown along Route 571 through Princeton Junction?” he recently wrote on his blog.
The three scheduled debates will be very important to getting his voice heard, he said. They will be held at 7:30 p.m. April 23 in the Palmer Inn Garden Room; 10 a.m. April 27 in the Municipal Center; and 7 p.m. May 5 in the Village Grande Clubhouse.
Mayor Hsueh’s campaign Web site can be found at www.wwfirst.com. Mr. Morgan’s site can be found at www.best4westwindsor.com. Mr. Weale’s blog is at http://peteweale.wordpress.com/.

