EAST BRUNSWICK — Polls won’t be open for another six months, the township’s Republican Committee has launched its campaign for this year’s Township Council election.
The organization announced its 2010 slate on April 12. Incumbent Camille Ferraro, who is the only Republican on the five-member council, will seek re-election along with former Board of Education member Michael Hughes and newcomer Jim Wendell.
Ferraro was elected to a one-year term last November, when she defeated Democratic incumbent Matthew Korten. Korten had been appointed to the seat in January 2009 after David Stahl resigned to become mayor.
Ferraro is now seeking her first four-year term. Hughes and Wendell, also seeking fouryear terms, will be running for seats currently occupied by Councilwoman Catherine Diem, who has served since 2003, and current council President Edward Luster, who is finishing his first term.
“I’m hoping to get re-elected along with two others to give our voices strength and efficacy,” Ferraro said. “There’s a wider voice in the community, and I think that needs to be represented.”
Ferraro said the trio is working on fleshing out its platform, and that some positions they will champion will depend on situations that unfold over the course of the year.
“Sometimes things develop as time goes on, so we don’t want to speak too soon. If we develop issues too early, they’ll be old news by the time November rolls around,” she said.
But Ferraro and the other candidates are certain of one stance: transparency in the government.
“Some council members have been in the game so long that they forget that the average person needs an explanation of business conducted by the township,” she said. “There’s not enough transparency and openness in government. The communication between council members and residents is limited and disjointed, and that’s something that needs to change.”
Ferraro noted that the township was founded from volunteerism and the efforts of individuals, and that the understanding of and communication with the public is critical for an effective government.
“We need to crack the nut of open communication,” she said, adding that township residents suffer from inadequate meeting minutes and a lack of explanation for agenda items. “We need to light a fire in the community and steer people into action. And we need to make township business something worthwhile to listen to.”
While Hughes agreed that transparency is a paramount concern, he touched on a few issues that will most likely be pertinent to the upcoming election as well. Hughes said the most important issue is taxes.
“We should always be looking for ways to streamline government, and rid the process of any inefficiencies in administration,” he said. “We need for our government to run leaner.”
Hughes added that council members should be looking into expanding the notion of shared services in order to achieve a more scrupulous operation.
“We’re a big town in comparison to what’s around us. We could find major cost savings when we weed out duplicate services that could be shared with other municipalities,” he said.
Hughes said his experience serving on the Board of Education from 2007-10 could lend itself to serving on the council.
“I really would like to see what I could do on the township level,” he said. “Being on the school board, I saw the ways in which the township and the school system worked together, and there’s really been an increased cooperation between these two bodies. Both the school board and the township have the capacity to save the taxpayers of East Brunswick a lot of money.”
Another link between the school board and the township is that both entities experienced a loss of state aid that led to an especially difficult budget process this year. Hughes said he could draw upon his firsthand experience in budget issues.
“No amount of budget is too small with a situation like this,” he said. “This is not unique to East Brunswick, but we need to keep looking for cuts. We need to approach it with a new technique, and keep looking for ways to save money.”
While first-time candidate Wendell, a project manager for a construction firm, did not return calls in time for publication, a press release indicated that he was enthusiastic about the upcoming race, noting that he “looks forward to engaging in a lively debate about the many issues facing East Brunswick moving forward.”
The trio will run unopposed in the Republican primary election in June.