CENTRAL JERSEY: Municipal candidates file to run in GOP primaries

By Joanne Degnan, Staff Writer
   Republicans are running in uncontested GOP primary races for municipal offices in Upper Freehold, Allentown, Millstone and Plumsted on June 7.
   The Democrats have no official candidates running for local office in those towns, so only write-in candidates can win that party’s nomination. Candidates had to file by April 11 in order for their names to be printed on the primary ballot.
   The winners of the Republican and Democratic municipal primaries will face each other in the general election this fall and take office January 2012. The deadline for residents to register to vote in the June primary is May 17.
   Robbinsville residents will vote only for county freeholders and state legislative candidates in the June primary because the township has a nonpartisan form of municipal government. Robbinsville municipal candidates run for office without party labels in May and take office on July 1.
Upper Freehold
   Incumbent Township Committee member Robert Frascella, of Dutchess Drive, has no opponent in the GOP primary race. Dr. Frascella, who took office in January 2009, is seeking his second term.
   The five members of the Upper Freehold Township Committee are all Republicans. Dr. Frascella, a dentist, is the only one whose term expires in 2011.
Allentown
   Longtime Republican Mayor Stuart A. Fierstein, of Probasco Drive, is running unopposed for his sixth four-year term as mayor. Mr. Fierstein is the chairman of the Republican Municipal Committee in Allentown.
   Borough Council President Michael Schumacher and Councilman Dan Zorovich, both residents of Sandburg Drive, are running unopposed in the GOP primary. Mr. Zorovich has served on the Borough Council since 2005.
Millstone
   In the GOP primary, incumbents Mike Kuczinski and Fiore Masci are running unopposed for the nomination to their Township Committee seats.
   Mr. Kuczinski, of Wagner Farm Way, was appointed to fulfill the unexpired term of Ray Dilfanian in January 2008. He was elected to a full three-year term in November 2008 and is now seeking his second term.
   Mr. Masci, of Fawn Way, won his first term in that same 2008 election and is now seeking a second term as well.
Plumsted
   Michael Wysong, 61, of Holly Hill Drive, is the only Republican running for the GOP nomination to fill the Township Committee seat now held by Ronald Dancer.
   Mr. Wysong, a veteran of Vietnam, Grenada and Desert Storm, retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2005 with the rank of chief master sergeant after 38 years of service both in active duty and the Reserve. A 19-year resident of Plumsted, he is the township’s volunteer municipal recycling coordinator and also is active in the mission work of the Princeton Alliance Church.
   Mr. Dancer, whose colleagues on the all-Republican Township Committee have selected him as mayor for 21 straight years, has decided not to seek re-election to the Township Committee because of Gov. Chris Christie’s opposition to dual-office holding. Mr. Dancer will only be seeking re-election to the state Assembly this year, where he has served since 2002.
   The Legislative Reapportionment Commission recently redrew the 40 districts in New Jersey as required by law in order to reflect population shifts identified by the recently released U.S. Census data. Plumsted was moved from the 30th Legislative District, where it has been for the past decade, to the 12th District, which also includes Allentown and Upper Freehold and Millstone.