DiBella, Malave, Tobasco
win Howell GOP primary
Howell voters on June 4 tapped Regular Republicans Joseph DiBella, Juan Malave and Peter Tobasco to run together in November against a trio of Democrats for three four-year Township Council terms.
In a contested Republican primary, DiBella, Malave and Tobasco outpolled Thomas Frese, Nikolai Krumins and Jennifer Thoens.
Running unopposed in the primary, Democrats George Pettignano, Kimberly Alvarez and Joseph Deckhut were tapped to represent their party in November. Pettignano and Alvarez will be seeking their second consecutive terms on the governing body.
In the aftermath of the primary, Democratic Councilman Fritz Kirch-hof, who did not run on the Democratic ticket, said he will run in November as an independent. Kirchhof will be seeking his second term.
In the Democratic primary, Deckhut received 408 votes, Pettignano polled 407 votes and Alvarez received 397 votes.
In the Republican primary Tobasco led all candidates with 1,237 votes. DiBella polled 1,206 votes and Malave received 1,203 votes to outdistance Thoens (506), Frese (494) and Krumins (487).
Following their primary victories, the candidates from both parties echoed the same sentiments when looking ahead to the November election.
Malave said he believed Thoens, Krumins and Frese had been victims of their own attempt to discredit him, DiBella and Tobasco.
"I truly believe it was a protest vote. People are tired of the negative campaigning," Malave commented, referring to what he said was negative campaign literature sent out by the committee to elect Thoens, Frese and Krumins.
Malave said the campaign pieces contained obviously distorted attacks and unimportant personal assertions.
"Who cares if I’m friendly with the mayor?" Malave said. "The voters sent a message and we, at least, heard it loud and clear."
In a press release issued after his slate’s primary win, Malave said, "Thankfully, our campaign message appealed to Howell Republicans. For the general election we believe it will appeal to all Howell residents regardless of party affiliation."
DiBella said he, too, believed that he and his running mates won on June 4 because Howell voters were signaling they want candidates to focus on campaign issues and not "continue to wallow in the personal smear campaigns for which Howell has become notorious."
"We raised the bar and showed we were going to make our campaign a campaign of issues and not resort to personal attacks which serve no one and no purpose," DiBella said.
Those sentiments were echoed by Tobasco, who is making a second bid for public office and said he knows that Howell politicking can get ugly.
"Everyone now involved in the campaign has demonstrated they can look beyond partisan politics and work with people not of their party," Tobasco said, noting that he was appointed to his seat on Howell’s Economic Development Committee by Democratic Mayor Timothy J. Konopka.
Tobasco also sits on the recreation advisory committee with Deckhut, who is a current member of the Planning Board with Alvarez and Konopka.
Konopka and Alvarez represent the Township Council on the Planning Board.
Deckhut and Alvarez said they and Pettignano are also looking forward to a fall campaign based on issues that affect Howell residents.