Onderko, Asher lead 6-way field for Borough Council
By Gene Robbins and Mary Ellen Day, Packet Media Group
Republicans kept focused, narrowed their campaign issues and ignored end-of-campaign accusations, said Richard Onderko, the leading votegetter in Tuesday’s six-way race for Borough Council.
As a result, Republicans regained a seat on the Borough Council to reknot the party split at 3-3 on the body. Mayor Angelo Corradino, a Democrat, would break any ties.
Republican Councilwoman Susan Asher won her fifth three-year term. The GOP pair swept aside their closest challengers, Democrats Frank Jurewicz and Harry Bugal Jr., and two Republicans running as independents, Councilman Lou Petzinger and former councilwoman Sherri Lynn.
It was a bit of redemption for the two victors. Ms. Asher lost a mayoral bid by fewer than 20 votes two years ago, and Mr. Onderko was knocked off a year ago in a re-election bid for council.
Mr. Onderko said the margin of victory more than 400 for both Republicans surprised him.
”At 5 o’clock, I couldn’t have told you if I was going to win,” he said Wednesday.
The Republicans chose their ticket in March, choosing Ms. Asher and Mr. Onderko over Ms. Lynn and Mr. Petzinger in a screening committee by the party organization. In contrast, the Democrats had trouble filling one spot on their ticket, electing party chairman Alan Harwick in the primary, even though he said he was likely to drop out before September. He did, and Mr. Bugal took his place on the ticket.
The vote totals were: Onderko, 1,108; Asher, 1,075; Jurewicz, 682; Bugal, 660; Lynn, 386, and Petzinger, 324.
Ms. Asher said her team “ran a fair and good campaign. Everything that was stated was the truth. We are going to work extremely hard for the community and get things set straight with the abandoned homes, the flooding and we are going to push to get something into the Rustic Mall so eventually we can benefit from the ratable.”
”I would like to say thank you to the Republican committee members that put in a tremendous amount of hours,” she said. “Rich and I put in a lot of time; we walked every week in the month of October.”
Mr. Onderko said the Republicans focused their campaign on a few issues solutions to stop incessant flooding, against shifting police dispatchers’ jobs to the county communications desk, dealing with abandoned homes and bringing budget relief.
”I think we stuck to the issues,” he said. I think that matters most to the residents.”
”I am very proud of my town and have an interest in town,” he said. “I am a lifelong resident. I want to see the town thrive and I want people to come visit and stop in at our shops and our restaurants and help our business people. I just want to see our town turn around for the best.”
Mr. Onderko, who will return to council after a one-year absence, said, “I would like to thank all the Manville voters who came out to vote and supported us. They listened to our message of our campaign and we are looking forward to getting back to work and try to solve some of the issues that confront Manville. I am very humbled to serve the people in this town and I am going to try my best in this term on council.”
Manville Republican Club President Dayna Camacho said, “I knew they could do it; they are the best candidates for the job. There was never a doubt in my mind. They’re both people of their word and they didn’t run a smear campaign, didn’t sling mud at anybody and they won. They are the two best choices for the job and I am very proud of both of them.”

