The incumbent Monroe Township Council president who is seeking to become mayor when longtime Mayor Richard Pucci vacates the seat at year’s end was able to thwart a primary challenge from a local businessman and fire district commissioner.
Council President Gerald Tamburro, a member of the Democratic Party led by the outgoing Pucci, handily defeated challenger Charles DiPierro by a vote of 2,362 to 1,150, or 67 percent of the tally, according to the unofficial results from the Middlesex County Clerk’s Office. Those numbers do not include mail-in or provisional ballots.
In the end, Tamburro led in 30 of the 40 districts within the township in his bid to win election to a four-year term as mayor. Tamburro faced his toughest opposition in Ward 2, but still managed several big victories in some of those districts.
“I think it was an endorsement of what we have done in the past and what we plan to continue going forward in the future,” Tamburro said in a June 3 interview.
Tamburro will face Republican challenger Martin Herrmann, owner of the Hightstown-based Herrmann Investment Advisors and Associates. Herrmann ran unopposed in the primary election.
Roslyn Appleby-Kane, chair of the Monroe Township Republican Organization, said the Republican ticket is looking to take Monroe in a new direction.
“We just have a different look at the town. The town has had Democratic control for 28 years, and maybe it’s time that Monroe had a change,” Appleby-Kane said.
She noted Herrmann’s background in finance and said the ticket would bring a conservative view of fiscal stewardship to Monroe Township. “He understands how to not spend more than you make,” Appleby-Kane said in a June 5 interview. “You can’t spend more than you’re bringing in. You can’t keep taxing people.”
Two four-year terms on the Township Council are also up for grabs, with incumbent Democratic council members Leslie Koppel, secretary of the Middlesex County Democratic Organization (MCDO), and Stephen Dalina seeking re-election. Republican challengers Joseph Atanasio and Harold Kane will attempt to unseat them in November.
Both parties’ council candidates ran unopposed in the primary election.
Tamburro, a retired banker and chair of the MCDO Senior Citizens Caucus, touted what he called “wonderful programs and facilities” established by the Pucci administration over the last 28 years. He said his ticket would seek to build on that history.
Tamburro also signaled solidarity with the current fiscal governance as a way to maintain those facilities and services without adversely affecting property taxes. He said the township’s plan to refinance bonds thisfallanda2percent,four-yearcollective bargaining agreement were boons to the municipality.
“We bring experienced leadership,” Tamburro said of his ticket.
Freeholder, state Assembly races set
Incumbent Middlesex County Freeholders Ronald Rios and H. James Polos, both Democrats, are set to face Republican challengers Jose Alonso and Sharon Hubberman. Each party’s candidates ran uncontested in the primary elections.
Monroe Township is located in the state’s 14th Legislative District, where the Legislature is wholly represented by Democrats. Republican challengers David Jones and Philip Kaufman, who ran unopposed, will seek to unseat Democrats Wayne DeAngelo and Daniel Benson. The incumbents were also unopposed in the primary.