BY MARLENE CANTY
Staff Writer
OLD BRIDGE – An ongoing battle between Kevin Kingston and Eleanor Walker over who will wrest a commissioner’s seat in Fire District 2 entered what some hope will be its final round after Kingston won a recount by two votes.
Kingston last week was declared the victor, 443 to 441.
The election held last February for a seat that should have been filled by March has instead dragged on for six months of run-offs, lawsuits and internal rumblings of alleged dirty dealings that have left the election board, the state Attorney General’s Office, officials of Fire District 2 and all concerned with a bitter taste in their mouths.
Kingston, a paid firefighter in East Orange and winner of the initial election by a margin of one vote – 311-310 – saw his lead disappear when an absentee ballot was counted leading to a tie.
A run-off followed in June in which Walker, a certified firefighter, took the lead by one vote, 441-440. In a recount, the results were identical, leading observers to conclude that Kingston was down for the count.
However, Kingston brought the matter to the courts, questioning a decision to discount more than a dozen absentee ballots. The election pendulum then swung Kingston’s way again.
Fire District Attorney Richard Braslow acknowledged the election is “like nothing I’ve ever seen,” saying that the oddity is that each time one of the candidates wins it is only by one or two votes.
Braslow expressed the opinion that he believes Walker will contest the results within the 10-day window of opportunity the court provides.
When asked what he saw as the motivating basis for the hotly contested commissionership, Braslow said he had to admit he was at a loss.
“It can’t possibly be money,” he said, speculating that power, prestige or political clout might be an impetus.
While salaries vary, Braslow said that fire commissioners stipends all fall within a range of modest amounts. Some commissioners don’t receive salaries at all.
Asked if he had advice or suggestions for the Board of Elections, he said he might “once anyone involved can put things together and find out what happened.”
With regard to the outcome of the election, Board of Fire Commissioners President Robert V. Weiss would only say, “The board will comply with whatever the court has directed.”