Plainfield Plaintalker: Mayor's Backers Launch Write-In Bid

Dozens of enthusiastic supporters rallied Friday (Oct. 14, 2005) at new campaign headquarters for Mayor Albert T. McWilliams, vowing to carry off a history-making write-in campaign.

The two-term Democrat lost an intense primary fight to Sharon Robinson-Briggs, who had the party line. He filed last month as a Republican to mount a "fusion" campaign open to all 19,000 voters eligible to vote in the Nov. 8 general election, but lost in court after Union County Clerk Joanne Rajoppi rejected his filing. Rajoppi invoked a "sore loser" law that says a municipal candidate may not run for the same office by changing parties after a primary loss.

A ruling by Superior Court Judge Walter R. Barisonek that the law was unconstitutional was overturned on appeal and the state Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

But now his supporters from both sides of the aisle plan to promote absentee ballot and voting booth write-ins to give him a third term. The key to the campaign will be voter education on new absentee rules and exactly how to enter his name, speakers said as they urged the crowd to enlist hundreds more to re-elect McWilliams.

"This is not the time to change horses," McWilliams said, noting accomplishments in his two terms as well as the need to keep the city moving forward.

McWilliams said crime is down, tax collection is up, the city has its first road improvements in decades and boarded houses have almost been eradicated. The city's train connections make it ideal for new urban development that will bring in revenue, he said.

"The world is coming our way," McWilliams said.

McWilliams and others derided Robinson-Briggs for a lack of governmental experience and the perception that she will be controlled by Democratic City Committee Chairman Jerry Green, also the 22nd District Assemblyman.

Green, reached before the evening rally, disputed those claims and also said the efforts of McWilliams campaign supporters to provide absentee ballots to voters will come under scrutiny from the Union County Prosecutor's Office and the state Attorney General's Office.

Candidates are forbidden from helping voters fill out applications or delivering them and Green said he believes the rule extends to McWilliams supporters.

"This is promoting the candidate," he said. "This is another wrinkle that we never had."

Green said McWilliams "as usual" is not playing by the rules and is "being cute" in his tactics.

But supporters at the rally had strong views.

"I don't understand how anyone who has any thinking power whatsoever wouldn't vote for McWilliams," said retired school principal Dorothy Henry, a resident since 1943.

Several people mentioned Robinson-Briggs primary campaign ads that degraded the city, including a reference to Plainfield as the county's "murder capital."

Although various party participants were a bit wary of residents they had never seen before, the mixed crowd seemed united by its intent to do the best for the city.

"I am so energized by being here tonight and seeing all of you," said former school principal Mary Gladden. "I just know it's going to work."

Voters will have to obtain absentee ballot applications from the Union County Clerk's office or the City Clerk's office and then return them by mail.

Once a voter gets the actual absentee ballot, it will have be filled in according to the new rules.

Anyone who wishes to write in at the polls must type in the exact name of the candidate, which in the mayor's case is "Albert McWilliams."

Due to a recent ruling by the League of Women Voters, the Nov. 1 Candidate Forum will include McWilliams as a candidate likely to get at least 15 percent of the vote.