Incumbent Mayor Wins Primary
According to unofficial primary results posted Tuesday by Union County Clerk Joanne Rajoppi, Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs beat her closest contender, Third Ward Councilman Adrian Mapp, by 314 votes Tuesday.
Four other contenders drew a total of 597 votes, 345 of which went to Board of Education member Martin Cox. Carol Ann Brokaw Boles, chairperson of the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority, was next with 147 votes, followed by 68 for Bob Ferraro and 37 for Tom Turner. Two voters wrote in personal choices for mayor. (Mickey Mouse? Mousie?)
As of May 15, Plainfield had 12,420 registered Democrats eligible to vote in the primary, so about one-third of the people who could have spoken actually did so.
Plaintalker will check whether any independents filed Tuesday. In the November general election, Robinson-Briggs will face Republican James Pivnichny and any independents who filed Tuesday.
The June 2 vote will be certified by the county clerk on Monday, which is also the day when the Plainfield Regular Democratic Organization holds its reorganization and selects a party chairperson for the next two years. Assemblyman Jerry Green, the current chairman, received 4,006 Union County votes Tuesday in his District 22 re-election bid, while his running mate Linda Stender received 4,321. New Democrat Rick Smiley received 1,938 votes in his Assembly bid. District 22 includes Clark Township, Dunellen Borough, Fanwood Borough, Green Brook Township, Linden City, Middlesex Borough, North Plainfield Borough, Plainfield City, Rahway City, Scotch Plains Township and Winfield Township.
Mapp, a former councilman who retained his New Democrat leadership role even while holding a Union County freeholder seat, is in the first year of his current City Council term, so will still have some say in local government until Dec. 31, 2012.
The Fourth Ward City Council race may lead to a recount, as the mayor's running mate, Vera Greaves, lost by only seven votes to Board of Education President Bridget Rivers, 237 to 230, according to the unofficial results. Keith Hardy won 11 votes and there was one personal choice.
--Bernice Paglia
Four other contenders drew a total of 597 votes, 345 of which went to Board of Education member Martin Cox. Carol Ann Brokaw Boles, chairperson of the Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority, was next with 147 votes, followed by 68 for Bob Ferraro and 37 for Tom Turner. Two voters wrote in personal choices for mayor. (Mickey Mouse? Mousie?)
As of May 15, Plainfield had 12,420 registered Democrats eligible to vote in the primary, so about one-third of the people who could have spoken actually did so.
Plaintalker will check whether any independents filed Tuesday. In the November general election, Robinson-Briggs will face Republican James Pivnichny and any independents who filed Tuesday.
The June 2 vote will be certified by the county clerk on Monday, which is also the day when the Plainfield Regular Democratic Organization holds its reorganization and selects a party chairperson for the next two years. Assemblyman Jerry Green, the current chairman, received 4,006 Union County votes Tuesday in his District 22 re-election bid, while his running mate Linda Stender received 4,321. New Democrat Rick Smiley received 1,938 votes in his Assembly bid. District 22 includes Clark Township, Dunellen Borough, Fanwood Borough, Green Brook Township, Linden City, Middlesex Borough, North Plainfield Borough, Plainfield City, Rahway City, Scotch Plains Township and Winfield Township.
Mapp, a former councilman who retained his New Democrat leadership role even while holding a Union County freeholder seat, is in the first year of his current City Council term, so will still have some say in local government until Dec. 31, 2012.
The Fourth Ward City Council race may lead to a recount, as the mayor's running mate, Vera Greaves, lost by only seven votes to Board of Education President Bridget Rivers, 237 to 230, according to the unofficial results. Keith Hardy won 11 votes and there was one personal choice.
--Bernice Paglia
posted by Bernice at 1:14 AM
5 Comments:
I have lived in Plainfield only fourteen years so I do not know about the political successes or failures of Plainfield before I came here. Since then I have endured Mark Fury, Al McWilliams (whom I was very supportive of) and Sharon-Robinson Briggs. I have seen the best and worst of leadership and have attended enough forums and meetings to know that most people always have a complaint but very few have a solution. I have always felt that if you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem and the problem is that few of the dissidents and complainers run for office and take upon them the mantle of leadership. The Mayor has delivered on more promises than she has failed and she deserves a chance to cement her legacy as a fine leader or to cement it otherwise. Unlike Rush Limbaugh towards anyone who disagrees with him I want her to SUCCEED. If she succeeds then we ALL benefit. Liking her or not is not the issue..the issue is what can we do to truly HELP!
I can't understand how Mapp, who is already on the council, is in a position to fix this huge problem, and says he knows how, doesn't do a darn thing. There are myriad groups in town that are meeting every week, leaving no stone unturned to try and find a way. Why doesn't he show up at a Restore Muhlenberg meeting and TELL US WHAT TO DO! It's a lot like McCain, during the campaign, saying he knows where Bin Ladin is and how to get him. SO DO IT ALREADY!
"Why doesn't he show up at a Restore Muhlenberg meeting and TELL US WHAT TO DO! It's a lot like McCain, during the campaign, saying he knows where Bin Ladin is and how to get him. SO DO IT ALREADY!"
So Adrian sits on the council all by himself? Where are the other council members in all of this? Where is the mayor who sits on the Muhlenberg board? Mr. Green - who claims he has a lot of power? Where were the other politicians that ignored our pleas for help as Muhlenberg was blatantly being bled to death by Solaris? And while we're on the subject of finger pointing think about this - why was it the citizens who had to push to get something done in the first place?
No, Adrian is not on the council by himself, but the other council members are not trumpeting about how they are going to solve all the city's woes. Adrian ran on a platform whose main plank was that he would bring back a full hospital to the Muhlenberg campus. Restore the license. He obviously has some pull somewhere. He probably would have won the election if he had actually used his position on the council to make it happen. Empty complaints and rhetoric are what he offered and he got what he deserved. Let him bring the hospital back and then run a write-in campaign in November. I'd put my money on it.
"No, Adrian is not on the council by himself, but the other council members are not trumpeting about how they are going to solve all the city's woes."
So we as the tax paying populace can let the other council members off the hook because they weren't running for mayor and are thus, unaccountable?
Surely you can't be serious.
Don't let ANY council members or other elected officials skip out of their obligations regardless if they are running for a different office or not.
This is why Plainfield never seems to move forward to any progression. There are always excuses, excuses, excuses.......then more finger pointing. And that is shameful.
I will comment no further.
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