MAY ELECTION DAY SCRAPPED

New Councilmen OK Vote Change, Term Extensions

(Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Nov. 3, 2010)

PERTH AMBOY — Three of the five City Council members — all of whom were elected to the Council in May — voted last week to enact an Ordinance establishing the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November as the date for the City of Perth Amboy’s non-partisan Municipal Elections, presently conducted in May, beginning in 2012.

The measure extends the terms-of-office for Mayor Wilda Diaz and all five current Council members by six months, moving the seating of any successive members from July 1 to Jan. 1.

The Ordinance was moved by Councilman William Petrick, seconded by Councilman Kenneth Gonzalez and adopted 3-1, with one abstention.

Joining Petrick and Gonzalez in voting for the measure was Councilman Joel Pabon Sr. Councilman Fernando Gonzalez voted against it, and Council President Kenneth Balut abstained from voting.

Describing how the Uniform Nonpartisan Elections Law “came-into-existence,” Fernando Gonzalez said that Gov. Jon Corzine, “a lame-duck Governor,” had opposed the law earlier in his term but now was in a position to rush-through “many laws without thinking.”

In the process, “a Governor who had gone-over-the-cliff in the election was now taking the City of Perth Amboy over the cliff” with that measure, he said. “I’m sure that it would have been a much-better law if he had thought-it-out.”

As an alternative,Fernando Gonzalez said, “putting the Perth Amboy city election and Board of Education election together would maintain local discussion of issues while preserving non-partisanship.”

Instead, changing non-partisan Municipal Elections from May to November “encourages the political parties to get-involved very-strongly,” he said. “If we move our local elections to November, we can never be non-partisan

again.”

City Clerk Elaine Jasko pointed out that, “between poll-workers, printing, mailing and advertising,” Perth Amboy spends about $50,000 to conduct each non-partisan Municipal Election in May every even-numbered year.

“For spending $25,000-a-year, we benefit tremendously,” Fernando Gonzalez declared. “Besides its historic value, it allows for anyone to run without undue pressure from one political party or the other.”

He said that by combining it in 2012 with that year’s Presidential Election, “local issues will not be discussed and would get lost.

“We gain $25,000-a-year and, hopefully, a slight increase in the number of people who vote for city candidates,” Fernando Gonzalez said. “But what do we lose? We lose the issues of a local nature, and also lose our independence.”

By contrast, he said that last year’s Council submitted lists of “over $2 million” in proposed spending cuts” without “playing with the essence of what this town is.”

When Perth Amboy’s voters selected the present form of government, they believed it would remain separate and non-partisan, Fernando Gonzalez said.

“Fred Richards, a Republican, was elected to the City Council in 1972, and became its first Council President. Without this, a Republican cannot win in the City of Perth Amboy.”

Local gadfly Peter Book, a semi-retired lawyer, commended Fernando Gonzalez for “his well-spoken thoughts.

“We’d be below the end of the totem-pole” with a change in local elections from May to November, he declared. “The amount of money saved is trivial compared to what we gain by voting in May.

“We’d also be surrendering a lot of prestige,” Book said. “This Ordinance should be scuttled and sunk.”

“What would moving the election to November cost?” resident Lisa Nanton asked.

“Zero,” Jasko replied. “The county would pick-up the cost, and we’d still have a separate non-partisan listing on the ballot.”

“This city shouldn’t spend one penny extra,” Nanton declared. “Our uniqueness and independence should be generating money for us, not costing us money.”

“Can Council members vote to extend their own terms and give themselves a financial gain?” resident Stanley Surokowski asked. “This would be self-serving and self-dealing, and the (state) Election Law Enforcement Commission

(ELEC) and Attorney General’s Office should be notified.

“I voted for a four-year term, not four-and-a-half,” he said. “Extending this without an election is unconstitutional. This law helps the Democratic Party and incumbents; everybody-else loses.”

Surokowski, a Democrat, cautioned his fellow Democrats that the possibility of “a weakened party” after yesterday’s election could backfire, thereby weakening the city’s ability to deal with a GOP-controlled Congress.

“I’m a registered Democrat, and I’m tired of apologizing for it,”

resident Alan Silber said. “In the November 2006 General Election, we had 6,652 voters; in the May 2008 Municipal Election, we had 7,570 voters. There were more voters in May than in November.

“You should have researched this before you voted-on it,” he told Council members. “Why are we letting Spotswood, with a population of 8,000, determine what we do?”

At the previous Council meeting, Fernando Gonzalez had urged his colleagues to “take this time to dialogue” and consider “all of the ramifications of this new (state) law,” which was adopted by the State Legislature to preclude New Brunswick residents from launching another referendum to change that city’s form of government to allow election of Council members by wards, rather than at-large, for 10 years.

That provision also would block Perth Amboy residents from changing their city’s form of government for a decade, he said.

The Council voted unanimously at its previous meeting to introduce the Ordinance, which was moved by Petrick, seconded by Kenneth Gonzalez and adopted 5-0 on first reading.

Fernando Gonzalez, who had voted against the measure when it was considered on March 24, indicated that his “yes” vote was only “for first reading.”

During discussion at the Council Caucus before the previous regular meeting, Fernando Gonzalez suggested appointing a “citizens’ committee” to analyze the full impact of the proposed change and report back to the Council before taking any further action on changing Perth Amboy’s non-partisan Municipal Elections from May to November.

“I see no need to rush this,” he said at that time. “There’s been no pressure from the public for this. I think community-input is important, and we’re talking-about two years from now. We have plenty of time.”

As part of the citizens’ committee’s charge, “it should look-into changing Perth Amboy’s form of government from Faulkner Act Plan B,” Fernando Gonzalez said. “I say we should give them two months to have them come-back with a recommendation rather than have the City Council make this 10-year commitment unilaterally.”

“I don’t think anyone here doesn’t want community-participation,” Pabon said.

“I was part of the process that established Faulkner Part B,” Fernando Gonzalez noted. “There was a lot of activity, Rutgers came-down, and we had an ongoing dialogue before taking-action.”

“You could still do that (discuss changing the form of government) while moving on the Ordinance,” Interim Business Administrator Gregory Fahrenbach said. “Keep-in-mind that this is an Ordinance, not a Resolution, so there must be a public hearing for citizen-input.”

Jasko also confirmed that Perth Amboy’s candidates would be listed separately on the General Election ballot, and “would not be put-into the same place as the partisan candidates.”

At last week’s meeting, the Clerk pledged to “work with (Middlesex) County Clerk (Elaine) Flynn to preserve Perth Amboy’s separation on the election-ballot.”

Billy Delgado, who unsuccessfully ran for Mayor in 2004, spoke in-favor of keeping the May election during the public hearing.

“What you’re doing here is legislating by hope,” he told the Council.

“You HOPE it works. Why is the turnout lower? I know you don’t know because you haven’t done the research.

“If you’re not getting-enough turnout, maybe you guys aren’t inspiring people to vote,” “From 1992 to 1996, we were pretty-much under a dictatorship.

THAT impacted the turnout.”

Delgado, who also ran for Assembly as a Republican, insisted that “the parties are going-to come-in and take-over our elections” with the change.

The change to November elections was endorsed by former Council members Geri Bolanowski, Robert Sottilaro and David Szilagyi, while former Councilwoman Karen Kubulak asked for more research before a vote.

In March, the Council voted 3-2 to reject an identical Ordinance, following a public hearing. At that time, Fernando Gonzalez was joined by then-Council President Peter Jimenez and then-Councilman Balut, now the Council President.

At that time, Diaz — one of the strongest proponents of November voting — argued vehemently with Fernando Gonzalez, emphasizing that the change would save money for the financially-strapped city.

Although Spotswood, which had been Middlesex County’s only other municipality with May local elections, voted to make the change, Montclair voted to keep its election in May. There are 86 municipalities — including Long Branch and Newark — which have been holding non-partisan elections in May.

“I respect and appreciate Councilman Gonzalez’s comments, but I’d like to see us take-action,” Kenneth Gonzalez said.

“I’d like to see this taken-care-of so we’re not sitting here with a $50,000 albatross around our necks,” Petrick added.