Marlboro GOP will control government

BY TALI ISRAELI
Staff Writer

Voters chose to keep Republicans in control of Marlboro’s governing body after a slate of candidates swept three Township Council seats in the Marlboro municipal election on Nov. 8.

Republican candidates Steve Rosenthal, incumbent Council-man Jeff Cantor and Rosa Tragni defeated the Democratic slate of Jeffrey Rosen, Howard Tilis and David Strickler for three four-year terms on the council.

In addition to the council being in Republican control, Mayor Robert Kleinberg, who directs the administration, is also a Republican.

On Election Day, Cantor received 5,980 votes, Rosenthal received 5,849 votes and Tragni received 5,490 votes to win election. Rosen received 5,473 votes, Strickler received 5,280 votes and Tilis received 4,924 votes in the latest tally.

Tilis’ total does not include votes he received in District 5, which were unavailable due to a voting machine malfunction. That situation is being addressed this week, but it will not be enough for Tilis to win a seat on the council.

The only possibility the Democrats have to win a seat is with Rosen, who trailed Tragni by 17 votes and requested a recount. The GOP will either have a 5-0 or 4-1 majority on council.

“I can’t let 17 votes go without someone checking the numbers. I’m absolutely not conceding right now. Seventeen votes is one mistake,” Rosen said.

Although the verdict is still out on who will fill the final seat on the council, the Republicans believe it is still a victory for their party.

Cantor said he is humbled by the fact that the people of Marlboro re-elected him. He said the Republican team can keep the pendulum swinging in the right direction. He said the council will be made up of five individuals who are going to make a difference and continue to keep Marlboro on the right track.

Rosenthal said, “I’m ecstatic. You play for the win. In our mind, losing wasn’t an option.”

Councilwoman Patricia Morelli said the current council has done a lot of good work in the past 18 months and now with the apparent Republican sweep officials can continue on the right path.

When asked how she feels about one political party having full control of the governing body, Morelli said the five council members are all individuals and that being of one party does not make a difference.

“We all have different ideas of putting Marlboro on the right track,” she said.

Kleinberg agreed with Morelli’s assessment and said, “I don’t think it matters what party is in power, it matters what people are in power.”

Council President Joseph Pernice said he believes the new Republican council members are going to add value to the platform that he and Morelli ran on two years ago. He said elected officials still have a long way to go, but with Cantor, Tragni and Rosenthal on board, the governing body will remain on the right track.

Kleinberg added, “I’m elated that the people of Marlboro had enough confidence in me to elect the people that I endorsed for council.”

Rosenthal said he believes it was the candidates’ efforts in the campaign’s final weeks that solidified the Republicans’ win. He said the candidates spent a lot of time looking at voting data and targeting registered voters who were not affiliated with the Democrats or Republicans.

Rosenthal said letters written by prominent people in the community was a key influence with the Democratic voters; targeted mailings, using voting data and directing the message to voters who they thought were undecided were other important campaigning strategies the Republicans used.

From the Democrats’ point of view, Rosen said he believes the amount of money the Republican Party spent on their campaign was what made the difference on Election Day.

“When you’re able to spend three times as much [money] as your opponents, it’s a lot easier to get your message out. They had the money, they had the incumbents. The town is not ready for the newcomers, but they will be in two years,” Rosen added.

He said the Democrats underestimated Kleinberg’s popularity and underestimated how much of an underdog their new Democratic organization was in this race.

“It was an uphill battle, it was a major challenge,” Rosen said about the campaign trail.

Despite the outcome, the spirit of the Reformed Democratic Club of Marlboro was not crushed on Election Day.

Tilis believes the Democrats fought a hard fight.

“I feel bad, but I don’t feel defeated,” he said.

Strickler agreed with Tilis and said, “The fight was terrific. This was our first time out of the box. We did awfully well.”

Strickler said that with the possible unanimous control of the council and control of the mayor’s office, the Republicans are going to have to run on their record in the next municipal election. He said the Democrats will be there to make sure they do what is in the best interest of the town.

Rosen said the residents voted and they obviously wanted one party to have total control over the municipality. Hopefully the Republican team will do the right thing for Marlboro, he said.

The council terms of Democrats James Mione and Barry Denkensohn will end on Dec. 31. There is no regularly scheduled municipal election in Marlboro in 2006. The next time voters may go to the polls to have a say in local politics will be November 2007.