Politics & Government

2011 Union County Primary Election Guide

Democratic freeholder primary only competitive race on ballot.

Contests to choose party nominees for the November election will get underway Tuesday. While most offices are uncontested, there is a contested race on the ballot in the Democratic primary for county freeholder and second ward Democrats could choose an opponent for Councilwoman Joann Neylan, who is currently uncontested.

Voters can only vote in the party in which they are registered.

Polls open at 6 a.m. Tuesday and stay open until 8 p.m. If you are in line at 8 p.m. you are allowed to vote. Voting by mail has closed; all ballots need to be dropped off the county clerk's office in Elizabeth if you wish to use this option.

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Cranford Township Committee

Find out what's happening in Cranfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

(Vote for Two)

Three-Year Term (Jan. 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2014)

The Township Committee is the governing body of Cranford, holding both executive and legislative function. The five commissioners approve the township budget, hire and fire department heads, adopt ordinances and set the policy direction of township government. The commissioners select a mayor amongst themselves for a one-year term, along with a deputy mayor. Excluding the mayor, the commissioners hold a departmental commissioner assignment overseeing such areas as public safety, finance, public works and engineering and public affairs.

Note: Republican incumbent Mark Dugan is not seeking reelection to a second term.

Democrats

Daniel Aschenbach

A veteran of over a quarter century in Cranford politics, Aschenbach is seeking his seventh non-consecutive term on the Township Committee. The township’s current mayor, he has been elected to the Township Committee in 1986, 1989, 1992, 2000, 2003 and 2008. He was defeated in races for the Township Committee in 1984, 1985 and 1995. The township’s mayor in 1993, 2003, 2006 and 2011, Aschenbach works in municipal finance analysis for Moody’s.

Tom Hannen

While this is his first bid for elective office in Cranford, Hannen is a political veteran. He served four terms on the Winfield Township Committee in the 1970s and 1980s and was the Mayor of Winfield for several years. He was also elected as a tax assessor in Winfield. He is the owner of a plastics recycling company in Linden.

Republicans

Andis Kalnins

Kalnins is making his second bid for Township Committee, having finished third in a four-way race in 2010. A member of the township’s Zoning Board of Adjustment, Kalnins is a strategic planner for Verizon and has worked as an engineer and in construction management.

Lisa Adubato Nesi

This is Adubato Nesi’s first race for elective office. An attorney in Cranford, she is a member of the school advisory board at St. Michael’s School and has been active in a variety of township civic affairs.

Union County Freeholder

(Vote for Three)

Three-Year Term (Jan. 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2014)

The Board of Chosen Freeholders is the chief governing body of Union County. The Board appoints a county manager to manage the operations of state government, approves county laws, oversees county departments and approves the county budget.

Summary

The Union County Democratic Committee again faces a primary challenge from the county Democrats for Change, a faction of the party based in Elizabeth. The Democrats for Change ticket is part of a state legislative ticket facing off for Senate and Assembly seats in the 20th district, which encompasses Elizabeth, Hillside, Roselle and Union Township.

Fielding county freeholder candidates on a state legislative ticket not endorsed by a county party organization is a common political tactic in New Jersey to obtain better ballot placement. The Democrats for Change ticket – which includes Elizabeth Board of Education member Elcy Castillo-Ospina and Elizabeth residents Erna Letemps and Marlene Abitano – has been one of the more quiet tickets the group has fielded in freeholder elections in recent years. The group is facing off against Freeholders Angel Estrada of Elizabeth and Chris Hudak of Linden and retired educator Vernell Wright of Union Township.

The Democrats for Change has been promoting a legislative ticket in the 20th district, in one of the state’s most competitive state legislative primaries. The race fields Assistant Elizabeth Schools Superintendent Jerome Dunn against Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) and former Elizabeth Councilman Tony Monteiro and Elizabeth Councilman Carlos Cedeno against Assembly Majority Leader Joe Cryan (D-Union Township) and Assemblywoman Annette Quijano (D-Elizabeth). Monteiro is a longtime opponent of Lesniak.

Patch has learned that the Democrats for Change freeholder ticket has been primarily concentrating their campaign in the 20th district to assist the legislative ticket. The freeholder slate was fielded by the group to assist with better ballot placement for the state legislative slate in the 20th district. Fielding freeholder tickets to assist state candidates is a common practice for New Jersey tickets challenging county party endorsed candidates. State election law provides better ballot placement to tickets including slates for county government office.

The Republican party has endorsed two candidates for the three seats on the board. It is possible a write-in candidate could win the third nomination during the primary.

Candidates

County Democratic Party Endorsed Ticket (Listed in Order of Appearance on Ballot)

Angel Estrada of Elizabeth

Estrada is currently serving his fourth term as a county freeholder, having chaired the board twice. A former member of the Elizabeth Board of Education, first elected to county office in 1999, Estrada has made education issues a focus on his tenure on the board. A former head of the Elizabeth office of the state Motor Vehicles Commission, Estrada made headlines in 2006, when he assisted the boyfriend of then state Attorney General Zulima Farber, in canceling a speeding ticket.

Christopher Hudak of Linden

Hudak was appointed to the freeholder board in December 2010 to fill the unexpired term of Rick Proctor, who resigned to become mayor of Rahway. Hudak is the Linden Democratic chairman and was an aide to former Sen. Joseph Suliga (D-Linden). Hudak ran the state Motor Vehicles Commission facility in Rahway during the Corzine Administration, before being dismissed from the post by Gov. Chris Christie last year. Hudak defeated Westfield Councilman Dave Haas for the freeholder seat.

Vernell Wright of Union Township

Wright is a retired educator from Union Township seeking her first elective office. Wright is widely known in Union Township for her work in education and a scholarship is named after her. Wright is replacing retiring Freeholder Nancy Ward of Westfield on the Democratic ticket.

Democrats for Change Ticket (Listed in Order of Appearance on Ballot)

Marlene Abitanto of Elizabeth

The interim supervisor of custodians in the Elizabeth public schools, this is Abitanto’s third bid for public office on the Democrats for Change slate. In 2010 she unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for a seat on the Elizabeth City Council and in 2008 she unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for freeholder, finishing sixth in a field of seven.

Erna Letemps of Elizabeth

An interim vice principal in the Elizabeth public schools and singer, Letemps is making her first bid for freeholder. She has been a teacher in several school districts in New Jersey, along with speaking at education conferences and writing about education issues. In her musical career, Letemps has performed at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, along with performing in Haiti’s Bicentennial Celebration at the National Palace in Port-a-Prince.

Elcy Castillo-Ospina of Elizabeth

Castillo-Ospina is a member of the Elizabeth Board of Education and is making her second run for freeholder. Castillo-Ospina unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination as part of the Democrats for Change ticket in 2010, finishing sixth in a field of six. She was elected to the Elizabeth BOE in 2009, becoming the first person of Colombian heritage to be elected to the board. She is a child study team school social worker in the Bayonne public schools. She is the coordinator of New Jersey Kid Safe Youth Soccer and a licensed youth soccer coach in New Jersey.

Republican Party

The Union County Republican Committee has endorsed only two candidates for county freeholder. A third candidate can be nominated by write-in vote during the primary.

Andy Smith of Summit

An attorney with an office in Morristown, this is Smith’s first bid for public office. Smith is the vice chairman of the Summit Republican Committee and a member of the Summit Board of Health. He said he was inspired to run based on Summit Councilwoman Ellen Dickson’s unsuccessful 2010 campaign for freeholder.

Edwin Ortiz of Elizabeth

Ortiz is an executive with a private security company with a long political history in the Bronx. Ortiz unsuccessfully sought a seat on the New York City Council representing a Bronx district in a February 2001 special election. He also unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for the same Council seat in the September 2001 and was the Independence Party nominee for the seat in the 2001 general election. He also unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for a New York State Assembly seat in 1998 as a position as a Democratic district leader in Bronx County in 1994.

New Jersey Senate

(Vote for One)

Two-Year Term (Jan. 10, 2012 – Jan. 14, 2014)

One of two chambers of the State Legislature, the Senate consists of 40 members elected from two member districts statewide. Senate terms run for two years in election years ending with a “1”, and terms of four years for election years ending in a “3” and a “7”.

District 21 – Parts of Union, Morris and Somerset Counties

(Westfield, Garwood, Cranford, Springfield, Mountainside, Berkeley Heights, New Providence and Summit)

Republican

Tom Kean Jr. of Westfield

Kean is completing his second full term as a state senator. He was first appointed to the Senate seat in January 2003 following the resignation of former Sen. Rich Bagger (R-Westfield). He was elected to the seat in 2003 and 2007. He served as an assemblyman from April 2001 to January 2003. Kean has served as the Senate minority leader since January 2008 and currently serves on the education and commerce committees. He was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2006 and unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for a seat in Congress in 2000.

Democrat

Paul Swanicke of Warren Township

Swanicke is seeking his first elective office in the Senate race. He is an attorney in Warren Township.

District 22 – Parts of Union, Middlesex and Somerset Counties

(Scotch Plains, Fanwood and Clark)

Republican Shannon Wright of Plainfield

Wright is running as a write-in candidate for the Senate seat. Backed by the Union County Republican Convention in April, Wright did not qualify for the ballot as she originally filed a petition to run for the Assembly with the secretary of state’s office and then did not have the required amount of signatures on her final Senate petition. Wright, the pastor of a ministry in Plainfield and the founder of Nana J’s Food Pantry, needs 100 write-in votes in the Republican primary to be the Senate nominee.

Democrat Nick Scutari of Linden

Scutari is completing his second Senate term, after being elected in 2003 and 2007 to the seat. Scutari succeeded former Sen. Joe Suliga (D-Linden) in the seat after Suliga dropped out of the 2003 race in October of that year, following a sexual harrassment incident in a Shore business. Scutari is the chairman of the powerful Senate judiciary committee and a former chairman of the state government committee. As judiciary committee chairman, he has been locked in a battle with Gov. Chris Christie over Christie nominees for the state Supreme Court and various government posts. Scutari is a former county freeholder and Linden Board of Education member. An attorney, he serves as the Linden city prosecutor.

General Assembly

(Vote for Tw0)

Two-Year Term (Jan. 10, 2012 – Jan. 14, 2014)

One of two chambers of the State Legislature, the General Assembly consists of 80 members elected from two member districts statewide.

District 21 – Parts of Union, Morris and Somerset Counties

(Westfield, Garwood, Cranford, Springfield, Mountainside, Berkeley Heights, New Providence and Summit)

Republican

Jon Bramnick of Westfield

Bramnick, the Westfield Republican chairman, is seeking his fifth full term in the Assembly. He was appointed to a vacancy in February 2003 to succeed Tom Kean Jr. and elected in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009. The number two ranking Republican in the Assembly, Bramnick serves as a member of the law and public safety committee and the consumer affairs committee. A close ally of Gov. Chris Christie, Bramnick is a former two-term Plainfield city councilman and he lost a race for the Westfield Town Council in the 1990s. He is an attorney in Scotch Plains

Nancy Munoz of Summit

Munoz is seeking her second full term in the Assembly, following her appointment in April 2009 to succeed her late husband, Assemblyman Eric Munoz (R-Summit). Munoz is the first widow to directly succeed her husband in the Legislature in New Jersey history. A nurse by profession, Munoz serves on the health and senior services committee and the tourism and the arts committee.

Democrats

Norman Albert of Cranford

An attorney who serves as the first deputy county counsel of Union County, Albert has made several unsuccessful runs for Assembly in previous years, including 2003, 2007 and 2009. He served on term on the Cranford Township Committee in the 1990s and was the Mayor of Cranford in 1995. He was defeated for a second term on the Cranford Township Committee in 1995.

Bruce Bergen of Springfield

An attorney, Bergen has made several unsuccessful runs for the Assembly in previous years, including 2007 and 2009. He serves as the Township Attorney in Springfield and has represented public clients in the region. He was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for Congress in 1990 in the seventh district against then U.S. Rep. Matthew Renaldo (R-Union Township).

District 22 – Parts of Union, Middlesex and Somerset Counties

(Scotch Plains, Fanwood and Clark)

Republicans

Joan Van Pelt of Plainfield

A Plainfield resident and Republican party activist, Van Pelt’s husband unsuccessfully sought the mayor’s office in the Queen City. A Fanwood native, she has been centering her campaign on saying why the Democratic incumbents should be defeated.

Jeffrey First of Middlesex Borough

First is a councilman in Middlesex Borough and this is his first run for the Legislature.

Democrats

Jerry Green of Plainfield

Green was first elected to the Assembly in 1991 and is currently serving as the speaker pro tempore of the Assembly. The Democratic chairman of Plainfield, Green is the chairman of the Assembly's housing and local government committee and a member of the health and senior services committee. Considered a top political powerbroker in Plainfield, Green is a former county freeholder and was freeholder chairman in 1990.

Linda Stender of Scotch Plains

Stender is currently seeking her sixth term in the Assembly. First elected to the Assembly in 2001, Stender is a former Fanwood mayor and borough councilwoman and a former county freeholder. Stender is the chairwoman of the state government committee, the vice chairwoman of the transportation, public works and independent authorities committee and a member of the appropriations committee. Stender was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for Congress in the seventh district in 2006 and 2008, a race where Republicans referred to her as "Stender the Spender," based on votes she's cast on fiscal issues. Stender has also been criticized by Republicans for her former job as a volunteer coordinator and fundraiser for Runnells Hospital. 

Union County Democratic Committee

Voters countywide will also be asked to elect members of the Democratic county committee in each election district. Low key affairs, normally unopposed affairs, each election district will elect one male and one female committee member for two year terms. Republicans normally elect committee members in even number years.

County committee members compose the governing boards for the county and town political party organizations. Committee members decide who receives official party backing for a variety of offices.

Committee members also are empowered under state law to elect interim successors for vacant seats in the state legislature and as county freeholder, along with recommending replacements for local offices. In December, Democratic committee members elected Chris Hudak of Linden to a vacant seat on the freeholder board replacing Rick Proctor, who resigned to become mayor of Rahway.

The races are normally unopposed with the committee candidates being party loyalists picked by Democratic leaders. Committee members in both parties are expected to help candidates in their election districts.

Democratic committee members elected today will convene later this month to elect a county Republican chairman for a two year term. Incumbent County Democratic Chairwoman Charlotte DeFilippo, a former Hillside township clerk and county freeholder, is expected to be reelected.


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