Democrats regain seats in Township Council Race

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J.— After 16 years, Lawrence Township

Councilman Rick Miller, 46, was unseated yesterday as Democratic candidate
Gregory Puliti, 51, out-polled his opponent in the election results.
In the final vote tally by the township, Miller and his running mate, Ginny
Bigley, a township school board member, received 8,512 votes. But it was not
enough to counter Puliti and his running mate, James Kownacki’s, 9,827 votes.
Miller, a life-long Lawrence resident, said that even though that their
campaign was issue-oriented and factual there were circumstances, such as
voter registration in Lawrence and Governor Corzine’s campaign targeting the
town with paid street workers, that could not be overcome.
“Republicans were out numbered by Democrats by a two to one margin,”
said Miller. “It is like running a 100-yard dash with your opponent starting on the
50-yard line. No matter how hard you run, it’s hard to make up the distance.”
Puliti and Kownacki, who is also a resident of South Lawrence, believed
there were other factors that created their victorious results.
“We knocked on doors weeknights and weekends since the middle of
August whenever we could,” said Puliti. “We kept statistics and one in 3.5
households were home when we knocked and one out of every 15 households
was a positive guaranteed vote.”
Miller and Bigley’s campaign was based on three main issues: fiscal
responsibility, an openness in the government and a common sense approach.
Countering that, Puliti and Kownacki based their campaign on what they
decided the community would be concerned about.
“There were no issues per se. My running mate and I chose taxes and
ethics,” said Puliti.
For the Miller and Bigley campaign, being fiscally responsible was
important because they would cut the spending of residents’ tax dollars, as Miller
had done in the past.
“The year I served as mayor, our tax rate for municipal purposes was
$0.43. Since the current majority took control the following year, the tax rate has
jumped by more than 65 percent,” Miller said. “This tax and spend approach to
local government has got to stop.”
Bigley, a founding chairman of the Community Relations Committee,
added that even though the cost has been rising in mandate spending
categories, tough decisions would need to be made to keep the budget flat.
“My hope is that Lawrence remains an affordable place where young
people can afford to raise their families and where our senior citizens can
continue to enjoy the community they helped build,” Bigley said. “It’s time to bring
fiscal responsibility and accountability back to our local government.”
According to Miller, as part of cutting tax spending, a plan was also
proposed to attract new business to the Lawrence community to keep its vibrant
appeal.
“The days of sitting back and waiting for new businesses to come to
Lawrence are over,” Miller said. “We have to be much more aggressive in
attracting new businesses to our community. New businesses create jobs and
help keep our tax rate down.”
For Puliti, also a life long Lawrence resident, and Kownacki, a member of
the planning board, saving tax-payers money was important to them as well.
However, Puliti took a different view in how to reduce costs: he
proposed a change to the current waste collection system.
“I am always trying to find new and better ways to save residents money
and provide better services,” said Puliti. “This new system will build on the cost
saving measures we implemented in 2001.”
Puliti proposed the township shift to an “in house” collection process,
rather than hiring a private contractor to do the bidding. Additionally, he proposed
saving money by establishing a shared service with neighboring towns.
“We must look for ways to reduce costs in order to provide the taxpayers
with savings; exploring these new partnerships only makes sense,” said Puliti.
“By working to cut costs without sacrificing services the residents will see results
in their tax bill.”
The Republican candidates also felt an openness to government was an
important issue for the community of Lawrence Township.
“Local government is closest to the people. It should also be the most
open in all its dealings,” Miller said. “The current majority took control of the town
council in 1995. It has been growing less and less transparent about the way it
does things ever since.”
Miller saw the failure of the past council in its attempt to fill the vacancy
created by the resignation of then-Mayor Mark Holmes in the past year. The
former majority wanted to interview the possible replacements behind closed
doors for only 15 minutes each.
“I called for an open process, with interviews conducted in public, so the
people could hear from the candidates firsthand,” said Miller.
Bigley added that openness of an appointment is the process of the
school board, and should be the process everywhere.
“I was shocked that the current majority fought Rick on what seemed to
be a simple request for an open process,” said Bigley.
Puliti and Kownacki responded to this issue in the campaign by agreeing
Lawrence Township needs an openness in government. They stated that the
best way to do this was to establish an Ethics Advisory Committee; a committee
that would provide every elected township official with adequate ethics training.
“This committee would ensure that all our officials keep up with changes to
the laws and would serve as an advisory board should any questions arise,” Puliti
said. “This is just one more step to make our government more open and
honest.”
The last issue the Miller duo ran on was a common sense approach to
government. Miller, along with council colleague Bob Bostock, negotiated with
the trustees of the Lawrence Township First Aid Squad to turn over their
headquarters building to the town for $1.00 this past summer. The building will
house the township’s new 24/7 emergency medical service. This full-time EMS
service was created so that no one in Lawrence Township would ever have to
worry about whether they could afford an ambulance when they needed one.
However, to Bigley’s disbelief, when the deal was presented to the past
council majority, they objected to it.
“Didn’t these people understand they were being given, for just a dollar, a
building it would cost as much as $750,000 to build new?” Bigley said.
According to a local paper at the time of the proposal, the reasons for the
objection were additional demands of adding two extra vacant lots to the
proposal and whether or not the volunteer squad was going to change its name
or disband.
“They could have jeopardized the entire deal.” said Miller
However, the results boiled down to Miller and Bigley facing defeat on
Tuesday.
The Republican candidates Miller and Bigley anxiously awaited the results
along with the Democratic candidates, Puliti and Kownacki. Through the red,
white and blue balloon decorations, each pair was informed that the votes were
in favor of the Democrats. Puliti and Kownacki rejoiced as the Democrats now
hold five out of six seats on the township council.
“I am proud of my service to Lawrence and I can hold my head up high,”
said Miller after the results came in.