The first official candidate for the West Windsor Township Council election has announced the start of his campaign. Will Anklowitz, 37, a native of West Windsor, will run for the seat currently held by interim councilmember Barbara Pfeifer.
Anklowitz was among the candidates for the seat when council voted in May, 3-1, to fill Kristin Appelget’s vacated seat with Pfeifer. There were ten candidates in all, and Charles Morgan cast his vote for Anklowitz.##M:[more]##
Morgan has stated he is supporting Anklowitz for the November election. West Windsor’s government is non-partisan, but Morgan and Anklowitz are registered Republicans. Anklowitz was at one point a Democrat and switched parties. He doesn’t remember when that happened, and says the importance of his party, “is in the eye of the beholder. To the voter it matters to it matters and to the voter it doesn’t it doesn’t.”
Anklowitz, an attorney, wants to see a more open government for West Windsor. “I was disappointed to hear that council voted to stop recording executive sessions. I believe if there is another vacant seat to fill, there should be open hearings and interviews.”
Anklowitz is running on a platform in support of farmland preservation, first and foremost. “My grandparents came here in the 1930s. They came here for the farmland. Once it’s gone it’s gone forever.” He also recommends sharing resources with other towns to facilitate the position of an information officer, and for improvement of the town’s website.
As a candidate for the interim council position, he has specific views on the faults of the process and how it should have been handled. “I’m constantly mystified about the fact that the interview process included an hour-long cup of coffee with Franc Gambatese, and he hasn’t disclosed those to anybody. The rest was a 20-minute recorded session with the other members, then the final meeting. That was the whole process. The most private of it was Mr. Gambatese’s private interviews. I’m mystified at the lack of attention to that.”
Anklowitz later clarified his position: “I do not think that Mr. Gambatese’s private interviews of Council candidates was unethical. I also do not think Mr. Morgan did anything unethical. The issue is open government. I believe disclosure is the great disinfectant.”
There were a number of vocal Anklowitz supporters at that final meeting, many of whom are members of the Windsor Pond Homeowners Association, over which Will presides.
Anklowitz’s wife, Madeline, works as a licensed social worker. They have two children, Max, 3, and Sam, 6. Anklowitz points out that Sam goes to Dutch Neck Elementary School, the same school Will and his mother, Etta, attended. Will’s father ran a liquor store in West Windsor, the Beverage Barn, which closed about 10 years ago.
After graduating from the WW-P High School, he attended College of New Jersey, and got his law degree from Widener. He ran his own law practice in West Windsor, and is currently a state employee and shop steward for CWA Local 1033. In that position, Anklowitz shares an affiliation with longtime West Windsor politico Rae Roeder, who is president of that local.
