Councilman George Borek has teamed with Kristina Samonte and Lindsay Diehl to form the platform “West Windsor Moving Forward.”
According to the ticket’s official statement all three candidates have earned reputations for “performing quality research and taking decisive action.” Their stated goal is to quickly find tax-positive, community-enhancing, and family-friendly resolutions to West Windsor’s long-standing issues.
“I’ve been observing the council over the past few years and I thought that there was a lack of decisiveness on the council in moving forward with certain projects,” Samonte said.
Both Samonte and Diehl cited a general lack of civility among council members as part of the reason they’re running. Samonte’s perspective is to view each individual as a neighbor with a different opinion, as resolutions need to be more of a priority.
All three candidates initially came to West Windsor to raise families and enroll their children in the school system. Borek, who moved here in 2001, has served on council since 2007 and is seeking a second term. Borek has spent 30 years with the Jersey City Fire Department and Zoning Board of Adjustment where he became involved in the revitalization of Jersey City. Borek also currently serves as vice president for legislative issues for the Professional Firefighters Association of New Jersey.
Having spent the past 22 years in West Windsor, Lindsay Diehl first lived on Galston Drive and Grover’s Court before finally settling on Colonial Avenue.
Diehl’s mother was a homemaker while her father was a banker and an international representative for Chase Manhattan. Diehl spent her childhood abroad, living in various parts of Central and South America including Panama, Trinidad, and Argentina.
Diehl relocated to New Jersey when her husband enrolled at Princeton for graduate studies. Once in the Princeton area the couple married and settled in Jamesburg, buying an old house and fixing it up by hand, little by little. She says once they sold the property the family was able to afford to move to West Windsor and focus on raising their two sons.
Diehl earned a bachelor’s degree in art history at Tulane University. She considered a career in design as she applied to graduate schools for architecture, finally enrolling in a career discovery program at Harvard. For a short time she worked at an architectural firm, but Diehl says she did not pursue it, ultimately transitioning to marketing, market research, and business. She also studied in an MBA program at Rutgers but did not complete the degree.
In February of this year Diehl was appointed to the township’s Affordable Housing Committee for a term expiring at the end of 2013. She has also recently served on the Mayor’s Public Advisory Communications Group.
Earlier this year Diehl drafted a petition to end Councilman Charlie Morgan’s lawsuits against Mayor Hsueh and collected 135 signatures on the document, which she then presented to the council. “I found that people were very receptive to that cause and they were eager to sign the petition. I really enjoyed going door to door, meeting people, and talking to them about their concerns,” she says.
Along with this recent effort Diehl said that part of what compelled her to run for town council was her outside participation in the redevelopment plan over the past five years, as she has attended many meetings and written several letters to the editor in support of the transit village.
Kristina Samonte was born in Princeton. Her parents, both chemists, later moved the family to Somerset County and Samonte attended elementary and high school in Basking Ridge.
Samonte and her family moved to West Windsor in 2006, attracted by the schools, recreational opportunities and quality of life. She says what she loves most about West Windsor is its sense of community.
“People are attracted to live in West Windsor because of their children, but then they find that they developed a lot of relationships within the community and with each other. It’s very positive. There are also a huge number of volunteers here who work to better the community at large,” she said.
Samonte, the mother of a fourth grader at St. Paul’s School in Princeton, was elected as a committeewoman to the Mercer County Democratic Committee for a two-year term beginning in June, 2010. In her five years in town she has served on the West Windsor Public Advisory Committee, West Windsor Municipal Democratic Committee, and Dutch Neck PTA.
Samonte earned a bachelor’s degree in International Studies from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. At the same time Samonte was working her way through school she secured an internship in public policy and communications on Capitol Hill.
In Washington Samonte’s public sector experience included working for the House of Representatives as a hearings coordinator for the Committee on Energy and Commerce in 1993 and 1994. She also briefly worked as a legislative assistant for the Motion Picture Association of America in its Congressional Affairs division.
Samonte then married a naval officer and spent 10 years traveling around the country to his various stations. She started engaging in economic development efforts in rural areas and suburban communities around the U.S. From 1999 to 2001 she worked as a district representative to a California assemblyman.
Samonte’s family was influential in shaping her career goals. “Our kitchen table discussions were centered on analyzing data and information and taking a look at the facts, so I think that definitely had a big impact on me. I’m looking forward to leveraging it,” she said.
