While it’s a quiet year in Ewing for local elections, voters going to the polls on Nov. 5 will not have any shortage of choices between candidates for county and state offices.
This is an off year for Ewing Township government, which holds council elections every two years and a mayoral election once every four years.
The only local election on the ballot is an uncontested race for the Ewing School Board featuring three candidates running for three open seats.
Running for school board are incumbents Bruce White and Stephanie Staub and newcomer Scott Franks, who will fill the seat being vacated by Anthony Mack, who decided not to run for re-election.
Franks, a lifelong Ewing resident, is a 23-year employee of the state Department of Corrections and works in the Office of Fleet Management as a senior management assistant.
Staub, who is marketing director for the Architectural Glass Institute, was first elected to a three-year term on the board in 2010 and currently serves as board president.
White, a lifelong resident of Ewing, was first elected to the board in 1984 and has served as president, vice president and chair of many committees during his tenure. A former teacher and principal, White retired in 2001 after 37 years as an educator.
Cox challenges Turner for State Senate seat
At the top of this year’s ballot is the contest between Republican Gov. Chris Christie and Barbara Buono.
In addition to gubernatorial election, Ewing voters will choose between candidates looking to represent the 15th Legislative District in the state Senate and General Assembly.
In the election for a four-year 15th District state senate seat, Republican Don Cox is running against incumbent Democrat Shirley Turner.
For Cox, a resident of Ewing and former township councilman, this is his second attempt to unseat Turner. He ran an unsuccessful campaign against the long-time legislator in 2011, losing by an almost 2 to 1 margin with 10,900 votes to Turner’s 21,512.
Cox, who holds bachelor’s and a master’s degrees in administration from Temple University, was a school teacher at Trenton High, and worked as a purchasing agent for General Motors before he left to start Revere Travel.
Cox has been a registered financial representative with Investors Capital Corp. for 17 years and served as an officer with the Trans Arctic Group in the US Army in Greenland and was a general’s aide with the N.J. National Guard.
He has served as a volunteer on various municipal boards and committees including recreation, zoning, rent control, the Green Team and the Senior Advisory Board, and he is active in several area civic and volunteer organizations including the Ewing Kiwanis. Cox and his late wife Violet, who passed away in 2000, have one son and three grandchildren.
Turner, who was first elected to the Senate in 1997, was a member of the Assembly from 1994 to 1998, and served as the associate minority leader for the Assembly from 1996 to 1998. She was also a Mercer County Freeholder
A resident of Lawrenceville, Turner and her husband, Donald, have two children and five grandchildren. Turner earned a degree in education from Trenton State College and a master’s in guidance and counseling from Rider. She has worked as associate director of the Office of Career Services at Rider University since 1973.
Four seek election to two General Assembly slots
In the race for two two-year state assembly seats, incumbent Democrats Reed Gusciora and Bonnie Watson Coleman face off against GOP challengers Anthony Giordano and Kim Taylor.
Gusciora, 53, of Trenton, was first elected to the assembly in 1995 and has served as Democratic deputy majority leader since 2008. He has also been assistant majority leader in from 2006 and 2007, and assistant minority leader from 1998 to 2001.
Gusciora earned a degree in politics/international relations from the Catholic University of America and a law degree from Seton Hall University School of Law. His has run his own law firm, and also worked as an attorney with Stark and Stark. He currently serves as municipal prosecutor in Princeton, Lawrence and Hopewell Borough.
Watson Coleman, 68, a resident of Ewing, holds a degree in liberal arts from Thomas Edison State College and studied political science at Rutgers University. She has served in the assembly since she was first elected in 1997, and served as majority leader from 2006-2009.
A member of the Ewing Planning Board from 1996-1997, Watson Coleman served as the chair of the state Democratic Committee from 2002–2006. As such, she was the first African-American woman to lead a state political party, in addition to being the first woman to serve as Assembly majority leader.
In 1974, she established the first Office of Civil Rights, Contract Compliance and Affirmative Action, in the state Department of Transportation and remained the director of that office for six years.
In 1980, Watson Coleman worked at the state Department of Community Affairs, where she held a number of positions including assistant commissioner.
She and her husband, William, have three sons.
Taylor, a Lawrence Township resident, is running against Gusciora and Watson Coleman for a second time. She was defeated in 2009 in her bid for election to one of two assembly seats receiving 15,418 votes to 29,713 for Watson Coleman and 29,215 for Gusciora.
Taylor earned an associates degree in general business from Mercer County College, a bachelor’s in business administration/global leadership from New Jersey City University and a master’s in criminal justice from Boston University.
She is retired from the Hunterdon County Finance Department, where she worked since 1989, and was supervisor of accounts there since 1995. She previously worked in the department as a senior account clerk and an account clerk. She was a claims processing clerk at Merrill Lynch from 1988-1989.
Anthony Giordano, a 36-year-old resident of Trenton, is employed as an auditor with the state Department of Community Affairs. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Rider University.
Giordano is a member of the Trenton Zoning Board, a member of the Mercer County CYO Athletic Commission, and a member of the Trenton PAL Board of Governors. This is Giordano’s first bid for public office.
Referendum questions would amend state constitution
Also on this year’s ballot are two state-wide referendum questions that propose amendments to the state constitution.
Public Question 1, if approved, would allow veterans’ organizations to use money collected from existing games of chance, such as bingo, raffles and lotteries, to support their organizations. Currently, the state constitution only allows proceeds from games of chance to be used for educational, charitable, patriotic, religious or public-spirited purposes.
Voter approval of Public Question 2 would increase the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 per hour with annual adjustments for inflation, beginning on January 1. The annual increases would be based on the consumer price index.
GOP looks to end Democrats’ Freeholder domination
At the county level, two Republican challengers are hoping to end the Democrats 16-year lock on the board of chosen freeholders.
Incumbent Freeholders Anthony Caribelli and Andrew Koontz are being challenged by Republicans Ron Cefalone and Paul Hummel. The four are running for two four-year seats on the board.
Cefalone is a Hopewell Township resident, where he lives with his wife, Lori, and daughter, Peyton. He is the owner of CG Sports, a Pennington sporting goods store.
Cefalone grew up in Hamilton and Ewing and is a graduate of Ewing High School and Thomas Edison State College.
Hummel, a native of Hightstown and a graduate of Hightstown High School, holds a degree in accounting and management degree from Mercer County Community College.
He currently works at Ascensus as a corrections specialist. He is also a realtor for Actions USA Jay Robert Realtors in Hamilton. Hummel is also a Mercer County GOP commiteeman.
Carabelli, a resident of Trenton, has been a freeholder since 1981, serving as president in 1983, 1990, 1996, 2003 and 2009. He was a City of Trenton councilman from 1970 to 1982.
Carabelli received a bachelor’s degree in social science from Georgetown University, where he also attended law school. He earned a master’s degree in public administration from Rider College and retired from the state Department of Community Affairs in 2000 after 31 years.
Koontz, a Princeton resident, is seeking his election to a second term on the board. He served on the Princeton Borough Council from 2003 to 2010 and was council president in 2009.
A graduate of New York University with a degree in fine arts, Koontz is currently a film and television teacher at Hightstown High School. He is also the president of the Princeton Parks Alliance.
