It’s time to clear the roadways of sign clutter and recycle all those flyers and mailers. Another very close West Windsor municipal election has concluded. Pending any last-minute changes due to the counting of provisional ballots, the top vote getters for Council are incumbent and former school board president Hemant Marathe, former council member Alison Miller, and newcomer Ayesha Krishnan Hamilton.
Former school board president Marathe, who was appointed to Council earlier this year, led the field. On the opposing slate longtime politico Miller returns to elected office after a landslide loss in 2005. Marathe’s slate members Virginia Manzari and newcomer Gerald Halloran finished fifth and sixth.
The most surprising result was the election of Hamilton over two-term incumbent and fellow slate member George Borek, who finished fourth, just 20 votes behind Hamilton, and four ahead of Manzari.
A solo practitioner specializing in employment law, Hamilton says she wants to bring a respectful, professional manner to Council. When going door to door, she says many residents asked why Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh did not attend Council meetings.
“I asked the mayor,” Hamilton says. “He said part of it is when he goes to Council meetings, the Council has spent a significant amount of time attacking him. That’s not efficient when you have a lawyer billing by the minute. It ended up being an obstructionist process. The mayor is not required to come, but I think residents would like to see him there. I would like to encourage the mayor to join us at Council meetings. We need to work to rebuild the relationship with the administration.”
Improving traffic, particularly around the train station area and Old Trenton Road, became another important issue for Hamilton. She will encourage neighborhoods to bring forth proposals with a unified voice. For example, Berrien City residents are reorganizing their association to propose solutions to traffic and speeding concerns.
Hamilton wants to promote small businesses and fill the existing retail space in town. “What can we do to promote our small businesses? What makes other towns attractive for businesses?” Hamilton says. “I’m trying to work with the Princeton Chamber to develop a West Windsor division. TCNJ also has a small business development center, funded by Mercer County and SBA. I don’t know if West Windsor businesses know about that. The county does get 30 percent of our taxes, but they do offer these services. Why don’t we use them?”
Hamilton expressed surprise at the negativity that preceded election day. “I would tell my pre-election self to stay true to yourself. Never go negative because at the end of the day I have to live and work with the people in this community,” she says.
Ultimately, Hamilton says her goal is to act as an advocate for residents, and she encourages residents to call or E-mail her, as well as attend Council meetings. “I don’t have aspirations of higher office, this is it,” Hamilton says.
The closeness of the election, and the need to count every provisional ballot, became apparent at each slate’s election party shortly after the polls closed. Marathe, already well known as a member of the school board, quickly emerged as the front runner. Halloran, the newcomer to town participating in his first political race, lagged behind the pack. In the middle, separated by a handful of votes, were the other four, vying for two seats.
At 8:45 p.m., 45 minutes after polls closed, the “Your Voice, Our Commitment” team and other Republican party regulars gathered around a laptop at Marathe’s house on Clarendon Court. Several districts were slow to report votes. A tape was reported to be “jumbled” in District 4 and only partial results could be obtained.
At one point the recorded totals showed only 16 votes separating — in order — Miller, Borek, Manzari, and Hamilton. Bryan Maher, the outgoing councilman who chose not to run for re-election, recalled the race from four years ago (when only 28 votes separated the top four candidates). “It’s way too close to call,” he said.
One sure outcome at that hour — around 9 p.m. — was in the race for 15th District Assembly representative. Peter Mendonez, the West Windsor council member trying his luck in another political arena, flashed a philosophical smile. His 15 percent total put him last in the race, behind the winning incumbent Democrats, Reed Gusciora and Elizabeth Maher Muoio, who had around 35 percent each. “At least I’m getting known,” the young Republican said.
A few minutes later, at the Community First election night party at the Borek home on Wellington Drive, Alison Miller looked glum when asked how the counting was going. “Not that well,” she said. “We think two of us will make it, but we don’t know which two.”
Borek, seated at the kitchen table, coordinated the inflow of data. Mayor Hsueh and former Councilman Kamal Khanna poked their heads in from time to time. After the “jumbled” tape issue was resolved, the numbers came into focus: Barring some highly unlikely provisional ballot results, Miller and Hamilton would join Council; Borek would be the odd man out.
Some of the Community First supporters began to complain about the opposition’s placement of signs, and other campaign tactics. Borek cut that talk off. “I have served for eight-and-a-half years with dignity and honor, and that’s the way I will leave,” he said. “I’d like to take a little break, but my passion to serve will still be there. I’m not going anywhere.”
At that point, Borek’s son Cory, a seventh grader who had been quietly sitting at the table with the politicos, piped up in a forthright voice: “My dad is not the kind of person who will leave his commitment to serve the community. He won’t do that even though he didn’t get elected.”
One last-minute opposition E-mail criticized Borek for running in 2007 against any development that would add 1,000 new units of housing but later supporting a plan for 800 units. Borek stood by his vote. As all the facts came in, he and others on Council realized that any limit had to be defendable in court — “otherwise we’d be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on lawyers.” Borek recalled that the township had spent millions to fight Toll Brothers and lost. The resulting Estates at Princeton Junction added more units than were originally proposed.
Will Borek return to the West Windsor political ring? Miller, who described herself as “the comeback kid,” recalled her first race 22 years ago, when the township had just adopted its current form of government. Her winning slate stressed “community unity,” she said. “No one epitomizes that more today than George. He will always be that.”
Miller was on the ticket with Borek in his first political run in 2005. Recalling her comeback after that slate lost in a landslide, Miller said, “if I can do it, I know George can do it.”
