Last updated Nov. 1, 2024.
Editor’s note: The following statement is by Andy Lupo, chairman of the Keep West Windsor Nonpartisan group. It also includes information from Joe Charles, the vice chair, and press releases released by the group.
I am not a politician; this is new to me. I do not support anyone because of the Democrat, Republican or Independent by their names. I support them because I believe they are making decisions that benefit our community. While I may not agree with every decision made, I do believe they have the community’s best interest in mind. Now others may disagree with them more than they agree and that’s why we have elections.
Over 30 years ago, West Windsor decided to change from partisan to nonpartisan elections. The politicians and residents believed this was in our best interest. This is still true today. I want our elected officials to make decisions that will benefit West Windsor—not the parties.
Under our current nonpartisan system any resident can decide to run for office by acquiring the appropriate signatures.
Under our current nonpartisan system, candidates can create cross party tickets and run together, as we have now. Cross party candidates are indicating their desire to work together to align on local policies for the benefit of our township. Wouldn’t this be a nice idea for Washington—actually crossing the aisle, as opposed to being as divided as we are on the national level.
Under our current nonpartisan system, we don’t have primaries. So independent voters (who make up the largest group of registered voters in our township) can actually vote for the candidates they choose during the general election.
Under our current nonpartisan system, if an elected official resigns (and this has happened recently), anyone can apply for the vacated seat. The council will interview the candidates and choose the most appropriate candidate.
If we go backwards and switch to the partisan system, everything changes. I heard an important reason for change is transparency.
Well, there is no secret to a candidate’s affiliation. You can simply ask them or look online for it. The entire point of being nonpartisan is to take the parties involvement out of the process.
Under a partisan system, the parties will not allow cross party tickets. While you can split your vote and select someone from each party, there is no indication they will work together once elected. The parties will be driving the issues. So much for inclusion.
Under a partisan system, we will have primaries. The parties will decide who the candidates are. If you are not chosen by your party, you cannot then turn around and run as an independent in the general election.
Also, Independents can’t vote in a primary if they want to stay Independent. They will only be able to vote for candidates chosen by the party during the primaries. Sure, independents can run on their own, but they don’t fare well at all. Currently in Mercer County partisan communities, of the 57 elected officials, zero are independents.
Under a partisan system, if a candidate resigns, the party chooses which candidates the council can select from.
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Outside special interests are spending thousands to bring divisive partisan politics to West Windsor.
West Windsor is consistently ranked as one of the best communities to live in the United States. Since 1993, West Windsor has avoided the divisive party politics and outside money influence that occurs on the national level and in partisan towns. West Windsor is like a political oasis, in the midst of a partisan swamp.
The group “West Windsor For Representation” put a question on the November election ballot asking voters to vote “Yes” to turn future elections partisan, under the guise that it will create greater “transparency.”
The group filed its first report with the N.J. Election Law Enforcement Commission on Oct. 7, 2024. Its top funders by dollar amount are:
$5,000 from Iron Workers Local 399, Hammonton;
$2,500 from the Candidate Committee Friends of Dan Benson, Hamilton;
$2,500 from Solar Landscape Origination, Asbury Park;
$1,500 from SJS Strategies, Monroe;
$1,000 from Fairview Insurance Agency Associates, Verona;
$1,000 from Forward Leadership, Lawrenceville; and
$1,000 from Trilon, Denver, Colorado
The report shows that none of these top funders is a local individual in West Windsor. In total, almost 85% of the pro-partisan group’s funding is from outside special interests.
Why are these politically connected outsiders giving money to change West Windsor’s elections? What have they been promised in return?
It’s a blatant power grab by the county and state political machine, and their allies. They can’t win elections with the candidates they’ve been endorsing, now they want to simply buy the town.
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I don’t believe now is the time for us to take steps backwards and divide our community. We should continue to look forward and work together for our township. I agreed to chair this effort to provide information to residents about the implications of this proposed change. I will be voting “No” for this effort to divide us. I hope residents will take the time to understand what’s at stake and join me in voting “No” on their ballots.
Currently, we are fortunate to have a diverse non partisan council. Sonia (Gawas), Martin (Whitfield) and Dan (Weiss) are Democrats. Andrea (Mandel) is a Republican and Linda (Geevers) is an Independent.
Every candidate will gladly respond if asked about their political affiliation. One can also look up candidates online. The intention of a nonpartisan process is to minimize outside influences, such as political parties.
Personally, I like the fact that we have had so many cross party tickets in our elections since we changed to non-partisan in 1993. That isn’t even allowed in a partisan election. I strongly prefer our local elected officials to work on West Windsor issues and not party issues.
Our committee is Keep West Windsor Nonpartisan. I am very happy to say we are a non-partisan committee. I have never asked anyone which party they belong to. To me, that’s not as important as trying to do the right thing for West Windsor. The committee started as residents saw a petition being circulated by a combination of outside paid workers and a few individuals who wanted to change our politics from non-partisan to partisan. In many cases the information used to convince people to sign was misleading.
This committee is not about any candidates. This is about how we choose candidates in the future. Right now in a nonpartisan election, anyone can run for office assuming they obtain the appropriate number of signatures. Then residents vote for who they want.
This has allowed for many cross party tickets, which I think serve the township more effectively. I like the fact that anyone who has an interest in serving our community has an equal opportunity to do that. Sadly the change to a partisan process will hamper that.
Anyone can join our committee, in fact the more support the better. Since this is a political issue, and we will be collecting contributions (to pay for signs and material), we are required to register with the State of New Jersey. Someone had to be named the chair and treasurer. Away from those two required roles, everyone has an equal seat at the table.
While this is a relatively simple issue, I believe the consequences of going back to where we were in the 1990s will be very divisive (like our national politics).
It’s so important to ensure people know the truth about the impacts of changing to a partisan election. We continually hear the yes side use the word transparency, but sadly nothing can be further from the truth. If someone is an independent, they Cannot vote in primaries… period. They must choose a party and then vote as a member of that party. Those are the facts.
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Backroom deals? That has partisan fingerprints all over it. Why else would so many political outsiders have contributed thousands of dollars to candidates in the last election? Thankfully they weren’t successful, and our elected officials do not owe anything to their party.
Vote “No” and keep the ugly partisan politics out of West Windsor.
Keep West Windsor Nonpartisan is a diverse group of West Windsor residents that have come together to prevent this threat to our beautiful town. We are independents, Democrats, Republicans and others who wish to preserve West Windsor’s thirty-year tradition of working together for the good of our community. The group is led by myself as chair and Meena Tomar as treasurer, both with a long history of service to the community.
You can find names of other supporters on the supporter page at keepwwnonpartisan.com. If you would like to join the list, email KeepWWNonPartisan@gmail.com.
The above graphic released by Keep WW Nonpartisan shows that the campaign to to change the township to partisan elections has received thousands of dollars in donations from interests outside of the township. Much of the money comes from Democratic politicians from throughout New Jersey and Mercer County.,
