Overwhelming Affirmation in New Jersey

The local Lakewood election results mirrored the larger electoral results in New Jersey. Voters, for the most part, chose to send incumbents back to the positions they held. Despite a 22-point win by Governor Christie at the top of the ticket, Democrats held on to every State Senate seat they occupied, and only lost a couple of Assembly seats. Likewise, in Lakewood, for the most part, the power of incumbency carried the day.

The notable exception to this was the election for the Lakewood school board. Upon the recommendation of the Lakewood Vaad and the Igud HaMosdos, the Lakewood kehillah voted for change and rejected the candidacy of incumbent School Board President Carl Fink in favor of two virtual unknowns. There was also a last-minute write-in bid by incumbent Yechezkel Seitler, but that also came up short. Fink and Seitler, along with Isaac Zlatkin, the one incumbent who managed to get reelected, were first elected three years ago on a platform of controlling skyrocketing property taxes.

Rabbi Moshe Zev Weisberg, a longtime Lakewood askan and spokesperson for the Lakewood Vaad, explained the Vaad’s decision to reject the incumbents. “They artificially kept taxes low for two years, and then this year it exploded in everyone’s face — it was very predictable.”

Weisberg says that the Vaad is “very pleased that the great vast majority did as was suggested” and dismissed, as “not serious analysis,” the notion that there is real frustration among the kehillah in regard to rising property taxes.

He also says that taxes, although nobody likes them, “aren’t going away — that’s the way it is. If you don’t pay taxes, you don’t get the services.”

Lakewood’s reelection of the popular Mayor Akerman by almost the same margin enjoyed by Governor Christie is strong testament to the work he has put into helping people in the town regardless of who they are.

The legislative races reelected a slate of Republican incumbents, who remain in the minority where they have less power, but the legislators, Senator Singer and Assemblymen Kean and Ribble, have always been receptive to the community’s concerns and will hopefully continue to be this way.

Governor Christie, who won Lakewood with 82 percent of the vote as compared to challenger Barbara Buono’s 16 percent, doubled the margin of victory he achieved locally over four years ago, when he won 2–1. As Weisberg says, “It’s always good to elect someone [who is] close to us in values.” But the main thing about the support shown for the governor is that the community voted collectively, which makes politicians look at the community as one that can move a bloc of votes.

The governor, the legislators, as well as the county officials elected, have all shown that they are part of a team that provides a listening ear to the community’s concerns, which means that the results are overall positive for the kehillah.

This article appeared in print on page 20 of the November 7th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.