Democrats retain control of No. Bruns.
Womack re-elected as mayor, Andrews and Nicola as council reps
BY JENNIFER AMATO Staff Writer
The North Brunswick Democratic Party defeated its Republican opponents by nearly a 3-to-2 margin in the mayoral and council elections on Tuesday.

Incumbent Francis "Mac" Womack was reelected to his second four-year term as mayor, and incumbents Ralph Andrews and Cathy Nicola were re-elected to their second threeyear terms as Township Council representatives.

"I hope people feel we've been moving in the right direction and are confident that we will not just sit back and accept more of the same but will continue to use the next four years, not just looking back on the things we did well over the last four years, but that we will do things even better and move forward," Womack said.

This confidence, according to Nicola, is based on an established open and honest government with a level of dedication to all residents.

"For me it is an honor and a privilege to work with this council and mayor because we are all hard workers," she said. "I grew up here and would never leave. I give this 100 percent like everybody else. This is home sweet home."

Andrews contributed the blue win to the efforts of the Democratic Committee, since the volunteer groups walked the districts, made phone calls and handed out fliers to residents.

"I think people believe we're doing the right job … but you can't get elected by yourself," he said. "I think people have a sense of civility here in town. We have a plan, we have a direction, we try to be fiscally responsible, and we try to listen to the residents so they know we're here to serve them. … We take it very seriously that they have given us this role to serve them."

Overall, both parties agreed that this year's campaign was clean and honorable with the sharing of similar ideas. Both sides agreed on increased code enforcement, enhanced quality of life, combating gangs, the need for more open space and the importance of lowering the tax burden. The all-Democratic Council said they will take into consideration the issues brought forth by their counterparts during the campaign season.

"We will take the issues they raised very seriously and will work on some of them as priorities in the coming years," Womack said.

The Democrats also have their own ideas, such as connecting both sides of town through greenways and pedestrian trails, implementing wireless Internet access throughout municipal facilities and parks, increasing services to senior citizens and sharing services with other municipalities.

"We need to have the courage to do those things," Womack said.

The Republicans, despite their loss, said that they will remain active in town. Larry Baldini, a former councilman who ran against Womack this year, said he plans to push for more open space and a skateboard park, and will continue as the township representative to the Youth Council.

"It is a hard thing to break the Democratic Party but we gave it a shot," he said, adding that bipartisanship is necessary because "every family has arguments. You can't always agree with everyone."

Arthur Lee Young III, a council candidate, related the campaign to a race, especially since he qualified for the Olympics in 1980 as a mile runner.

"Whenever you are in a race there are going to be winners and losers. In this case, we are the losers, but I think in a competition when people are in a competitive event, although we look at the winners as winners, we can't forget that the losers had some good qualities," he said. "Even though we lost, once again we had the opportunity to see how democracy works and to see that it does work."

Young also warned residents to keep an eye on that democracy, saying, "Our key responsibility is to keep the administration in remembrance of what they were running for."

In addition, considering there were only 5,000 total votes cast from 18,800 registered voters in town, council candidate Susan Marcrie said that more people need to get involved and exercise their constitutional right.

"It directly affects them, voting. If they choose to remain silent, then they're not helping themselves by not coming to the polls and voting," she said, adding that the entire campaign process was a great, enjoyable experience.

The council will hold a reorganization meeting in January. At that point, Womack, Andrews and Nicola will begin their next terms.