Eight Candidates Will Run on Tuesday for Four At-Large Seats

On Election Day, Woodbridge voters will have their choice of eight candidates to fill the four at-large council seats that are up for grabs. The four incumbents running for the council slots - Kyle Anderson, James Carroll, Gregg Ficarra, and Brenda Yori Velasco - are all Democrats. Three of the four have been elected to their council seats, and in the case of Carroll and Yori Velasco, they've served for many years.

Anderson was appointed in January to fill the open seat left by former Councilwoman Patricia Osborne when she resigned last year.

The Republican challengers they face - Eduardo Ascolese, Walter Kaczmarek, Debra Reinhart, and Susan Boros - are newcomers to the political scene. Three of the four candidates who are on the Republican line ran against a primary ticket headed by Councilman Bob Luban, the only Republican currently sitting on the township council. 

Luban lost his primary fight to Christopher Struben, who will face Mayor John McCormac on Tuesday in the mayoral race. Three of Struben's four council running mates won. Susan Boros, who ran with Luban in the primary, was one of the top vote getters and is running for an at-large council seat with the Struben slate winners on the Republican line.

The Republican Party in Woodbridge made an effort to regroup after the primary, but the fractures are still apparent. The Struben team campaigned almost completely on their own, while Boros has held her own fundraisers minus the other Republican candidates. The Struben slate has their own website without Boros, who in turn has her own Internet site without mention of the other Republican candidates.

At-large council members serve for a four-year term, and unlike ward councilmen, they represent the entire township.

Council At-Large (four-year term)

Kyle Anderson 

Party: Democrat (Incumbent)
Age: 43
Resides: Woodbridge Proper
Occupation: executive representative for Johnson & Johnson

Anderson was appointed to fill the term of Patricia Osborne, the at-large councilwoman who resigned last year.

"I'm most proud of the job bank. I've added companies to it, I've helped people successfully get work. I'm still adding [companies] to that. I'd like to strengthen our downtown districts, and by bringing in solid companies, that will attract people to those areas and help bring in jobs. 

"I've had a lot of involvement with the youth in town. I'd like to bring seniors and the youth together; the kids can benefit from being with the seniors. I think that's something thing that all kids need to experience. I support interactive programs through church or schools where kids can learn about the seniors' experience, and the seniors can learn from the kids.

"I'd like to expand the job bank, to include hiring tips, and a resume builder for people who want to look for a job. I'd like to steamline the relationship between youth sports programs with our high schools. My son, Kyle, plays at the high school [Kyle Anderson is the Woodbridge High School football quarterback.] A direct link to the high school will build school spirit and foster the relationship between high school coaches and the kids in the community.

"I'd like to help people explore more with family values. We have family nights at the health center and the community center. We sponsored the drive-in movie theatre, I was proud of that. That was on my agenda. There are things we can do to keep people in Woodbridge. There's a lot to do here, in the parks, the recreation dept. It's like a 'staycation'. Gas prices are high. It's good for families to have fun here and do things to entertain their families."

Eduardo Ascolese

Party: Republican
Age: 24
Resides: Iselin
Occupation: Restaurant manager

"This is my first run for office. We need change, our taxes keep going up, and so does our debt. There's no fiscal responsibility whatsoever. There are no checks or balances when you have one party rule on the council.

"I don't know how the council thinks a $2 million skateboard park in colonia is a smart thing to do when people in Woodbridge can't put food on the table. The reason everyone comes to New Jersey is because of the jobs, and now people are going elsewhere because they can't afford to live here. 

"McCormac was a part of all this, from when he worked under McGreevey in Woodbridge and when he was state treasurer. We're sick and fed up with the 'mayor for life.' I don't have a family, I'm fortunate. As I've been campaigning, so many families are telling me that the breadwinner has been out of work for a year, and still McCormac keeps raising our taxes.  

"We took out a mortgage on solar panels to pay for them over 30 years, and they only last 15 years - how does that make any sense? The township won't say how much money we make off them if we sell the energy they collect. This is insanity.

"We need to make jobs, and use the E-verify system to make sure that workers of anyone who is hired are legally entitled to work in the United States. We have to make sure jobs go to Americans. We can't have Americans getting paid $3 an hour and still hope they pay their mortgages. How can the middle class support themselves on low wages? 

"Our taxes and debt is up 15 percent since McCormac's been in office. He acts like he's living in a utopia when the rest of the country in a severe recession."

Susan Boros

Party: Republican 
Age: 47
Resides: Fords
Occupation: telephone services supervisor for the Newark public school system; children's book author

"A lot of people say they are going to run, and then say they don't have time. I don't have time, either, but I don't have time to not try with the way things are going in Woodbridge.

"I'm the only choice for Woodbridge.  I manage a $2.5 million budget in the Newark school system. I'm a cheapskate. I don't blow my budget. I'm the one who fights with Verizon over a $20 phone call to Portugal. I treat the taxpayers money in my job the way I treat my own money, like it's the last $20 I've got. That is the kind of council members we need.

"The township thinks they can run us over. They say they represent us, but until I started going to meetings, they never contacted me about how I felt about things. I got tired of it. I got tired of being nickeled and dimed. I haven't had a raise in years. When we get tax increases, where am I going to get this money from?

"I'm trying to do the right thing. I got the second highest number of votes for council, so I think people want me there. They think I can do something. Let's see what we can do together, and bring everyone's skin into the game. 

"We don't have the money for a skateboard club, we don't have the money for a snow melter, or solar panels. Town hall says don't worry about it. we don't know what's in those bonds that they keep getting to buy these toys. We're in tune for a lot of rainy days when you aren't fiscally responsible. 

"We sold Carteret two of our old garbage trucks, now they might use those trucks to pick up their own garbage. The garbage contract expired. Now they pick up their own trash. 

"We don't have manufacturing here, just retail and service, and that's not a place for people to build careers. When Halloween City opened, hundreds of people lined up for temporary work.

"I want to bring town hall to everyone who lives in Woodbridge. Let's see what kind of a difference we can make together."

James V. Carroll

Party: Democrat (Incumbent)
Age: 64
Resides: Fords
Occupation: retired director of systems at Metropolitan Life for 30 years

Carroll has served four terms on the council.

"It was nice to continue the initiative to cut down on illegal housing and engage in efforts to redevelopment areas and bring in more ratables to the town. I'm proud we were able to reduce the number of employees in town without laying anyone off; the reductions was accomplished through transfers and attrition. We were able to redeploy some employees by moving them into other positions. We tried to do the best we could without laying anyone off. 

"I'm proud I'm a liaison with the Board of Education; we have a good relationship with the BOE. I serve on an advisory committee to work with businesses who help the schools. They've been a big help; for example, the new laboratory at Woodbridge High was paid for by Hess [Corporation]. We're working hard at that. It helps the education system, and the taxpayers aren't paying for it.

"We want to continue down this road. As the economy gets better, and we hope it will, we'll have a headstart on other municipalities. When businesses start to grow, they'll think to come to Woodbridge to do a lot of redevelopment. We're making ourselves more attractive to companies who want to expand or come into Woodbridge."

Gregg M. Ficarra

Party: Democrat (Incumbent)
Age: 56
Resides: Woodbridge Proper
Occupation: School administrator of Perth Amboy public schools in charge of health, physical education and nursing

"I'm in my fifth year on the council. I've worked on personally on the whole wellness issue in our town, on everything from improving local parks, awareness of living a healthy lifestyle, and how it would help us reduce healthcare costs. This helps the environment because by not using cars, we cut back on the need for gasoline. Health issues and green issues all kind of comes together. 

"I'm also very happy about what we [Democrats] have worked on as a team. Consolidating trash collection and single stream recycling goes hand in hand with green issues. We have shared services; we've done well with that with the schools and sharing services with other towns. That's a trend and we'd like to expand on that. The ability to find where we can expand shared services will keep costs down. We're also trying to attract businesses in the town.

"To continue on with wellness issues, we want to create safe areas for walking and biking, such as by connecting parks one to the other in a safe manner. We've had success with some of these things, and we want to build upon that."

Walter P. Kaczmarek, Jr.

Party: Republican
Age: 63
Resides: Woodbridge
Occupation:  Retired sheetmetal worker. Former Marine Corps marksmanship instructor at Quantico.

"I was with the Marine Corps during Vietnam. I earned the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts, and the Cross of Gallantry for service in Vietnam, where I was almost fatally wounded [Kaczmarek replaced the North Vietnamese flag with the American flag during the Tet Offensive, and became a nationwide hero for his actions.] 

"In Woodbridge, I think it's time for a change. I see too much cliquishness and nepotism in government. It's a good old boy network in Woodbridge, and it's gone on for too long. 

"I'd like to see people who work for the town hold one job; one person, one job. We have people in town hall holding three jobs and collecting three salaries. I'd like to see the council be more responsive to the citizens, to put aside service to the party and put the people first. Taxes are high, and we're bending under the weight of reckless spending. The council, everything is so cut and dried and done. It seems that all the decisions are made ahead of time, and taking a vote is just a formality. 

"I was the first person to be elected as the commander of two veterans groups in New Jersey. Service is my thing. I like to help people. I'd love to have a chance to do that on the council."

Debra Reinhart

Party: Republican
Age: 48
Resides: Fords
Occupation: substitute school teacher

"I hope to change the debt problem in the township. I took an idea to the mayor two months ago, and now they're working on it. 

"I'm also the least political person I know. I went to my first school board meeting ever last February. I was angry and outraged at the school board because of the outrageous spending, so I decided to run for school board myself. I had no organization and just my kids to help, and I only lost by 82 votes on a budget of $400.

"I have six kids, two who are in college, and I'm a single mother. I can't afford the taxes in Woodbridge anymore. I need to fix the problem myself. I'm the daughter of a brigadere general, so I just address problems that need to be fixed, and I fix them. "One example of why our spending is so crazy is that we spend between $5 million and $6 million for 189 kids who are diagnosed along the autism spectrum to be educated, and we send them out of Woodbridge to be schooled. Autism is up 600 percent in the last 10 years, and two-thirds of our property taxes is spent through the schools.

"My idea was to take the $4 million from the school board budget that [Schools Superintendent] Dr. Crowe is holding onto, and use it to renovate one of our school buildings that's being used for storage and turn it into a school to educate the autistic children we sent out of our district. We can get that state money and use it here. That will save Woodbridge taxpayers millions of dollars over the years in out-of-district tuition and the expense of busing. That idea is now being worked on in town.

"I'm willing to think outside the box to save money. [Politicians] been in office too long, and they don't think of ways to save money. My kids won't be able to afford to live in Woodbridge when they grow up, and they love it here. Something has to be done to change it."

Brenda Yori Velasco,

Party: Democrat (Incumbent)
Age: 67
Resides: Colonia
Occupation: Retired, educator for 33 years

"I've been on the council for 15 years.

"I can't wait until we get the DEP permits for the Sucker Brook for permission to dredge it and stop the flooding in the area. We're launching a massive campaign for the first time ever to create the Woodbridge historical museum. I get a great deal of satisfaction in helping seniors and the disabled in Tooling Around the Township for years. The promotion of the arts throughout Woodbridge, and the oral history project, is important, and we will be getting a local history archive in the main library. It'll be easier to access everything online or in the library room now. 

"With veterans, we launched the sale of veterans pins, and we raised over $17,000. We've been doing this since 1997. Most of the money has gone to the veterans home in Menlo Park. I'm really excited about a Taste of Colonia [restaurant event] that is coming up. The promotion and the revitalization of our various downtown business districts is really important. I'm also proud that the Colonia Country Club won't be developed. The preservation of open space is so important, and the mayor took the initiative on that."