Election Results a Surprise for Some

A day after a new Democratic mayor was elected in Madison, some of the borough’s key political figures expressed their surprise with the results.

Jerry Stevenson, chair of the Madison Republican Committee, was among those surprised that incumbent mayor Mary-Anna Holden lost her bid for re-election to Democrat and former councilman Bob Conley.

“As far as the mayor’s race, we thought that we would win that and we were surprised,” Stevenson said.

It’s a tough loss for Holden, who was instrumental in accomplishing a number of projects in Madison during her four years as mayor. Those projects include constructing the borough’s Public Safety building, renovating the Hartley Dodge Memorial building, and the enacting of a plan to install two artificial turf fields for recreational purposes in the borough.

Stevenson had nothing but praise for the mayor, who he termed the “second-best mayor that ever served this town” next to Betty Baumgartner, a Democrat who served from 1980-88.

“I was not that actively involved following her first couple of terms on council, but she has served as the mayor for the past four years, and she has been truly outstanding,” Stevenson said.

Despite her defeat last night, Holden briefly stated on Wednesday that she is committed to finishing out her term, and will offer a retrospective on her time as mayor at a later date.

“(I have) much more to do in the last two months. I'll have a statement, as per tradition, at my last council meeting,” she said. “This is just another day in paradise.”

One thing that did not surprise the borough’s Republicans was the result of the borough council election. One of the two Democrats running for borough council, Carmela Vitale, edged out Republican Martin Barbato to win a seat on the council starting in January.

“We knew that the council race that was a three-way horse race between Barbato, (Republican Bob) Landrigan and Vitale,” Stevenson said. “It could have been both of ours, or it could have been Vitale (and one of ours). We just knew that one was very tight.”

It turned out being a very good night for the Democrats, despite having council candidate Bob McDowell finish last in the race between himself, Barbato, Vitale and Landrigan, who was the other winner.

Despite his loss, McDowell appears committed to staying involved in Madison’s political landscape, especially when it comes to aiding transparency as it relates to the borough’s finances.

“One of the things I was very interested in is to see if there could be some kind of a forum developed that would put more of the town’s planning and financial info clearly available on the website. If there’s an opportunity to do that, I would love to work with that,” McDowell said. “I think there’s a wild misconception about the money we do have at any point, and how much we’re spending at any point. If you look at the website, you can’t find that.”

The borough’s annual budget is posted on its website. However, McDowell would like for residents to be able to check in regularly on the borough’s finances.

“The annual budget is the only thing that comes out, and that’s just a bunch of numbers governments are supposed to live by for a year,” McDowell said. “It doesn’t tell you where we are at any given point in time.”

As for the Republicans, the long-term focus shifts to 2012. The council seats of Vincent Esposito and Donald Links expire at the conclusion of next year, and the Republicans would like to retain those council seats in order to prevent losing any more ground to the Democratic party.

“We will be working very hard to ensure that we hold on to those two council seats, so the council remains with five Republicans and one Democrat,” Stevenson said.