Nine seeking three seats
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
UPPER TOWNSHIP — Lenora Boninfante Kodytek and Shawna Mulford are calling on all candidates running for positions on Upper Township Committee to participate in a candidates forum to discuss issues affecting the township.
Three seats are up on the five-member, all-Republican committee: two three-year terms and one one-year unexpired term. There are nine candidates in all seeking positions
Mulford is seeking the unexpired term. Fellow Democrats Boninfante and Cricket Denton are seeking the three-year terms.
Republican Committeewoman Kim Hayes is seeking election to a full term after being appointed to replace Committeeman Hobie Young, who stepped down after an outcry over social media posts including altered images of Kamala Harris, then a candidate and now the vice president. The posts were widely decried as misogynist, including by Mayor Rich Palombo and other members of Township Committee. Young later sought to rescind his resignation, but committee members held the resignation was valid and appointed Hayes.
Joining Hayes is Mark Pancoast, who is running for the year remaining on Young’s term.
Palombo, whose term is up, is not seeking re-election. Likewise, longtime running mate Ed Barr also decided against seeking office. Former committee member Jay Newman, chief of the Marmora Volunteer Fire Company, has replaced him on the ticket.
A whole different slate of candidates – calling themselves “independent Republicans – also is seeking the three seats. Andrew Shawl, Anthony Inserra and Jack Griffin Jr. have announced that they are running as well.
“For too long the people in power have avoided explaining to the people of Upper Township how they plan to tackle the issues facing all of us,” Democrats Mulford and Boninfante Kodytek stated in a news release. “They can run but they can no longer hide. We intend to provide real remedies for the issues affecting us all and challenge our opponents to do the same.”
According to the release, the issues they hope to debate include:
— Property taxes and user fees
— Vacant store fronts
— Summer traffic and problems that accompany it
— Recreational opportunities for children, families and seniors
— Transparency in local government
“To date, the incumbent slate of candidates has failed to address any of these issues, instead issuing partisan attacks on issues irrelevant to this election because they are beyond the control of the Township Committee,” the release states. “The other slate of candidates has also been silent, with the only issue they have raised being the premature placing of a handful of campaign lawn signs. The people of Upper Township deserve better.”
The candidates want the Upper Township Business Association, Cape May County League of Women Voters or a local news organization to host a candidates forum.
The election is Nov. 2.
