Frabjous Times

new_jersey government politics Dumont

Dumont gone Democratic

In an election day with only a light turnout (despite the gubernatorial contest), the three Democratic candidates for borough office all won election to two open Council seats and the Mayor post. When they are sworn in, the entire leadership in town will be in Democratic hands, a complete turnaround from when we first moved here in 1996 when every post was filled by a Republican and had been for quite some time. The new officials will be taking on a big task of putting the town’s finances back in order after the scandals uncovered, even with the loan from the State which is coming over the next few years. Already the public library was forced to cut staff and hours because of the problems with the budget, and other services are undoubtedly feeling the pinch too.
The campaign seemed to me to be relatively free of rancor, somehow, unlike some of the hubbub that erupted in the neighboring borough of Bergenfield which also has had a fiscal crisis erupt recently. We’ll have to see how quickly this period of relative amity shows signs of evaporating here.
I will leave it to real pundits to analyze the larger races around the country this off-year, but just mention that it seems to be a hard time to be a right-winger at the moment. Maybe it’s just a blip, but maybe it’s really the sign of a pendulum swinging.
Originally published: 2005/11/08 22:50:37
Previously published: Tue Nov 8 22:51:50 2005