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.