GOP: Recount likely in E.B. council race
BY VINCENT TODARO
Staff Writer

EAST BRUNSWICK - Following a Township Council race in which the final seat was decided by 20 votes, the Republican Party will soon decide whether to ask for a recount.

Party Chairman Charlie Bruno said last weekend that a recount is likely, but that the East Brunswick Republican Committee still had to review and approve the idea.

"I would think by the end of the week the committee will have a pretty good idea," he said.

The committee was expected to meet tonight to discuss the issue.

Three Township Council seats were available in the Nov. 7 election, and Democratic council incumbents David Stahl and Catherine Diem both won new terms, with more than 600 votes separating each of them from the rest of the pack in the six-way race.

Democrat Edward Luster was elected over Republican Suzanne Blum in a 19-vote margin, at 6,426 to 6,407.

The figures include absentee ballots, which widened what had been a six-vote difference between Luster and Blum's tallies after the initial count on election night.

Blum, who favors the idea of a recount, said that historically, provisional ballots have provided false results in certain races. When inspected more closely, it was found that many of those who cast provisional ballots did so incorrectly, thus nullifying the votes. This could occur if someone voted in the wrong district, for example, or was not supposed to vote in the township, she said.

Bruno could not recall the GOP asking for a recount in East Brunswick, though there was one close race where it was considered. That time, however, the difference was closer to 200 votes, he said.

Bruno said a recount would examine provisional ballots as well as absentees.

After a period in the early and mid-1990s when the Republicans had a strong presence in East Brunswick government, the party has had difficulty gaining representation. The GOP was able to get Christi Calvano elected to what had been an all-Democrat council in 2002, but the Republicans have been swept by the Democrats in both elections since. Calvano, defeated in a mayoral race by Democrat incumbent William Neary in 2004, did not seek re-election to the council this year.

Republican Robert Tagliente, who garnered 6,249 votes last week in his second bid for council, said the GOP may still be able to affect the political process. While he supports a recount, he said that otherwise his party still has a duty to speak up on township issues.

Bruno noted however that the Republicans will be somewhat limited to public sessions at township meetings and writing letters to newspapers.