Courier-Post Reports
COURIER-POST REPORTS:
Candidates in Winslow tied to party
Monday, April 17, 2006
By ERIK SCHWARTZ
Courier-Post Staff
WINSLOW
While all the candidates have declared they are nonpartisan, under the surface of Tuesday's school board election in Winslow runs a strong current of Democratic politics.
One slate is allied with Winslow Township Committeewoman Barbara Holcomb, the leader of the township Democrats, and the other with Vincent J. Borrelli, public safety director for the Delaware River Port Authority.
Holcomb's allies are running as Your Child's Future Starts Today, a candidates' committee that grew out of the winning efforts of the last two years by campaign organizations affiliated with Democrat Marie D. Lawrence, who, like Holcomb, represents Ward 3 on the Township Committee, and Patricia Parker, now the embattled school board president.
In 2004 and 2005, the campaigns successfully seated seven of the nine members on the Board of Education.
This year's slate -- Calvert Tolbert, Krista D. Ventura and Michael Salamone -- received about two-thirds of its nearly $2,700 in funding from Lawrence and Parker's allies in last year's election, Robert J. Bartolone, Robert K. Pupchik, Deborah Yanez and Kenneth Mims II, records show.
That committee raised about $16,400 last year. Much of it came from school district contractors, such as engineering firm Churchill P.C., auditor Bowman & Co. and solicitor Wade, Long, Wood & Kennedy L.L.C., records show.
Neither Holcomb nor Parker could be reached for comment.
The efforts of the past three years are linked, but Tuesday's slate is not seeking political power, said Lenora P. Mitchell, treasurer for Your Child's Future Starts Today. Mitchell, a teaching assistant at Winslow High School, is the mother of Anthony Mitchell, whom Holcomb recruited to run for the Township Committee seat she will vacate next year.
Lenora Mitchell said she got involved to improve the schools.
"I'm not part of the Democratic Party, per se," she said. "I just happened to like what the team I'm backing says. But I have nothing against what the other ones are saying either . . . I was looking for accountability, and I was looking for someone who was about the students, and at this point in the game that's where we have to go."
Parker, who is the target of both an ethics complaint by the district's assistant superintendent and a recall campaign by a group that includes a member of Borrelli's slate, has kept a low profile. But she does lend support and advice to her allies' campaign, Mitchell said.
Borrelli, himself a former school board member, is chairman of the Winslow Team, comprising former school board members Cheryl Pitts and Frank Mattia, and Jennifer Iuliucci-Morganti and Kristine Iannaco-Enochs.
Last year Borrelli attempted a political insurgence, running with about seven others for seats on the Winslow Township Democratic Committee. All of the candidates lost.
Still, Pitts, a Democrat who ran with Borrelli last year, doesn't consider Borrelli to be a politician.
"When looking at Mr. Borrelli, he holds no political position in the town whatsoever," she said. "Some people care enough to step up. And I would say Mr. Borrelli cared enough to step up."
Borrelli could not be reached for comment.
People who don't like either slate have their choice of three independents: incumbent John Tomasello, John Miller and Winslow Township Recreation Director Gordon P. Sunkett, a Democrat running on his own.
"As an independent . . . no one really gave me a snowball's chance," Sunkett said. "I'm showing that the little guy can make a difference. I'm really confident that we are going to be victorious."
On Tuesday, Winslow voters will elect four school board members out of 10 candidates.
Candidates in Winslow tied to party
Monday, April 17, 2006
By ERIK SCHWARTZ
Courier-Post Staff
WINSLOW
While all the candidates have declared they are nonpartisan, under the surface of Tuesday's school board election in Winslow runs a strong current of Democratic politics.
One slate is allied with Winslow Township Committeewoman Barbara Holcomb, the leader of the township Democrats, and the other with Vincent J. Borrelli, public safety director for the Delaware River Port Authority.
Holcomb's allies are running as Your Child's Future Starts Today, a candidates' committee that grew out of the winning efforts of the last two years by campaign organizations affiliated with Democrat Marie D. Lawrence, who, like Holcomb, represents Ward 3 on the Township Committee, and Patricia Parker, now the embattled school board president.
In 2004 and 2005, the campaigns successfully seated seven of the nine members on the Board of Education.
This year's slate -- Calvert Tolbert, Krista D. Ventura and Michael Salamone -- received about two-thirds of its nearly $2,700 in funding from Lawrence and Parker's allies in last year's election, Robert J. Bartolone, Robert K. Pupchik, Deborah Yanez and Kenneth Mims II, records show.
That committee raised about $16,400 last year. Much of it came from school district contractors, such as engineering firm Churchill P.C., auditor Bowman & Co. and solicitor Wade, Long, Wood & Kennedy L.L.C., records show.
Neither Holcomb nor Parker could be reached for comment.
The efforts of the past three years are linked, but Tuesday's slate is not seeking political power, said Lenora P. Mitchell, treasurer for Your Child's Future Starts Today. Mitchell, a teaching assistant at Winslow High School, is the mother of Anthony Mitchell, whom Holcomb recruited to run for the Township Committee seat she will vacate next year.
Lenora Mitchell said she got involved to improve the schools.
"I'm not part of the Democratic Party, per se," she said. "I just happened to like what the team I'm backing says. But I have nothing against what the other ones are saying either . . . I was looking for accountability, and I was looking for someone who was about the students, and at this point in the game that's where we have to go."
Parker, who is the target of both an ethics complaint by the district's assistant superintendent and a recall campaign by a group that includes a member of Borrelli's slate, has kept a low profile. But she does lend support and advice to her allies' campaign, Mitchell said.
Borrelli, himself a former school board member, is chairman of the Winslow Team, comprising former school board members Cheryl Pitts and Frank Mattia, and Jennifer Iuliucci-Morganti and Kristine Iannaco-Enochs.
Last year Borrelli attempted a political insurgence, running with about seven others for seats on the Winslow Township Democratic Committee. All of the candidates lost.
Still, Pitts, a Democrat who ran with Borrelli last year, doesn't consider Borrelli to be a politician.
"When looking at Mr. Borrelli, he holds no political position in the town whatsoever," she said. "Some people care enough to step up. And I would say Mr. Borrelli cared enough to step up."
Borrelli could not be reached for comment.
People who don't like either slate have their choice of three independents: incumbent John Tomasello, John Miller and Winslow Township Recreation Director Gordon P. Sunkett, a Democrat running on his own.
"As an independent . . . no one really gave me a snowball's chance," Sunkett said. "I'm showing that the little guy can make a difference. I'm really confident that we are going to be victorious."
On Tuesday, Winslow voters will elect four school board members out of 10 candidates.
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