By John Burton
RED BANK – Council President Cindy Burnham will be seeking re-election on the governing body in November – but not as a Republican.
“After pondering it,” and suffering the rejection of the party municipal committee on Sunday, Burnham said, “I’m going to run as an independent,” for her second three-year term on the borough council.
The municipal committee selected Brian Hanlon and Kellie O’Bosky Colwell to appear on the ballot for the primary and likely the general election for the two seats up this year among the six-member governing body.
Hanlon works in the financial sector in a Red Bank office; Colwell is a local artist, according to Sean Di Somma, the GOP municipal chair.
Democrats had recently announced their candidates, multi-term Incumbent Kathy Horgan and Erik Yngstrom, a lawyer.
In the selections and omission Di Somma said “I think the committee made a decision based upon what was best for Red Bank.”
“I was very disappointed but not surprised,” by the outcome, Burnham said, given her increasingly contentious relationship with both Di Somma and her GOP council colleagues.
She said she felt “betrayed” by the other three Republican council members who failed to rally behind her, after her meeting with committee members on Sunday, seeking their support, Burnham said.
“I feel I got those people elected,” ushering in the first Republican majority on the governing body in more than two decades, she maintained.
The other Republican councilmembers are Linda Schwabenbauer, Mark Taylor and Michael Whelan.
During her tenure on the council—and even before—Burnham has long been at odds with Democrats and more recently with Republicans over a variety of issues. “Since I’ve been on the council I’ve been the ‘no’ vote for the last three years,” opposing a number of issues she felt wasn’t in the community’s best interest, “stopping wasteful spending and preventing developers to get over Red Bank residents.”
But her blanket opposition has been an issue for Republicans and an impediment to improvements, Di Somma countered. “Cindy has shown for the last three years she has a backward vision at a time when we’re facing a lot of competition from other towns,” he said.
Burnham will shortly file her petition as an independent for the November ballot with the county clerk of elections.
Read the complete story in this week’s The Two River Times, on newsstands Thursday.
