Thursday, November 29, 2012
With all the votes counted, the Kids First candidates have officially won the school board elections.
Mail in ballots and provisionals have not altered the outcome of the elections on November 6. This means that the three Kids First candidates — Tom Kluepfel, Jean Marie Mitchell and incumbent Ruth McAllister — have secured their seats on the board, guaranteeing the slate's super majority on the board. The total results, according to the Hudson County Board of Elections, are as follows: Kluepfel: 4,259 votes Mitchell: 4,097 votes McAllister: 4,216 votes The Move Forward candidates — the opposing ticket made up of Anthony Oland, Elizabeth Markevitch and Felice Vazquez — gained votes with the mail in ballots, but enough to win. Oland: 3,499 votes Markevitch: 4,019 votes Vazquez: 3,481 votes. Independent candidate Patricia Waiters got 1,284 …
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
After counting the nearly 18,000 vote by mail ballots, the three Kids First candidates are still in the lead. Provisional votes are yet to be counted.
After counting Hoboken's vote by mail ballots, the three Kids First school board candidates — Tom Kluepfel, Jean Marie Mitchell and Ruth McAllister — continue to hold a lead over Anthony Oland, Liz Markevitch and Felice Vazquez, their Move Forward adversaries. Hudson County Board of Elections clerk Michael Harper released the new numbers on Tuesday. The lead, however, is small in some cases. Mitchell, for example, holds only a 6-vote lead over Markevitch. Including the vote by mail ballots, these are the new tallies: Kleupfel: 3,979 votes; McAllister: 3,972 votes; Mitchell: 3,817 votes. On election day, Kluepfel earned a total of 3,426 votes, Mitchell received 3,223 votes and McAllister took 3,498 votes. The new Move Forward vote count is…
Friday, October 26, 2012
Seven school board candidates are fighting for three open seats on the board of education.
The seven candidates running for Hoboken’s board of education in the November 6 elections, all tried to convey their passion, experience and insights into the district on Thursday night during a roughly two-hour forum at the Demarest auditorium. While attendance from the public was scarce—roughly 60 people attended the debate, the vast majority of whom are already involved in local politics or hold elected office in town—the atmosphere was just as serious. Questions for the candidates were submitted by the audience members, much like in previous years, and the night was moderated by Bob Bowdon. The Move Forward candidates—Anthony Oland, Elizabeth Markevitch and Felice Vazquez—spent much of the time pointing out the weaknesses of the …
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Box truck turned into roving, swastika-laden, multimedia political ad; parks outside Council meeting
A Nazi flag suspended over a urinal by a fishhook is one of the images in a rolling, anonymous, multimedia political attack ad that's shown up at Hoboken public meetings twice this week. The campaign features a rented box truck ringed with 82-inch HDTVs, each cycling through images as a man's voice narrates. Another image -- published on a blog by Zoning Board member Nancy Pincus -- includes Councilwoman Beth Mason in a spoof on the original film poster for "Triumph des Willens," a 1934 Nazi propaganda film, which reads "triumph des schillens." Pincus first published the graphic in November 2010. In response, Lane Bajardi — a former frequenter of Council meetings — juxtaposed it next to the original movie poster and heavily criticized …
Monday, September 24, 2012
It's election season in Hoboken. Kids First kicked off its campaign on Saturday.
The Kids First school board candidates kicked off their campaign this weekend in anticipation of the November 6 elections. These are the first elections since the Hoboken Board of Education voted to move the elections from April to November. Jean Marie Mitchell, who served on the BoE once before, Tom Kluepfel—one of the founders of the Elysian Charter School—and sitting board member Ruth McAllister. More than 70 people, including many Hoboken notables and sitting Kids First school board members. Council members Jennifer Giattino, Carol Marsh and Peter Cunningham also attended the event. Kluepfel initally ran as an independent, but joined the Kids First ticket after sitting school board member Theresa Minutillo announced that she would …
Monday, August 13, 2012
School Board member Theresa Minutillo has decided not to seek another term.
Kids First announced its new slate for the School Board elections in November on Monday morning, according to a press release from school board member Ruth McAllister. Tom Kluepfel—one of the founders of the Elysian Charter School and the parent of a Hoboken High student—will run on the Kids First ticket. Minutillo, whose term was also up and who had been planning to run as of June, will not seek another term. As of June, Kluepfel was planning to run independently. Now, he has been added to the Kids First ticket. "Although I was saddened to hear that long time friend and colleague Theresa Minutillo decided not to seek re-election, I fully understand the need for her to take this time and focus on her family and career," McAllister …
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
"I just thought it was time to go," Maureen Sullivan said.
After serving one term on the Hoboken School Board, Maureen Sullivan has decided she will not run for reelection. "I just thought it was time to go," Sullivan said. "I don't think the School Board is something people should stay on forever." The next school board elections will be held on election day in November. Sullivan first announced her resignation from the board in a letter in the Hudson Reporter, where she endorsed Liz Markevitch, who will be running for the open seat. Markevitch also ran for school board in 2010, on the Real Results slate. Sullivan was elected to the board for the first time in 2009 when she ran with Kids First members Ruth McAllister and Theresa Minutillo. Both are up for reelection. Sullivan broke with the …
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
It was a passionate Valentine's Day meeting on Tuesday night, with many members of the public and the school board losing their cool.
Hoboken will be choosing its School Board representatives in November from now on. In an extremely heated meeting on Tuesday night—following yelling, screaming, threats and near fights—the measure to move school board elections from April to November passed in a 5-4 vote. "I can’t possibly vote to extend my own term," said Board Member Maureen Sullivan, who voted against the measure together with colleagues Peter Biancamano, Frances Rhodes Kearns and Carmelo Garcia. Sullivan's term is up this year, as is Ruth McAllister's and Theresa Minutillo's. One of the opponents' issues with the move, is that the public won't be able to vote on the school budget anymore. Hoboken is currently a minimum levy district, which means that, even if voted…
Friday, February 10, 2012
A resolution will be presented at Tuesday's meeting.
The Hoboken Board of Education will vote on a resolution on Tuesday night that will propose to move the annual school board elections from April to November. The board's governance and personnel committee decided to put a resolution on the agenda, said the committee's chair Theresa Minutillo in a phone interview on Thursday. Minutillo as well as fellow board member Irene Sobolov said they believe the move will increase voter participation. "It's an idea I support," Minutillo said about moving the elections. Last month, Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill into effect, giving municipalities the authority to move elections if they want to. Last time the board of education extended voting hours on election day, but still turn out was low. …
Monday, April 25, 2011
Another look at the candidates and their ELEC reports.
UPDATED—Tuesday 2:21 p.m. On Wednesday, Hoboken will pick three new members for the Board of Education. The race is between two slates—Kids First and Independents for Education—and independent candidate Patricia Waiters. The terms are unpaid and for three years. With only one day to go until the election, Waiters hasn't filed any reports with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), a requirement for political candidates in New Jersey. Independents for Education—made up of incumbents Carmelo Garcia and Frances Rhodes Kearns—have filed a certificate of organization on April 13, naming Hobokenite and former Board of Education candidate Frank Raia the chairperson and Nicole Bryan as treasurer. Although the The Independents …
Ojo Rojo
12:44 pm on Friday, November 30, 2012
The winners in 2010 got something like 1,500 votes each. The winners in 2011 got closer to 1900 I believe. This election the winners got over 4,000 votes. more ›