Troyer will join local businessman Sal Barone on an independent ticket challenging Democratic incumbents in the 2nd and 3rd wards in November.
As independents, the two had until the regular election primary day - June 6 - to file for November. They will run against two Democrats for the seats.
Troyer, who is in the second year of a three-year term on the Board of Education, previously ran for mayor in 1999, and served a five-year stint as a commissioner on the Secaucus Housing Authority.
Barone, who is a founding member of the Plaza Center Business Association, ran for council last in 1993.
Troyer will face incumbent Democratic Councilman Robert Kickey and Barone will face incumbent councilman Michael Grecco.
No challenger filed in the 3rd Ward against Incumbent Democratic Councilman Fred Constantino - although rumor had supported the theory that former Board of Education President Paul Amico would seek that seat.
Freedom to choose?
Barone, during a telephone interview, said that he had decided to run because he saw no other candidates running.
"My campaign is emphasizing peoples freedom to choose," he said. "I'm not saying anybody did a bad job in office, but I am saying that the time is ripe for a change and that people should have another name on the ballot to choose from."
Barone said he is seeking to get people to come out to vote.
"I took a look at the last school board election and last year's council race, and saw the same thing happening this year," Barone said.
In this year's school board election, three people ran for three seats. Last year's council had only one of three council seats challenged, with no one running against Incumbent Mayor Dennis Elwell.
"I did not expect to run; I was not forced to run, it was a conscious decision," Barone said, noting that he is running alone, and not part of an independent party.
"In 1993, I ran with the Secaucus Independent Alliance," he said. "This year I'm not on any ticket."
Barone lost his 1993 bid to then Councilman Robert Campanella.
"I was poised to run again in 1994, but I was dumped from the ticket," he said. "That left a bitter taste in my mouth for politics. I wanted to run again, but wasn't allowed to."
Adding yet another twist is the fact that he is running against Grecco, against whom he would have run in 1994.
"I had the momentum and I would have won against Grecco," Barone said.
Ironically, Barone filed to run on the same week as the town put the finishing touches on reconstructing parking in the Plaza. In 1993, restoring parking to an area between Humboldt Street and Irving Place had been central to his campaign.
Troyer makes his move
Troyer claims to have debated whether or not to run for the council, although some residents believe he had always intended to use his successful 2001 Board of Education campaign as a springboard to the council. Troyer did admit that he had been approached several times to run for council, but that he would not run unless drafted into the campaign. Troyer said other people collected petition signatures qualifying him for the election.
Troyer has been at odds various elements of the Town Council for years, but over the last year, has clashed with the council over the town's effort to sell one-time Board of Education property to New Jersey Transit to connect tracks for Allied Junction, and the alleged effort of the town to impose a politically-connected insurance broker onto the board.
"I didn't abandon the Board of Education," he said. "I'm not using it as a springboard to get to the council. I just think that I can be more effective on the council, if I am elected."
Troyer, who is notorious for his political moves - such as writing in his own name in the 1999 Republican primary for mayor to qualify himself as a candidate in November - said this move was part of his effort to better serve the public and to follow up on many of the issues he raised while on the Board of Education.
This isn't a ticket
Independent Councilman John Bueckner, who ran for a four-year term last year and won, said Barone and Troyer are not part of an independent ticket.
"This isn't a Bueckner-run ticket," he said. "If people want to run as independents, I wholeheartedly support them. But it was never my intention to run a ticket."
Bueckner, because of his position as a councilman, is sometimes believed to head an Independent party in Secaucus, something he claims does not exist. Bueckner and Barone are both former members of the Secaucus Independents Alliance, which largely ceased to exist in 1999 when current Mayor Dennis Elwell left it to run for office as a Democrat.
Post a Comment