A record 130 petitions filed in Clerk's office by deadline

City Clerk 'AJ' Jalloh had everything under control as the deadline passed.

 
All was calm and quiet in the Plainfield Municipal Clerk's office at 4:00 PM Monday, filing deadline for the June primary election.

Clerk 'AJ' Jalloh was smiling as he filed away the last of the 130 petitions received into their neat grey expandable envelopes. The tally is the largest ever filed, with a full slate of 68 candidates put up by the RDO under chairman Jerry Green, though an eyeballing of the list suggested more than a few were just 'fillers'.

New Democrats chairperson Adrian Mapp filed 55 petitions for city committee seats. The political club's previous high mark was candidates for 46 seats in 2003, under the late Mayor Al McWilliams.

Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs' confidential aide, Barbara James, had originally filed to run solo in the 1-4 female slot, but withdrew that petition to run in tandem with PMUA commissioner Eugene Dudley on Green's slate.

In 2-8, incumbent New Dem committee reps Rick and Belinda Smiley will face Jim Spear and Gloria Henriques who are running on the tag 'Independent Democrats'.

As for the Council seats that are up, newcomer Delois 'Dee' Dameron filed to run for the 1/4 at-large seat with incumbent Cory Storch who seeks a third term in the Ward 2 slot.

Facing off against Storch is Assemblyman Green's handpicked candidate Tony Rucker. Attorney and longtime Planning Board member Bill Michelson will run unopposed on the Republican primary line. Mayor Robinson-Briggs' friend Danielle Bush, who made a presentation at last week's PDCC meeting and previously launched a campaign website at Bush For Plainfield, did not file a petition by the deadline.

Dameron will face longtime 4th Ward resident Vera Greaves, who was handpicked by chairman Jerry Green to fill the vacancy created by Councilor Linda Carter's election as a Freeholder.

The number of June primary filings contrast sharply with the Board of Ed race, where incumbent Lenny Cathcart is running for re-election against a slate of three newcomers for three open seats in the April 27 election.

Away from the local races, a Plainfielder made news in the legislative races.

Mayor Robinson-Briggs' friend the Rev. Shannon Wright, intended to run on the GOP line in the District 22 primary, which would pit her against Assemblyman Green's legislative teammate Sen. Nick Scutari in the November general election.

As reported by PolitickerNJ (see here), there was just one small fly in the ointment -- her signatures were on petitions for the ASSEMBLY seat. She said she would rectify the situation before the 4:00 PM Tuesday deadline, but there is no word whether that ever happened.

Originally appointed by Robinson-Briggs to the Youth Commission, of which nothing has been heard for some time, Rev. Wright had filed to run as a Democrat in the 2009 gubernatorial race, but withdrew citing family matters. Before that she was Franklin mayor Brian Levine's campaign manager in his bid for the 2009 GOP gubernatorial line.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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