Despite Armady's overwhelming victory, Chairman Mapp has great cause for concern

Citywide at-large candidates Elton Armady (l) and Ron
Johnson (r) at the LWV Candidate Forum.
Though Armady trounced Johnson, Chairman Mapp
has great cause for concern.

Far from being the raging prairie fire his supporters hoped for, the campaign of Independent Ron Johnson against the Democratic Party choice of Elton Armady for the citywide at-large seat reminded me more of a man going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. (Excuse the mixed metaphors, please.)

Chairman Adrian O. Mapp may be justly satisfied at the outcome: Armady scored 7,788 votes to Johnson's 1,829 or 81% to 19%. But at the same time he should be greatly concerned.

As for Armady's victory, much of the credit goes to Donald Trump, the invisible face behind every ballot choice. As many have observed, New Jerseyans vented their frustration and anger at the President in the voting booth on election day.

Anyone not on that train got run over or left behind, which was Johnson's fate, though not at all his fault.

In this year of all years, being so locally focused as Johnson's campaign was doomed it from the moment it became clear to all that sending Trump a message was going to be on everybody's mind.

Hence the enhanced evidence of straight-ticket voting.

This does not mean at all that Armady outdid Johnson in campaigning.

The New Democrats -- with Rebecca Williams, Carol Bicket, Roni Taylor, Rick Smiley, and Frank and Liz Daversa in the lead -- long ago set a very high bar for door-knock canvassing, which any future candidate will have to struggle to even meet, let alone surpass.

Johnson failed to take a single one of Plainfield's 34 voting districts. In fact, he only broke the 100-bar in four districts -- all in the 2nd Ward: 2-6, 2-8, 2-9, and 2-10.

Let's take a closer look at the 2nd Ward (I will explain why later) --

Ward 2 Results - Citywide At-Large Seat
District	Total	Armady	%	Johnson	%
1	234	207	88%	27	12%
2	239	162	68%	77	32%
3	278	194	70%	84	30%
4	246	210	85%	36	15%
5	262	168	64%	94	36%
6	308	165	54%	143	46%
7	315	256	81%	59	19%
8	249	130	52%	119	48%
9	315	171	54%	144	46%
10	239	139	58%	100	42%
11	379	323	85%	56	15%
TOTAL	3,064	2,125	69%	939	31%

You will note even in his best district percentage-wise (48% in 2-8), Johnson did not break the 50% threshold; and his highest absolute number (143 in 2-6) only equaled 46% of that district's total.

Why go into such detail over the 2nd Ward?

Because it is an open secret that the 2nd Ward Democrats who have been alienated by Chairman Mapp were using Johnson's candidacy to test the waters for a potential run by one of their number (Sean McKenna) for the 2nd Ward seat currently held by Councilor Cory Storch, which is up in 2019.

Chairman Mapp has said that the 2nd Ward seat designation is Storch's once again "if he wants it."

But it should also be noted that Storch will have reached 16 years of service on the Council at the end of his current term -- the same number which turned out to be Liz Urquhart's undoing when the New Dems ran Rayland Van Blake against her, unseating the venerable councilwoman.

Notice should also be taken that Johnson's campaign team leadership included Jim Spear, Sean McKenna and Mary Burgwinkle.

As a matter of fact, Spear was Chairman Mapp's campaign manager in his successful 2017 mayoral run. Mary Burgwinkle has been the Plainfield Democratic City Committee (PDCC) treasurer ever since Mapp became chair of the PDCC. McKenna was appointed by Mapp to the Planning Board.

Their split with Chairman Mapp began this past Spring with the tussle over who should be Union County Dem chairperson after the late Assemblyman Jerry Green resigned: Sen. Nick Scutari or Fanwood Mayor Colleen Mahr.

Chairman Mapp thought to deliver the PDCC's 68 votes en bloc to Scutari. However, Burgwinkle, McKenna and others (though not Spear at the time) sided with Mahr.

In the throwdown, nearly one third of the PDCC voted for Mahr.

Could it have been otherwise?

I honestly think Mapp could have minimized the votes for Mahr if he had met with his PDCC Executive Committee and explained why a unified vote was important. But he did not. (Consensus-building, which admittedly is a tough slog, is not one of his strong suits.)

The wedge only widened when it became public that Mayor Mapp, on his own initiative, had amended the petition that City Council had forwarded to the Legislature concerning changes to Plainfield's special charter.

This move -- acknowledged publicly by the Mayor at a Council session and in a Courier interview -- was extra-legal. (The executive has no statutory authority to alter acts of the legislative body -- which the petition was -- even though the Council failed to protest this assault on its constitutional prerogatives.)

That is some of the history that has led us to this moment.

What needs to concern Chairman Mapp is the electoral scene in 2019.

Will McKenna run?

Will he and his supporters learn the necessary lessons from this 2018 "dry run" well enough to propel a 2019 McKenna candidacy to success?

What will Mapp do to either heal the breach or counter the threat?

How will Plainfield's Democratic Party fare amidst these swirling currents?

These are all important questions, and I will take them up in subsequent posts.

In the meantime, take a moment to catch your breath after the historic sweep of the House of Representatives on November 6.

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 -- Dan Damon [ follow ]

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