The May 11 election this year will be the first contested local election in 6 years.
The deadline has passed and 5 candidates have filed petitions to run for 2 seats up for grabs on the Mount Holly Town Council. This has the makings of becoming an interesting election to say the least. This will be the first contested May Municipal Election since 2004 when the High Street Political Machine backed an incumbent slate that won re-election. That year they used the power and money of the political machine to get re-elected and outspent their opponents 10-1 as the machine always does.
Mayor Jule Thiessen a 16 yr incumbent is running for is record 5th term and he has once again partnered with Brooke Tidswell a 12 yr incumbent who is running for his 4th term. They are running under the slogan “common sense and experience” the same slogan they used in 2006 when they ran unopposed. They definitely have an advantage and can be considered “favorites” because of their fundraising capabilities as long term incumbents. Look for more on this in a future post regarding where campaign funding really comes from. Thiessen and Tidswell are backed by the High Street Political Machine that has not lost an election in 20+ years.
Opposing them is Dwynne Belton of High Street. Belton is know for his involvement with the Mt. Holly Library and more recently as an advocate for the $34 Million school referendum.
Also opposing the incumbents is a surprise third slate of candidates. Richard Dow and Christopher Sorhaindo are running under the platform “People Not Politics”. Dow is a known for attending every meeting from School Board to Town Council to Freeholder meetings and frequently taking our elected officials to task. Dow was recently featured in The Courier Post as a community activist and described as a “Tax Hawk” for asking tough questions at public meetings about how our tax dollars are being spent. We don’t have much information on Sorhaindo but will post it as soon as we do.
We wish all candidates good luck, we hope they run clean campaigns and stick to the issues. Maybe the best candidates will win and not the ones that spend the most money.
*note Richard Dow is not the same Dow that ran for School Board in 2009. That was his son who is also named Rich Dow.
-Truth