Kafton And Team Win In A Landslide
By Lauren Puglisi
Posted Wednesday, May 14, 3:05 p.m., updated May 15, 9:53 a.m.
The votes are in, and it wasn’t even close.
The three open council seats on the Jackson Township Council will be going to Michael Kafton, Michael Reina, and Bobbi Rivere. The slate, who ran under the banner “The Right Team for Jackson," cruised to an easy 2-to-1 margin of victory.
Kafton and his slate walked to a landslide victory Tuesday over Councilwoman Emily Ingram and her running mates, Charles Garofano and Todd Porter, who ran under the banner of “Working Together for Jackson’s Future.
In 2006, Kafton lost to Mayor Mark Seda in Jackson’s first mayoral race, a three-way that also featured former mayor Sean Giblin. With Tuesday’s victory, Kafton’s slate takes control of the five-member council.
Reina, who is a former Planning Board member, received the most of votes at 4,028. Rivere received 3,945 votes and Kafton brought in 3,826 votes.
Change seemed to be the motivation of many of Jackson’s voters Tuesday when the unofficial results showed that Ingram, the lone incumbent in the race, received the lowest number of votes at 1,947, half the total of her competitors.
Among her running mates, Garofano received 2,186 votes while Porter followed with 2,021 votes.
When it comes to a winning the election, Reina said he looks at it as a victory not for himself but for all of Jackson.“Receiving the most votes is a humbling experience. I am still overwhelmed with the magnitude of events that have just occurred,” Reina said. “This is a win for all of the residents of this town. I hope the council pulls together because it is not about the past or one specific political party."
Rivere said she expected the votes to be close and thought it was amazing that almost every district in Jackson voted for her slate.“It feels wonderful to be elected into office because I really think that we can make a difference,” Rivere said. “I spoke with Mayor Seda last night and I told him I was looking forward to working with him and that’s the truth. I hope to move forward and undo some of the bad that has happened here in Jackson.”
Kafton has served as Mayor in 2003, Deputy Mayor in 2005 and as a committeeman for six years. He said the victory was gratifying.
"It is nice to know that people supported our slate event after hearing one of the worst personal attack campaigns in many years, I am glad people united and didn't care about the attacks made against us," Kafton said.
When it came to winning by such a landslide, Kafton said he knew people in Jackson were unhappy with the way things were being handled but didn't expect to win by such wide margins.
"I knew people were unhappy with the current administration for a long time,” he said, “but after hearing that our opponents spent so much money campaigning against us, using personal attacks, you can never know what the outcome will be."
Becoming a member of the council means working beside Seda. Kafton says he is prepared to do exactly that -- as long as Seda has the best interest of Jackson's taxpayers in mind.
"I have a lot of work ahead of me and I will always keep in mind what is best for residents. If Mayor Seda does not work for the best interest of the tax payers of Jackson, which he was shown not to do so in the past two years, then there will be conflict," Kafton said, "I am happy to work with Seda for the best interest of Jackson Township but I will not serve as a ‘Yes’ stamp on the council."
Ingram said despite the election results, she plans on staying active and helping the community. "Congratulations to the candidates who have won, I plan on staying active within the community and am here if anyone needs my assistance," Ingram said.
Porter congratulated the winners for working hard on this year’s campaign. He said his defeat will not mark the end of his public service.
“I plan to still remain active,” he said. “I still have two years to serve on the Planning Board so I’m not going anywhere and I’m not going to say I’ll never run again either.”
Garofano said from the bottom of his heart, he wishes his opponents the best.
“Reina is said to work with anyone (no matter) their political party. I believe that will work well and benefit the tax payers of Jackson,” he said. “And Rivere has also been very active in charity organizations in Westlake so I think those efforts would be good to bring to council as well,” Garofano said. “It’s really about the welfare of Jackson and what’s best for the residents. This is a little set back but I do plan to remain active in Jackson and in the Republican Organization.”
Councilwoman Emily Ingram, Councilman Angello Stallone, and Councilman Jason Guaditis will remain in their positions until Kafton, Reina, and Rivere are sworn into office on July 1st.
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