John Aden Wins Democratic Nomination for Florham Park Mayor

The Democratic nominee for Florham Park mayor is John Aden.

The 25-year borough resident and father of two won the nomination at a meeting of the Florham Park Democratic Committee Tuesday night. He will vie against Republican Mayor Mark Taylor and GOP Councilman Charles Germershausen, who's running as an Independent, in the Nov. 5 general election.


Aden has been a Democratic Committee member for seven years and its chairman since 2010.  He has made a name for himself on the issue of open and accountable government in Florham Park by questioning the Borough Council for making many of its decisions during restricted "work sessions" and away from the public eye.

“We need to bring our council meetings into the open and allow our citizens to hear open debate and adult conversation on each side of every issue,” Aden said.

He also complained that good people are not being allowed to get involved in their community to win appointments to a borough’s committees simply because they come from the minority party.

"If you are not recognized by the ruling party, you have little opportunity to serve the community. It's time to end the one-party rule in this town,”he said. "This is an opportunity to break from the rule of a narrow group of insiders. A group that ignored the outcry of the Elm Street residents by cutting down 26 acres of trees to build extra athletic fields, and then increased our sewer fee by 42 percent when there was already a large surplus."

Aden said that as mayor, he will make council meetings more accessible to citizens. He also said he would work toward building sewer and garbage collection fees into the town’s budget to make them tax deductible.

"I'll work with the Borough Council to improve the quality of our schools and municipal services, grow our local businesses, and support our growing population of senior citizens," he said.