Vanderbeck's Petition to Run in Borough Council Race Rejected

Council member Michael Vanderbeck’s petition to run in the upcoming Borough Council race as an Independent candidate has been rejected by the county clerk’s office.

Hightstown Democratic Municipal Committee Chairman Walter Sikorski said he and Isabel McGinty, council member and president of the Hightstown Democratic Club, filed a challenge against Vanderbeck’s candidacy Monday, which was accepted by the county clerk.

“It was beyond the filing deadline,” Mercer County Clerk Paula Sollami-Covello said. The deadline to file was Sept. 6 and Vanderbeck filed his petition to run Sept. 15, she said.

Sollami-Covello said the mutually amended statue states “An independent candidate who wants to run for office to fill a vacant terms needs to file 64 days prior to the election.”

She said all other candidates filed in a timely manner. 

Vanderbeck was appointed by the council to serve the unexpired second year of Dimitri Musing’s term, who resigned in April from the council, Sikorski said. In June the Democratic Committee offered a seat on the election ticket and he rejected it.