Candidate Karen Turner Says Slates Still Being Formed

There's only three months until May's nonpartisan election but the political landscape is still far from settled.

In late December, former Mayor Robert Jackson indicated he would run with a slate that included Karen Turner, Chris Swenson, and Joe Kavesh. But now it appears he has formed a slate with Councilor Rich Murnick, Rich McMahon, and former Mayor Bob Russo. Recently, it also appeared that Swenson, Turner, Harvey Susswein, and William Hurlock would form their own slate.

However, on Monday, it became clear that no slate has been set in stone and that more potential candidates are likely to step forward. Already more than two dozen people have indicated an interest in running for a council seat.

Turner, who has won many fans through her work on the Operating Budget Advisory Committee and the Concerned Citizens of Montclair, said the following on Monday in an email:

"All along, I've said that my core belief is Montclair needs a group of people that govern for the sake of improving Montclair's overall fiscal health, to better allocate resources to improve the services for the citizens and to improve the schools for the K-12 students.

"Because of the work and research I and others have been doing with Concerned Citizens of Montclair, some of us have a strategy and a plan to do just this. I want to run with candidates that I think have the vision and where-with-all to do the hard work and make the tough decisions that are needed.

"The slates are still coming together and other candidates may be entering the race. It is most important to me to have candidates with the right skill set and mind set for getting Montclair on the right track rather than re-treads lacking these skills and having other agendas. 

"Alan and Sally Deehan, who live in the 1st Ward, hosted a nice get together on Friday with some of their neighbors and friends. They were a very smart, informed, progressive and intellectual group of people. They had some wonderful ideas on recycling and composting that would help improve sustainability. We also discussed ideas to improve the allocation of resources, town-wide, to help improve the schools and delivery of municipal services.

"But the consensus of this group was that the most pressing issue facing Montclair is that something has to be done about the dramatically increasing property taxes. A few reported that their taxes had more than tripled in the past 15-20 years. Myself, Bill Hurlock and someone I hope runs for town council, LeeAnn Carlson, gave feedback on ideas that we think can be done in Montclair to start reversing this trend.

"No matter who runs, this town really needs all of the registered voters to VOTE. Either by making it to the polls or registering to vote by mail. We can't rely on one-third of the registered voters to pick what is best for the town this time around. Everyone needs to get involved."