'Team Collingswood' Sweeps as Challengers' Bids Fall Short

It was a long road to Tuesday's night's victory in the borough commissioner's election for Collingswood Mayor James Maley and his incumbent running mates, Joan Leonard and Mike Hall. 

“We've really sold the Edsel this time, because these last four years can't get harder,” Collingswood Mayor James Maley told supporters Tuesday night, referring to the economic recession that plagued the nation, and affected the borough's bond rating in 2011. 

“We've been through the worst that any town can go through, and yet we're still here,” he said.

The incumbents in the borough commission race ran as "Team Collingswood." At their campaign headquarters, a vacant storefront along Haddon Avenue, a mix of friends, family, borough employees and passersby came and went throughout the evening.

Following remarks from Hall and Leonard, Maley's brief address precipitated congratulatory hugs, handshakes and carousing among the crowd.

Behind the commissioners-elect, on the back wall of the campaign headquarters, a large tally sheet spelled out the details of what proved to be a close race, , who finished fourth.

Leonard was the top vote-getter, with 1,467. Maley finished second with 1,339, followed by Hall at 1,229. 

With 1,088 votes, McGuire fell just short of unseating one of the incumbents, with his fellow challenger Ian Wachstein close behind at 1,028. James Woods was the farthest off the mark at 715.

Comparatively, Maley said, in the last contested commissioners election, which took place in 2005, "Team Collingswood" defeated its lone challenger by a margin of about 1,000 votes, with about 3,350 voters participating.

“No town’s gone through what we’ve gone through what we’ve gone through, and we’ve been re-elected by margins that most towns would say were comfortable,” Maley said.

“We’re very happy that the people of Collingswood were returning us this time around.”

Work to be done

The biggest challenge for the next four-year term, Maley said, will be “continuing to change the way we operate everything and being able to sustain it under the 2-percent cap,” a state mandate that limits municipal budgets. 

Leonard said the election told her “Team Collingswood” slate needs to tweak a few things.

“I have the tragic flaw of wanting everybody to be in consensus,” she said. “I want everybody to be hearing each other because they have (an) understanding (of one another), so if I can help to do that, then that’s what I want to do.”

“(It’s about) taking what you have and trying to step it up to the next level,” Leonard said. “We have the people, the activities and the events.”

“We’re just looking to continue to improve our community,” Hall said. “We’ve got to control the budget.”

Positive experiences

Wachstein said that the results told him “more people are content and comfortable with the current leadership than are not … and I’m comfortable with that because I think the current leadership has done some good things.”

The 72-year-old Wachstein said that another race at 76 might be a bit of a challenge.

“I was hoping some young people would step up, new faces,” he said. “I got flak because I wasn’t running.

“Running for the Board of Education was a lot easier and a lot better because it wasn’t politicized,” Wachstein said. “[But] once leaders get in, you’ve got to root for them.”

McGuire, who confessed that he has a strong competitive streak, was similarly introspective in defeat, but bore it with the characteristic good cheer. 

“I don’t expect to lose,” he said. “I expect to win. This is something a little different for me; I’m OK with it.

“The people spoke and I’m not going to be hacking away at things,” McGuire said. “They had an opportunity and they made their choice. Whatever positive opportunities (might) come up (under the next administration), I want to help.”

At the end of the campaign trail, McGuire found a lot of positive experiences from his inaugural foray into local politics.

“It was a great experience for me,” he said, “a huge learning experience in all kinds of ways.

“Not knowing how things would turn out, getting to meet people and chat with people; it was fun; it was exciting. It was great to get to know more people in Collingswood.”

Want to read more about the issues and events that shaped the 2013 borough commissioners campaign? Review our coverage here.