Marlboro Mayor ‘Optimistic’ About Working With New GOP Majority

MARLBORO, NJ — All three Democratic incumbents running for reelection for the Marlboro Council were defeated by their challengers, leading to a new Republican majority within the governing body.

Mayor Jon Hornik (a Democrat) said he will work together with newcomers Antoinette Dinuzzo, Michael Milman and Juned Qazi, as they prepare to take office. In the upcoming weeks, he will meet with each of them to start discussing the future of the town.

"I've never governed from a partisan perspective," he said. "I'm optimistic that the new council members will see how we do things and once they really see it I think they're gonna be comfortable with the way the town is run."

Hornik said that partisanship has not prevented the township from running smoothly in the past.

"Not while I've been mayor. Even in the beginning when the Republicans had a majority for the first two years. We rolled up our sleeves and we went to work. And that's what I'm planning on doing with this council," he said. "The mayor's office will work with the new governing body."

The Marlboro government operates under a strong mayor system, in which the mayor's executive powers are separate from the council. For instance, the mayor prepares the budget which is then submitted to the council for approval.

"I welcome the republican's input into the budget that the mayor's office is gonna prepare," Hornik said. "We're optimistic that we're gonna continue moving down the path of a smooth approval."

The mayor also remarked that on a local level, politics play a lesser role.

"If a pothole has to be filled, Democrats and Republicans both fill it the same way," he said.

Patch has reached out to Marlboro Republicans for comment but has not heard back in time for publication.

The three candidates will take over the seats previously occupied by Jeff Cantor, Scott Metzger and Carol Mazzola.

Here were the election results:

• Antoinette Dinuzzo - 7,440 (17.10 percent)
• Michael Milman - 7,491 (17.22 percent)
• Juned Qazi - 7,242 (16.64 percent)
• Jeff Cantor - 7,197 (16.54 percent)
• Scott Metzger - 7,079 (16.27 percent)
• Carol Mazzola - 7,052 (16.21 percent)

Hornik said the Marlboro election results reflected a nationwide trend.

"Not taking anything away from the three candidates that got elected (...), I believe the voter turnout in the country — not only in New Jersey, we saw what happened in Virginia — was an anti-democratic vote," he said. "The Democratic brand from the top-down has to be revisited based on what they're holding forth as the important values of the party. Quite frankly the party has shifted too much to the left for many people and I think that motivated a lot of this election."

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