Mike Reina

Jackon Council President Mike Kafton

They're running again, but not together.

In fact, if ever two men were running straight at each other in a mayoral contest, it's Jackson Mayor Mike Reina and Council President Mike Kafton.

The unabashed political animal Kafton, and the outwardly grudgingly political Reina formed an uneasy alliance last year when they took on their mutual political enemy Mark Seda, then the fast sagging mayor of Jackson Township.

They blended forces - Kafton as the charismatic Democrat and penitential former mayor looking to regain what he lost, and Reina as the straight-talking local first responder newcomer and one of the founders of the Jackson Tea Party, a renegade Republican outfit opposed to Ocean County GOP Chair George Gilmore's establishment. 

JACKSON - Team Kafton figured if they kept hitting the Council candidate Michael Kaftonopposition with gypsy moths, taxes and Mayor Mark Seda's salary increase, they could beat incumbent GOP Councilwoman Emily Ingram and her running mates on Election Day.

In a few hours, they will learn the effectiveness of their repeated mail attack pieces coupled with five debate forums in which former Democratic Mayor Michael Kafton and his running mates kept pointing to Ingram's alliance with Seda.

"He's working the senior communities hard," campaign spokesman Pat Politano said of Kafton. "He's wandering everywhere. Mike's been all over town."

JACKSON - Team Ingram braced for a last weekend hit from the Council candidate Todd PorterKafton campaign, which came in the form of a mailer depicting Councilwoman Emily Ingram and her running mates as the puppets of Mayor Mark Seda.

Seda's unpopular in town at the moment owing to property taxe hikes.

Former Mayor Michael Kafton and his running mates, Bobbie Rivere and Mike Reina, see an opportunity to bump the mayor's ally, Ingram, off the town council, while also denying her running mates, Charles Garafano and Todd Porter.

Democrat Michael Kafton at tonight's debate in Jackson. 

JACKSON - After a mild-mannered opening presentation by Democrat Michael Kafton, Republican Councilwoman Emily Ingram savaged Kafton’s record in their fifth and last debate at a Jackson senior citizens’ complex tonight.

Her opening salvo provided only temporary cover from Kafton’s return fire, which the challenger appeared to relish - and which also appeared to galvanize Ingram - sparking a charged-up back and forth that a fatigued senior citizen at the microphone finally called disappointing.

That prompted applause from the crowd of 50 seniors.