
PLAINFIELD – Get it right in four years or you’re gone.
That’s the message the voters consistently deliver in the Union County city of Plainfield, and looking at past results, most of their elected leaders get it wrong.
In 125 years of political wrangling, only one mayor won reelection here.
That was the late Al McWilliams, a self-professed New Democrat who in 2005 failed to get over a rising crime wave and lost his bid for a third term to machine Democrat Sharon Robinson-Briggs by 325 votes, 2,713 to 2,388.
Now Robinson-Briggs, 49, Plainfield’s first woman to serve as mayor, readies for her reelection campaign next year in what will likely be a hard fought Plainfield contest with once and future councilman Adrian Mapp, a McWilliams ally and now leader of the New Democrats, who’s energized by his successful return to local politics.
5 comments Runyan: ‘Different game, same mindset’ A lot of the hardest knocks Jon Runyan took in professional football he didn't see coming, and in that regard, he says the sport is not dissimilar from politics - where an email or phone call blast can drop out of nowhere and potentially...
"Never forget, some of those shouting the loudest are the architects of the disaster we are now suffering. Do we really want another decade of economic failure? No, this spring it is time to clear away the underbrush to make room for growth. So, today, we stop sweeping problems under the rug. We will not hide our problems until
another day. And we are certainly not increasing the tax burden we place upon our people. Today, we are taking necessary and decisive action to reduce state spending and reform state government. The problems we have hidden for twenty years are evident for all to see. The day of reckoning has arrived. Some are saying, by their choice of policies, that we should descend further into debt and deficit, and risk driving more people out of the state with “temporary” tax increases that always turn out to be permanent. I say we must face up to our responsibility." -- Gov. Christopher Christie
Press releases are submitted by PolitickerNJ users, not by staff. They do not represent the viewpoint of PolitickerNJ.com.