Trenton Mayoral Runoff Down For Recount

by: denniscmcgrath

Sat May 15, 2010 at 10:50:07 AM EDT

Promoted by Rosi Efthim

There may be a recount to ascertain for sure whether Trenton mayoral candidate and current Councilman Manny Segura actually bested public works Director Jackson in last week's election. After all the votes were initially tallied, Segura squeaked by Jackson with two additional votes. Jackson's possible call for a recount is more of the 'trust but verify' variety - he isn't claiming any improprieties, he just wants complete certainty he lost fair and square.

In Trenton's nonpartisan system, if no mayoral candidate secures 50%+1 of the vote, there is a run-off between the two highest votegetting candidate. It will be held in early June - I'm not certain of which Tuesday it will be.

Visit http://www.trentonian.com/arti... for more.

"We're talking about, potentially, a recount, just to make sure that the numbers are defensible, and that they are what they are," Jackson said. "If we find out that they are at the end of the day, that that's what the residents of the city did and voted for, I'm going to wish Mr. Segura and Mr. Mack well in their runoff, and stay supportive wherever I can be."

Whoever wins the Mayoral race has challenges to meet that the last Mayor could only see in his worst nightmares. The loss of state budget support for the city suggests a period of austerity that may well leave Trenton dead in the water for a decade or more. What's next? Well, even the city's current minimal efforts to market itself as a history-rich cultural destination (the Battles of Trenton, first public reading of the Declaration, temporary capital of the US, birthplace of America's steel, rubber and pottery industries, not to mention the hometown of two Supreme Court justices (Scalia and Alito, for what they're worth) AND Jon Stewart* (yaay!) are flagging already. See here http://www.trentonian.com/arti...

(*Yes, yes, Stewart grew up in Lawrence but he was born in a Trenton hospital and used to sling beer at City Gardens, and it doesn't get more Trenton than that).

MEANWHILE ... if you really want to experience what Trenton is today and could be tomorrow, on June 19 into June 20, Trenton's ArtWorks presents Art All Night http://www.artworkstrenton.org... a community celebration of creativity. I expect to be there for the midnight glassblowing after having a late dinner at Settimo Cielo http://hiddentrenton.com/?p=8 And Ellarslie, the Trenton City Museum, currently is showing the 28th annual Ellarslie Open judged art competition http://www.ellarslie.org/ through June 20

denniscmcgrath :: Trenton Mayoral Runoff Down For Recount

Tags: Trenton, Manny Segura, Tony Mack, Eric Jackson, election, runoff, (All Tags)

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Trenton Mayoral Runoff Down For Recount | 1 comments

Tony Mack is still the likely winner (4.00 / 1)

I felt after I wrote the original blog that I had inadvertently given Tony Mack, the top vote getter, short shrift. He's still likely to be the next Mayor, barring the Edwin Edwards rule. Mack is very well liked in the community, and the community is majority African American. Segura's early support of Doug Palmer (Mack broke with and ran against Palmer in 2006, Manny not 'til the 2010 election was looming) along with Manny not having a baseline of support nearly as large as Mack's, pretty much dictates Mack will win. If Eric Jackson somehow wins a recount (doubtful), it will be a much closer race, as it's a pretty safe bet most people will see Jackson as having better management skills than Mack. If I was still a Trenton voter, I would vote for Segura or Jackson over Mack, for the simple reason that I think either of them have better skills. Mack's history of financial pratfalls strongly suggests he's not the guy to elect in a financial crisis, but the voters have spoken.

by: denniscmcgrath @ Sat May 15, 2010 at 21:27:47 PM UTC