Mathieu, Martin Win Garwood Republican Primary

The results are in: Incumbent Jim Mathieu and candidate Mike Martin were the top two Republican vote-getters in today's primary and will appear on the November ballot in the race for two borough council seats.

Mathieu, on the outs with his party, ran as a Conservative Republican and received the most votes of the three candidates.

Martin, who was also a candidate in the 2012 election, ran within the Regular Garwood GOP along with runner-up Steven Blaufeder.

It will be a short council stay for Blaufeder, who was chosen in March to fill the unexpired council term of Victor DeFilippo. Blaufeder also ran in the 2011 election.

"This is a victory for Garwood’s taxpayers," Mathieu told Patch after the results. "It shows that Garwood Republican voters want conservative solutions to our borough’s problems. Let's put any and all acrimony behind us as we work together in implementing Governor Christie's bipartisan reforms."

Mathieu added that he would like to thank Blaufeder for running "a good, clean campaign."

"He's a gentleman and it showed during this race," said Mathieu.

Mathieu said his priorities for his second term are pushing for a borough-wide property tax reassessment, looking into privitizing trash pickup and investigating consolidating police dispatch with an adjoining town or the county.

As to running again amid the "acrimony" – Mathieu has frequently butted heads with Mayor Patricia Quattrocchi and is the target of a lawsuit filed by Borough Adminstrator Christina Ariemma – the councilman said it was his wife's support that convinced him.

"If I did not have the wife I have there is no way I would have been able to deal with the pressure to go through this again," he said.

Martin, though happy with his result, was disappointed for Blaufeder.

"I’m very disappointed that Steve Blaufeder lost," he told Patch. "I was counting on a sensible partner to serve with on the council, and I’m disappointed that some of the voters chose not to vote with the party’s recognized candidates."

Blaufeder was gracious in defeat and said he was unsure whether he'd run again.

"I’m disappointed, but I’m not upset about it," he told Patch. "I hope Jim and Mike can work together with the rest of council to bring Garwood into the future."

"We worked very hard," added Mayor Patricia Quattrocchi. "The results were very close. Mr. Mathieu did not win by a mandate. It is what it is. Of course we are disappointed. We would have loved to have seen Steve Blaufeder stay on council because he’s a real smart guy."

The Garwood Democrats did not submit any names for the primary and therefore will not have any candidates on the November ballot.

Mathieu added that he was actually disappointed that there will not be any Democratic candidates opposing him and Martin in November.

"Garwood needs a strong Democrat party to make the two-party system work," he said. "We need citizen soldiers to step up to the plate if home rule is going to work in New Jersey."