While I congratulate and welcome all the candidates in all our Bayshore towns who conducted hard working and time consuming campaigns and are now continuing to ready themselves for the hard work of municipal government after Jan. 1, I’ve already seen where Sea Bright’s winning council members are going to be spectacular, wise, open-minded and most important, eager to keep the public informed and up to date on everything that’s happening.
Sam Catalano has already proven himself on his first term on Sea Bright’s council, and the locals and newcomers know they can get honest answers when they come to him, and intense research if he doesn’t have all the information before going his opinion.. They also know he’s dedicated to keeping the residents informed on everything, whether he likes what he has to report or not.
But Heather Gorman is brand new to the Council and she had an uphill fight to get there. The Republican candidate running with Sam had great qualifications, experience, and was eager to take on the challenge. But because of her other obligations far afield from Sea Bright, it seems voters wanted someone who seemed to be closer to home more often and ready to respond when needed. Heather filled the bill and wanted to take up the challenge and independently seek election.
So I asked both successful candidates the day after election to what they attributed their success, what they did right or wrong, and what they plan to do in the next three years.
Both responded immediately to e-mails to each, and both politely declined to tell me. Both said, in different ways, they would get back to me and answer my questions…..but only after their victory was declared official and polling showed they really had won the election.
A pair of councilmembers who want to keep the public informed, but want to be sure of their facts.
Heather went a step further in describing her hesitancy in talking about the election before it was official. In a lengthy e-mail, she digressed, all the while keeping me informed of the kind of council representative she’ll be. She thanked me for my congratulations, referred me to the Monmouth County results page on NJ.com, and said “I will patiently wait until that time has come.”
But she did share her approach to her goal. She explained that since it was a community campaign, she was grateful for the mentors she had…former elected officials, long-time residents, and appreciated “their institutional and historical knowledge but more importantly their love for the old Sea Bright and Sea Bright’s future.” The result, she said, was “an awesome melting pot of neighbors (with various political affiliations) together who supported and advocated for the campaign.” She went on to praise her husband and family for giving her the support for the time she felt she needed to be highly informed, know the critical issues, and doing more than just listening or speaking out at meetings both in Sea Bright as well as other towns and boards of education.
Then she ended her e-mail with “I truly love where I live, …my neighbors, and all I hope to do is support this amazing, funky town and be of service. “
Welcome to the world of small town politics, Heather. Don’t ever lose your high standards and your willingness to cooperate, share information on what’s going on, and keeping abreast and active in whatever Sea Bright needs to keep it the small town, family-like community it is.
More on Sea Bright
