Livingston Left With An Open Seat, Residents Discuss Candidate

Long time resident of Livingston and town council member Michael Silverman and his family are downsizing and moving to a neighboring community, vacating his town council seat effective January 1, 2019.

After hearing of Mr. Silverman’s resignation, many residents took to social media to thank him for his service to Livingston as councilman and as a former Mayor.

Mr. Silverman’s announcement came just over a month after incumbent councilmen Shawn Klein, Rudy Fernandez, and Mayor Ed Meinhardt were re-elected to their council positions. Mr. Silverman’s seat was not up for election this past November. Currently, Livingston has an all Democrat town council.

Almost immediately the wheels began spinning when members of the popular Facebook page “Ltown Lowdown,” created by resident Neeli Berger Margolis; began discussing who should fill Mr. Silverman’s seat.

Right away one name created a lot of buzz on “Ltown Lowdown.” One of the 2018 Republican candidates: Brandon Minde.

The majority of Livingston residents are registered as “unaffiliated,” and voting trends over past 20 years indicate they are more likely to vote for the Democratic candidate(s). This past November Republican candidates Minde received over 5,000 votes, Debbie Burack about 3,900 and the Democrats Klein, Fernandez, and Meinhardt ended up with about 8,000 votes each.

Brandon moved to Livingston about 12 years ago from West Orange and decided to run for office for the first time because he felt, “although Livingston is a fabulous town to live in, after 12 years there were some things I felt could change to make our town even better.” For example, he feels that, “Livingston should catch up with other surrounding communities when it comes to offering diverse and entertaining places to go, improving sidewalks throughout town to provide safe ways to walk there, and use technology to advance municipal government’s accountability and transparency.” Brandon believes that he could provide something to our community in a personal and nonpartisan way.

Some residents on both sides of the aisle support the idea of giving Minde an opportunity to serve on town council. Resident Deepa Pisupati writes, “I am a Democrat. I bleed Blue. But this democrat thinks this republican candidate Brandon Minde is the best candidate to take the open spot on the council. Why? You may ask. Brandon is balanced and fair and I believe he will put what is best for this town above everything else and he won 5000 votes, which is not a small number.”

#TeamMinde and its supporters will be fighting an uphill battle due to New Jersey state laws. Rather than filling a vacated seat with someone the people vote for, anyone interested in applying for the seat must hand in a resume to the Livingston Democratic Committee. The committee has 15 days after the effective date of resignation to provide the town council with three candidates. The council then has 15 days to select who will fill the open seat. The rules do not state which party the candidates must belong to and the process is open to everyone.

Whoever the town council chooses to fill the seat will then have to run as an incumbent in a special election next November. An indication that the town council may stick to party lines and fill Silverman’s seat with a Democrat, is a quote from Mayor Meinhardt in a Tap into Livingston article written by Danielle Santola, “the person we select to take Michael’s seat” will run, “against anybody that the Republicans or Independents put up.”

Some residents are left wondering (and hoping), if the Livingston Democratic Committee will cross party lines and give Brandon Minde the chance to be one of the final candidates presented to the town council. January will be an interesting month for the town of Livingston and will likely create lots of discussion on “Ltown Lowdown.”