Some candidates say, "Who needs a ticket?"

Some candidates say, ‘Who needs a ticket?’
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer

LONG BRANCH — With the May 11 election date fast approaching, independent candidates are gearing up to take some of the City Council seats from candidates who are running as part of a ticket.

Residents Donald Riley, Michael Bland, Raul Pacheco, Jackeline Biddle Shuler and Harold “Pudgy” Cooper all chose not to run with a ticket and will run independently.

Riley, who previously ran for council, spoke in an interview last week about why he didn’t want to run with a ticket.

“This time in particular it is more important to run as an independent,” he said. “I’ve been totally against tickets from the start because there is no difference of opinion.

“If we can get at least three people in the council that have their own point of view, then maybe we will be able to do something a little bit different in the town,” he added. “My thing is people who run on tickets, those five people are going along with the program.”

Riley said he was not completely committed to running for council until he spoke with some concerned taxpayers.

“I wasn’t even thinking about running, but when I went out with my petitions and talked to the taxpayers, the unrest is really unbelievable,” he said. “The people are all up in arms about what is going on, and I just feel I want to be involved so I can echo some of the sentiments of the people.”

Riley also said that he is not running against anybody; rather, he is running because he believes he can bring something different to the council.

“I’m not running against anybody,” he said. “I’m running because I have a different method.

“I have a different vision for Long Branch that the people in Long Branch would be more in favor of.”

Riley, who is a retired sheet metal worker, described some of the big issues facing the city moving forward.

“Some of the major issues is that there have to be places and things for young people and senior citizens to do in Long Branch,” he said. “The people in Long Branch have no place to go in Long Branch, so they have to go out of town to do anything.

“Nobody wants to admit that we have gangs in Long Branch.”

Bland also spoke last week about running independently.

“As an independent candidate, anybody can come to you and throw an idea at you,” he said. “My ear is to the street.”

Bland, 23, spoke of the challenges of being the youngest candidate running for council, but said he is no more inexperienced than most of the other council candidates.

“There are challenges I face just because of my age,” he said. “The only two people who really have experience on council are Mary Jane Celli and John Pallone.

“So when they say I don’t have experience, well, who else does?” he added. “You wouldn’t expect someone who is 23 to run for public office.

“This is a passion I have, this is what I love.”

Bland, who works as a para officer in the school system, described some of the important issues facing the city.

“I think the biggest issue is taxes,” he said. “The redevelopment issues are big issues.

“Quite frankly, jobs are a big issue,” he added. “How can the city help and develop jobs?”

“I would like to see a state-of-the-art indoor recreation [center] being built. I’d like to see programs being passed for the youth.”

Bland also said he would like the city’s government to be more transparent.

“I’d like to see transparency in our city government,” he said. “I don’t think meeting twice a month is enough.

“I think office hours should be available.

“Televising meetings is important, and putting them on the Internet. I think we are behind in the times as a city.”

Pacheco, who moved to Long Branch from Puerto Rico when he was 2 years old, said he is trying to stay positive in his campaign.

“I don’t want to go into all those negative issues, that’s not what I’m about,” he said. “I’m about humanity, I’m about the kids.

“I just wanted to get elected to represent,” he added. “I will roll up my sleeves to go to work for what is right for the community.”

Pacheco, who also works as a special officer in the middle school and is very involved with Long Branch’s Spanish festival, described some of his plans for the city.

“One of the biggest issues is people are losing their homes because of high taxes,” he said. “Too much spending in government, too many high positions.

“We need to reduce that and merge some of them. You will be making the same kind of money, but you will have more responsibility.”

However, Pacheco said he is not looking to make a lot of campaign promises, only that he will work on the issues if he is elected.

“I have always been a very independent mind; I’ve always been a leader,” he said. “If I’m elected, I will be a team player.

“I don’t care who the mayor becomes, I don’t care who the council becomes, I’ll be a team player, but I want to be a leader.

“There are hundreds of issues in the city, but why talk about it now? First you get elected and then you go to work on the issues.”

Shuler-Biddle spent a brief period on council four years ago with an appointment, which she said would help her this time.

“I think for me it helped because I have a feeling of what I’ll be getting into,” she said. “I didn’t really serve in a very substantial capacity, but in terms of knowing the intricacies of the position, I think I am more prepared now than I was then.”

She also compared running on a ticket to running independently.

“The people who have a slate, they have the advantage of raising more money to get their word out,” she said.

“When there is a slate, I think there is a tendency for all the members of the slate to always take the same side on an issue instead of considering issues from different sides,” she added. “I see that as a positive for me.”

Shuler-Biddle, who is a registered nurse, said one issue being overlooked is the health conditions within the city.

“We are a large enough city where we should take note of what is going on healthwise in our community,” she said. “It is something that is not really talked about much, but there is a lot of stimulus money out there and other funds available to improve the health conditions of the community.”

With only one current council member running for re-election, Cooper is looking forward to seeing new people take the seats.

“New thoughts, new faces,” he said.

Cooper, 63, is hoping to help the youth within the city.

“We have young, vibrant people in this community,” he said. “They need to step up or we need to pull them up.

“In general, this society is very antiyouth,” he added. “Hopefully we can get some younger people that can relate to our young people.”

Cooper, who regularly attends council meetings, has been a longstanding critic of the city’s rule that limits the public to five minutes each when they speak during public hearings.

“That is a business meeting,” he said. “If you’re going up there to downgrade people, you shouldn’t have five seconds. If you are up there talking about issues that involve the populous, you should have as much time as you need to have.”

Cooper, who works as a bus driver, said he would like the government to be more transparent and would like the residents to have more of a say in government.

“If there was going to be meaningful redevelopment in the city, the voters should have been in some means brought into it from jump street,” he said. “Government has to be more transparent, it has to be opened up.

“It is one thing to elect an official, it is another thing to hold that official accountable for the promises he made during the election.”

The five independent candidates are part of a 20-person field for the five open seats on the City Council.

Contact Kenny Walter at

kwalter@gmnews.com.





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