MANCHESTER – Manchester voters got to hear their three mayoral candidates at a unique campaign forum hosted by the Manchester Democrats and held at the Lakehurst Presbyterian Church.
Members of the Manchester Democrats, who have been re-organizing their group this year, wanted to provide a forum for people to learn about the candidates in a way that wouldn’t turn it into a debate.
Incumbent Mayor Robert Hudak and challengers Robert Arace and Ken Seda each had 30 minutes to make their case. They were not inside the church at the same time.
A recurring theme of the forum was how the Township’s non-partisan form of government, which offers no primary races, has many partisan aspects in play this election.
Each candidate is running with a ballot slogan as part of their respective tickets. Hudak’s is “Manchester First-Continued Good Government” while Arace is running as “The Right Choice for Manchester.” Both are Republicans while Seda, running under the slogan of “Manchester Deserves Better” is a Democrat.
Each are also running with two council candidates as part of their teams. Joan Brush, who is serving as council president this year, and Timothy Poss are on Hudak’s team. Joseph T. Hankins, who ran with Arace last year, is running with him again along with Roxanne Conniff. Seda is running with Gloria E. Adkinson and Karen Sugden. There are two seats on the council with four-year terms on the ballot.
For Arace and Hudak, the election is a rematch as they faced each other last November. Hudak was appointed to the mayor’s spot in June of 2021 after the resignation of Republican Mayor Ken Palmer who became a State Judge. Hudak ran for and won Palmer’s unexpired term in office. Now he is seeking a full, four-year term.
Arace had the backing last year of George Gilmore who at that time was no longer the Ocean County GOP chairman. He had resigned after being charged with tax evasion but was pardoned by President Donald Trump before he left office.
Gilmore won back his position of GOP chairman during a Republican County organization convention this summer and he is supporting Arace and his ticket. The Manchester Republican organization has endorsed the Arace team in this year’s election.
Last year, Seda was one of four candidates that sought the Republican nomination for the two, four-year seats on the Ocean County Board of Commissioners.
Robert Arace
First up to speak was Arace who said, “I was born in Livingston and grew up in Ocean County my entire life and lived in Beachwood. I attended Ocean County College and transferred to Monmouth University and received a degree in finance.”
The candidate said he works as a business consultant and that it includes a lot of “problem solving.” He noted, “that when it comes to Manchester Township my wife and I purchased a home in Holly Oaks because we really appreciate the rural and suburban characteristics of life here.”
Arace said he sees the population in Manchester growing in the years to come. “Over the next 15 years we are ultimately going to see a large population shift from east to west with a population increase in Ocean County with Toms River and Brick reaching capacity.”
He said as a result, many new residents will come to Manchester and that smart planning was important. “I serve on the Township Zoning Board. We want to ensure the areas that can still be developed are properly zoned so we don’t have storage facilities and warehouses. We are not an industrial town.”
Another issue Arace spoke about was “we have the largest population of veterans in the state. We also have the Joint Base (Dix-McGuire-Lakehurst) in town and there is no local place for our veterans to receive care.”
“There will be a beautiful facility in Toms River that will be a 15-minute trip, but in Whiting – which is forgotten as a part of Manchester Township – it could be 30-to-40-minute trip. I’ve had some conversations with (4th District) Congressman Chris Smith and ran this by him and even if we can’t get a primary care facility to come in can be get a mobile care facility to come in maybe twice weekly or monthly or quarterly – something that would make things better. As mayor I can’t just make it happen but I can advocate for it on behalf of the town,” Arace said.
Robert Hudak
Hudak who is married and has children, spoke next and asked the audience what they felt the three biggest issues facing Manchester were. Responses from the floor replied: traffic, open space and facilities (grocery stores, gas stations, post offices and other services in the community).
“Those are very important issues that you brought up and things I’ve been working on,” the mayor replied. “Taxes are also usually the number one issue and this year we were able to eliminate about $2.7 million in wasteful spending from our budget and yet was able to restore our rainy-day fund of surplus. One of my key initiatives is to use zero based budgeting which means every single purchase that we make is justified.”
“I believe in justifying every dollar that we spend and ensuring every dollar spent means something to the taxpayers and that is how you keep the tax rate stable and how to ensure the budget is good for the next couple of years,” Hudak said.
The candidate also explained that “are volunteer firefighters had outdated equipment. Some of it was outdated since 2016. They were going to fires with faulty equipment. My administration was able to get them new equipment they needed and cancel out some bonds and we were able to double fund them in this year’s budget. A new ambulance was also included in this year’s budget.”
He noted his background as a land use planner in Toms River and spoke about open space preservation saying over 300 acres of open space was preserved this year. “We just purchased another 16 acres off of Route 70 a few weeks ago to stop housing developments on these properties.”
GOP Issues
Both Arace and Hudak were asked two partisan based questions relating to national and county news. They were questioned on their own understanding and viewpoint regarding the ongoing hearings of President Trump and whether he should be imprisoned for his alleged involvement in the violence and illegal entry into the nation’s capital on January 6, 2021. The second question concerned their view on Gilmore’s County Republican leadership role.
Arace responded to the first question saying, “I really don’t have an educated opinion on that. I do think the media on both sides spins things way out of control.” He said he didn’t think the investigation would warrant any charges against Trump.
As to the second question, Arace answered saying “George Gilmore was pardoned and I believe there has been a picture painted of him that is not necessarily true and accurate. The media and partisan politics can paint somebody in a different picture than you would ultimately see.”
Conniff took to the microphone and said “I believe everyone deserves a second chance.”
Hudak replied to the Trump insurrection question saying, “my focus is Manchester Township. As far as Trump goes, let the courts play that out. I say bring it to trial and see where it goes.”
Regarding Gilmore, he answered, “I am not a supporter of him and he is not a supporter of mine. He owes about $5 million to the IRS and counting.”
Ken Seda
Seda said he is a widower, and has three daughters and five grandchildren, and has experience working with non-profit organizations.
“The choice is clear, we heard from the incumbent and we heard from the challenger, the incumbent speaks about his accomplishments and those are a very short list,” he said.
“The other person I am running against is talking about things that really make no sense. How can you be backed by a felon? How do you defend a felon? I believe in pardons and I believe in mercy but when someone has a track record of not doing the right thing, how can you defend them?” Seda asked.
Seda took several questions regarding the need for improved cell phone service in the Whiting section of the township.
He remarked that “the cell phone issue has been going on for a long time not just four years ago. My whole life has been about service. I’ll be a full-time mayor and the buck stops with me. We will work together to get things done.”
Seda vowed that if elected he would do a full audit and review concerning municipal spending and would focus on solving the cell phone service issue. He added that he would look at bringing needed ratables to the community.
