Repubs select new candidate for council Siarkiewicz on ticket with Kaiserman, O'Brien for November election BY MICHAEL ACKER Staff Writer SAYREVILLE - A former borough councilman has withdrawn from the race to regain a seat on the governing body. Republican Vincent Zarcaro dropped out of the race for one of two Borough Council seats up for election in November, according Republican Party Chairman Ronald Green. "Vince Zarcaro got out due to personal reasons," Green said. "He's got a lot of things going on in his life right now and that is why he decided to back out." Paula Siarkiewicz, a former teachers' union president, is filling the vacant spot on the GOP's ticket, which also includes council candidate David Kaiserman and Mayor Kennedy O'Brien. The mayoral incumbent is being challenged by Democrat Thomas Pollando, who is currently the Borough Council president. The Democratic ticket for council includes incumbent Daniel Buchanan and former police detective and school board member Alvah M. Cox. Cox entered the race after Planning Board Chairman John Misiewicz withdrew from the Democratic ticket in May, citing personal commitments and philosophical differences with Pollando and state Assemblyman John Wisniewski, who is the borough's Democratic Party Chairman. Former GOP Chairman Kenneth Olchaskey and O'Brien worked with Green to select Siarkiewicz for the council race. "We interviewed five people," Green said. "Then after interviewing them all, we picked Paula, because we thought that she best fit into what we were looking for." Green cited Siarkiewicz' background in Sayreville as a key factor. "She is involved," Green said. "These are the characteristics that we are looking for. You wouldn't want to interview someone for office who sits in the house all day." Siarkiewicz lives on Stegiel Place, near the Gerdau Ameristeel plant, where residents have complained of a "black dust" material accumulating on their properties. Lab results of testing funded by Gerdau have yet to be analyzed, said Green, who chairs the borough's Environmental Commission. CME Associates is expected to have its conclusions within three weeks. According to a press release from the Republicans, Siarkiewicz has been active among homeowners affected by the black dust. "She has been attending all of the meetings," Green said. "She is having the same problems." While borough officials attended a second Community Advisory Panel (CAP) meeting held at the steel mill on North Crossman Road, Siarkiewicz noted that none attended the initial meeting. "We had a CAP meeting in the steel mill and no one from the Borough of Sayreville decided that it was important enough to go to [the first meeting,]" she said. O'Brien said in a statement that he was impressed that Siarkiewicz began to regularly attend Environmental Commission meetings to address problems in that area. "She has been more involved in this issue than some current members of the council," O'Brien said. Pollando disagreed with O'Brien's assertion, saying that Councilman Stanley Drwal has been active with the Environmental Commission, but had to miss three meetings due to personal reasons. He added that he and Councilwoman Kathy Makowski attended one of those meetings in his place, and Pollando attended last week's CAP meeting at the steel mill as well. Siarkiewicz was critical of the all-Democratic council in the press release. "I'm very honored to be asked to run for office," she stated. "The current council is not responding to the people's needs and constantly ignores the mayor's efforts to better our borough. I want to make a difference for the taxpayers of Sayreville." One of the issues that Siarkiewicz is concerned about is partisanship at borough hall. She said politics are interfering with the work that needs to be done for residents. Siarkiewicz said she would like the all- Democratic council to take O'Brien's ideas into consideration, citing the three strikes ordinance the mayor proposed in response to violence at borough nightclubs, and the institution of a hiring freeze to curtail tax increases as ideas that should have been received better by the council. She added that she would like to see the borough get extraordinary state aid for the municipal budget, since surrounding communities received some level of assistance while the borough did not this year. Pollando said that the council is meeting the needs of the borough, and has been willing to discuss matters with the mayor. "We don't know what his needs are, because he's never met once with any of the council… I'd be happy to work with the mayor," Pollando said. "I think that the Democrats have done an awful lot to make things happen," Pollando added. "I wish Paula the best of luck. I have known her for many years. I have nothing negative to say about her." Siarkiewicz has four children with her husband, Robert. She is formerly a paraprofessional and president of the Middlesex County Educational Services Commission, a 350-member NJEA (New Jersey Education Association) union. She now works in the finance department of Croda, Inc., in Raritan Center, Edison. Siarkiewicz volunteers for the Middlesex County Association for Retarded Citizens and volunteered as a daisy troop leader with the Girl Scouts and as a soccer coach in the Sayreville Athletic Association. "Paula has a long record of leadership and community service," said Kaiserman, Siarkiewicz's running mate. "She has the experience and credentials to be an outstanding member of the Borough Council." The Democrats held their first fundraiser at a picnic in Burkes Park on Sunday, according to Pollando. "It [was] a fundraiser, but it [was] more for the people of Sayreville to meet the candidates," Pollando said, adding that more events are being planned and the Democrats began campaigning this week. The GOP, which held a fundraiser in June, also started to campaign this week and is currently working to raise money, but the major push will come later, Green said. "That is going OK," Green said. "We are raising money, but the major push will come later on. It's like Rutgers football: during the off-season, you don't hear much, but once it gets started, you hear people rocking and rolling. I think politics is almost the same."