Madison – Madison Democrats celebrated the start of the fall campaign season with their annual Kick-Off Picnic on a beautiful Sunday, September 10 afternoon. The picnic was held at the Ridgedale Avenue home of Morris County Democratic Committee Vice-Chairwoman Marianne McConnell.

In his keynote address, Mayor Bob Conley emphasized the need to re–elect Council President Carmela Vitale and elect Downtown Development Commission (DDC) Secretary John Hoover to the Madison Borough Council in November. “We need Carmela and John on the Council so that we can continue to control property taxes, maintain services, invest in our infrastructure, attract new businesses to Madison as we re-vitalize our lovely downtown, and to ensure that Madison remains a welcoming community.

Carmela and John have long demonstrated their commitment to Madison. Carmela is completing her fourth term on the Council. No one understands municipal government and how to make it work effectively to meet the needs of its residents better than she does. As for John, just look up the definition of the word ‘volunteer’ and you will see John’s picture. Recently, he added the office of Vice President of the Board of Trustees of the TriTown 55+ Coalition, which provides subsidized, on-demand transportation services for residents 65 and older from Madison, Chatham Borough and Chatham Township, to his long list of volunteer activities.”

Conley noted that candidates for re-election to the New Jersey legislature from the 27th district, State Senator Richard Codey, Assemblywoman Mila Jasey and Assemblyman John McKeon have been “Madison’s best friends in Trenton for the past six years. Whenever we need something from the state, they have been there to help us. They supported us in securing a Green Acres grant of $500,000 to help pay off the bonded debt incurred to purchase the Madison Recreation Complex property earlier this year. They were also instrumental in getting enabling legislation passed that would have allowed us to deploy a demonstration solar farm on the property. Unfortunately, our current governor vetoed the bill.”

All the candidates thanked the many residents who turned out for the picnic and for their on-going support and encouraged them to remind their friends and neighbors to vote for Carmela Vitale, John Hoover, Rozella Clyde, Mila Jasey, John McKeon, Richard Codey, Phil Murphy and Sheila Oliver on November 7.