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Sunday, February 28, 2016

Plainfield Dems pick 2016 Council candidates


Rebecca Williams


Charles McRae

Plainfield's Democratic City Committee met Saturday morning and voted by acclamation to nominate Councilor Rebecca Williams (2/3 at large) for the Citywide at-large seat which is up this year, and longtime community activist Charles McRae for the Ward 3 seat.

City Committee chair Adrian O. Mapp put forward the names after they were recommended by a screening committee of 7 who interviewed five prospective candidates for the two slots (full disclosure: I was a member of the committee).

The screening committee worked to narrow down a starting list of forty samples questions to a manageable size, and ending up adding two of its own: on willingness to campaign and to disclose reasons for one's vote as a Councilor.

The interviews took place last Sunday and Monday and the recommendation were delivered to Chairman Mapp on Wednesday, February 24, as per the schedule determined at the January PDCC meeting.

Screening committee members were --

  • Ward 1: Maureen Powell, Pedro Estevez
  • Ward 2: Mary Burgwinkle, Jim Spear
  • Ward 3: Joylette Mills-Ransome (chair), Dan Damon
  • Ward 4: Councilor Barry Goode
Interviewees were scored on a sliding scale in six competencies: Leadership, Communication, Consensus-building, Problem-solving, Decision-making and Strategic thinking.

Candidates must now circulate their petitions, which are due by April 4. This year's primary election is on Tuesday, June 7.

Incumbent at-large Councilor Tracey Brown is indicating she will run off the line for her current seat. She is joined by Alma Blanco running for the Ward 3 seat. Ward 3 incumbent Gloria Taylor did not indicate any interest in running again to the PDCC screening committee.



  -- Dan Damon [follow]


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