The “Together We Can” slate is running two incumbents on their three-person slate, with controversial former Trustee Michael Alonso seeking a comeback in the Bayonne Board of Education race.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
TWC, who have won nine of the past 10 board seats that have been contested in the past three elections, is running Trustees Miram Bechay and Lisa Burke, along with newcomer Angela Sanniola.
Bechay ran under the TWC banner last year and won the one-year term being contested, making her the youngest trustee in district history at 21 years old.
As for Burke, she had been elected as part of the TWC team in 2019, but decided not to seek re-election this year. However, she was appointed back to the board on July 26th to fill the void left by the resignation of President Maria Valado.
Additionally, Alonso, he served one three-year term between 2017 and 2020 and unsuccessfully sought re-election in the presidential year.
He went into the fall 2020 race with a intense scrutiny after many deemed Facebook posts he wrote about George Floyd insensitive, with the board and the Hudson County GOP (Alonso is a Republican) calling for his resignation.
Alonso also filed to run for mayor last year, but didn’t make it to the ballot after a number of his petitions of nominations were thrown out.
A second first time candidate, Mariam Salama, has filed to run as an independent in the non-partisan November 7th affair where three, three-year terms on the volunteer board are up for grabs.
Trustee Christopher Munoz, a former board vice president, has opted not to seek re-election.
None of the candidates who filed could be immediately reached for comment on Monday.
