The “Together We Can” slate pulled off another clean sweep in the Bayonne Board of Education race, coming out on top in a competitive fight for the third and final seat.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“Thank you to our friends, neighbors, and supporters for tonight’s victory. We are committed to standing up for our teachers and students while protecting the taxpayers,” the team of Trustees Melissa Godesky-Rodriguez, Pamela Sclafane, and Jodi Casais wrote on Facebook.
“The Board of Education needs to continue our progress in making Bayonne schools the best in the state. Thank you for your trust.”
Casais led the way with 3,516 votes, following by 3,137 from Sclafane, and 3,110 from Godesky-Rodriguez.
Independent candidate Gina Irizarry was right in the mix, narrowly coming in fourth by notching 2,975 votes.
She promised to be back better next time in a Facebook post.
“I may have come in 4th but I am extremely proud of my results- Losing by only 52 votes for a completely self-run campaign is pretty darn good. I worked very hard and so did the other indies at their campaign. Proud of Bayonne for showing up at the polls in a huge turn out!!!! YOU ROCK!!!!,” she wrote.
“I was winning until the mail-ins came in. The endorsed 3 person slate each had 290 mail-ins, the independents did not have near that. That is an election strategy I/we need to learn. It is called ‘delivering the vote’ Next season I will have that down.”
The Together We Can team, closely allied with outgoing Assemblyman Nick Chiaravalloti (D-31), was also endorsed by Council President Sharon Nadrowski – a potential mayoral contender next year.
Mayor Jimmy Davis didn’t make any endorsements this time around, though Councilman-at-Large Juan Perez was said to have aided the campaigns of Irizarry and first time candidate Petra Ghaly, according to sources familiar with the race.
Irizarry said on Friday that she did not coordinate any sort of campaign activity with Perez and was unaware of him providing her candidacy help in any way.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with new information.
