Voters Size Up Commissioners Candidates After Debate

A wide-ranging debate among six candidates for three seats on the Haddonfield Board of Commissioners Wednesday drew few sharp distinctions but still helped some in the audience of more than 100 narrow their choices.

"I really liked Neal Rochford," said Heather Vaughn, 45, a homemaker and former teacher with children at Tatem Elementary School. "He had very candid answers. He's not afraid to speak what he really feels. I liked his sense of humor and his honesty."

Rochford resonated with a sampling of audience members as they filed out of the Haddonfield Memorial High School auditorium after the two-hour debate. The 53-year-old former borough commissioner, a former owner of a printing company, was defeated in 2008 after one term and is now running again.

Vaughn said she liked that he was a "fresh voice" but that he also had previous experience as one of the borough's three highest-elected officials.

Several other crowd members echoed Vaughn's opinion of Rochford, but another trend was to support the first three candidates on the ballot, John Moscatelli, Ken Kouba and Jeff Kasko.

"Vote 1-2-3," said a woman who declined to give her name as she left the debate.

The three are regarded as change candidates, even though Kasko, 48, a state department of health official and father of five boys, is a one-term incumbent.

Ed Borden and Lee Anne Albright joined Rochford, Moscatelli, Kouba and Kasko on stage Wednesday for a debate that ranged from positions on shared services to the lack of diversity in Haddonfield.

In fact, the diversity question, one of a dozen or more submitted by audience members on 3-by-5 cards, gave the candidates a chance to depart from talking points.

"I think we are doing our children no service by being in a town with such low diversity," said Borden, 64, a two-term, incumbent commissioner and practicing attorney.

Haddonfield's 11,400 population is 97 percent white.

"That was one of the only concerns my wife and I had when we moved here," said Moscatelli, 45, an engineer and stay-at-home father of two. This is Moscatelli's first run for office. He helped lead an effort to defeat a $12.5 million referendum in January for the public purchase of the 19-acre Bancroft property.

The candidates agreed that a high cost of living in the borough could also be a reason for the lack of diversity and flight by the elderly and young.

Haddonfield’s average property tax of $12,088.88 is nearly twice the state average at $7,776, according to the state Department of Community Affairs. Haddonfield has the second highest average property tax bill in Camden County. It trails Tavistock, an exclusive enclave at the tip of Haddonfield, enclosed mostly in a private golf course. Haddonfield's property tax bills are 27 percent higher than Voorhees, $8,777.41, third in the county.

Moscatelli said he would look for cost savings in employee benefits, such as prescription drug plans. Borden said he would seek to hold taxes down by promoting shared services, but drew a line at merging the borough police force with neighboring towns or the county.

All of the candidates strongly opposed a police merger. The issue was accelerated this month when news of a study on cost savings from sharing some police services, such as training officers and possibly chiefs, was made public.

Borden and fellow incumbent Kasko said the study was part of an ongoing effort of seven neighboring towns to share services in anticipation of state pressure to do so.

Albright, 54, president of the borough historical society and chairwoman of the Historic Preservation Commission, touted her accessibility and willingness to buck the status quo. She also singled herself out as the only woman running in a town that is 53 percent female. 

Commissioner Letitia "Tish" Colombi, the only woman elected to borough government in the 300-year-history of the town, decided against an eighth term this year.

Kouba, 24, an owner and manager of the family Jersey Java & Tea coffee shop, said his experience as a business owner would help him manage the borough.

Correction: Ken Kouba's role at Jersey Java was originally misstated. He is an owner and a manager there.

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