OCEAN COUNTY – Jackson Township Councilman Alex Sauickie will soon be resigning his seat on the dais in preparation to be sworn in as a 12th District Assemblyman.
Sauickie won a special Republican election to fill the seat of Ronald Dancer, who served in that role for two decades and who died on July 23. Dancer served as mayor of Plumsted Township for 21 years before becoming a lawmaker and serving 11 terms.
Speculation began almost immediately as to who would fill Dancer’s sizable shoes and that decision was made on August 11.
Three GOP Contenders
Sauickie was one of three GOP candidates who had filed to run in the special election convention for the seat. He was to have sought reelection for his second term as a councilman in Jackson in November. The other candidates were Dominick Cuozzo, a Plumsted Township Committeeman who took office earlier this year and former three term Jackson Councilman Scott Martin.
Sauickie received the support of Brenda Dancer, the late assemblyman’s widow. “That was quite an honor,” he said.
George Gilmore returned to his role as county GOP chairman last month in a close race against Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy. Gilmore was backing Cuozzo, who is also the pastor of the Bible Baptist Church in Plumsted.
Cuozzo reportedly supported Phil Rizzo in the 2021 Republican gubernatorial primary and Mike Crispi in his challenge to incumbent 4th District Congressman Christopher Smith (R-Manchester) in this year’s Republican primary. He also backed Gilmore in his comeback in July.
No Endorsements
12th District State Senator Sam Thompson (R-Old Bridge) did not endorse a candidate in the race nor did the three other Republican County chairs in the district, Shaun Golden in Monmouth, Robert Bengivenga in Middlesex, and Sean Earlen in Burlington.
According to the rules that were agreed upon by each of the four Republican County chairs, there was one ballot with no runoff in the machine vote, meaning that the ultimate victor could win with as little as 34% of the vote.
Winning The Assembly Spot
Sauickie told The Jackson Times, “This has been a surreal experience. It isn’t something I expected to do anytime soon but the circumstances in which the seat opened up were unfortunate with the passing of Assemblyman Dancer.
“I viewed it as a position that I could continue to do some good for Jackson by giving Jackson more representation on the state level which I feel we’ve been severely lacking. Ocean County in general, Jackson and Plumsted is represented in the district and in general I felt there were a lot of issues that Jackson experiences that a lot of municipalities in Monmouth, Middlesex and Burlington also experience,” Sauickie added.
The 12th district is divided up in a complex fashion extending from Old Bridge to New Hanover Township; Middlesex, Monmouth, and Ocean Counties each represent around 30% of the district’s population, with the remainder in Burlington County.
Sauickie said, “by getting into this I can help more people in more places and the position itself was occupied by somebody who really set the bar. He really was somebody who I looked up to and admired. I admired him because I got into running for office really because it is my home town. I really felt I could do some good things for it.”
Ron Dancer’s Legacy
“I think Ron Dancer did exactly the same thing. He felt he could do some good and I don’t think he ever thought it was about him. It was about his constituents and what he could do for them,” Sauickie said.
He noted that like Dancer, he too is a conservative Republican. “He is someone I think was able to work across the aisle and work with intelligent people and get things done. In today’s politics that is an increasingly rare thing.”
Sauickie credited Dancer for being able to “stick to what he believed in and tended to align with conservative Republicans and was able to get a lot done because he was able to find people that had common ground – whether they were Republicans or Democrats – and that is what I am hoping to do to.”
Sauickie agrees with conservative Republicans in terms of “fiscal policies, my feelings on what is coming out of Trenton right now – in particular especially about school curriculums. I still would work with people I think are intelligent and have good ideas and it doesn’t matter which party they are.”
Special Election Process
The special election was held at iPlay America in Freehold, which is outside the district but represented a relatively central location for the district’s scattered communities.
It was decided by each county chairman in the district that Dancer’s seat would remain an Ocean County seat. That decision honored a 2011 deal that was deliberated by Gilmore and the predecessors of the other county chairmen. No proxy voting and no mechanism for absentee or early voting was allowed.
“Jackson for example has 34 districts and two members that are elected to each district. It is interesting that a lot of people don’t even know about the county committees and it is an elected political position – either Republican or Democrat – and for an issue like this where the seat became vacant, this is where the Committee plays a critical role,” Sauickie added.
Sauickie commended Monmouth County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon who oversaw the election. “She laid out the rules and the counties agreed to those rules and they were given to the candidates.”
The process involved actual voting machines and each candidate was required to make a three-minute speech. Each candidate had to be nominated by a member of the floor. “Christine did a phenomenal job on this and pulling it together in a relatively short time. The law requires that the seat be filled within 35 days after being vacated,” Sauickie said.
Sauickie said the vote was taken, “they tallied the votes and they gave us the final count of each and I came out on top.”
Democrats will also select a nominee for the special election sometime soon, but they face greater odds of securing the seat given the 12th District is a stronghold of the GOP.
Experience On Jackson Council
While finishing out his fourth year during his first term on council, Sauickie noted that his time in that office provided him with a number of leadership experiences including serving as Council President for one year. “Jackson keeps you on your toes.”
“In my first 18 months I had to deal with two council president resignations and the pandemic and lawsuits against the town including one from the NJ Dept. of Justice that this current council had nothing to do with,” Sauickie said.
He added, “the current council has been working really hard to end these lawsuits and we reached an agreement with the Dept. of Justice and settled Jackson Trails which was a big one. We are down to two others that we expect that we will settle in the interest of everybody. It is in no one’s interest to have these lawsuits against the town. We are trying to do right by everybody.”
Impact On Jackson’s Council
Sauickie said he plans to resign prior to being sworn in as assemblyman which would put the timetable for the transition as early next month. This will necessitate a replacement for his council seat which will be determined by members of the Jackson Republican organization who will then solicit letters of interest and resumes.
Jackson will have a mayoral and two council seats on November’s ballot. As the Jackson GOP did not endorse 15-year Mayor Michael Reina to run again, incumbent Councilman and current Council President Martin Flemming will be on the ballot seeking that position with Councilman Andrew Kern seeking re-election and another candidate to fill Sauickie’s seat.
It is currently unknown whether Reina will run as an independent Republican for mayor or if any Democratic party challengers will emerge to oppose the Republican candidates for mayor and council. With Jackson Township’s form of government, no party primary is held but interested candidates must petition to run for office. Candidate petitions must be filed next month and will be announced shortly afterwards.
