Democrats present full Council
ticket
rising out of the ashes of
political debacle
By Richard Johnston
MOUNT OLIVE 3/30/09) –
The township Democratic organization is showing signs of
recovering from the fiasco it experienced four years ago
when it swept the mayor and three council seats and it
looked like their party was, for the first time in
memory, going to share in the township governance.
That euphoria lasted about a
week when the new mayor showed he was incapable of
understanding how local government works and within a
short time turmoil overtook the whole governing
body….one Democrat quit to take a job overseas, another
joined the Republicans and the in-fighting triggered two
recall efforts supported by the Republicans and
Democrats. The second one was successful and Mayor
Richard DeLaRoche was out and the Democrats back where
they had always been.
Last year Mayor David
Scapicchio, a Republican, won a full three year term
over a promising Democrat, Richard Escobar, and the lone
remaining Democrat on the Council Jim Buell, lost a
close one.
This week, Buell was back. He
never really quit. As the loyal low key opposition he
attended most every council meeting, speaking on
occasion, being visible at town functions and on
Thursday announced a full Council ticket consisting of
himself, Richard Escobar, a technical manager; John
Kitus, Jr., a career fireman; and Gary Mahibir, 35, of
Oakwood Village, a computer science technician.
Buell, 67, served on the
Township Council from 2004 until last January. As a
member he served on the finance committee and was
liaison to the Board of Education. Since 2005 Jim
has been a member of the Flanders Fire and Rescue
Company #1. He is a certified emergency medical
technician (EMT) and has recently completed the
requirements as a certified firefighter in the State of
New Jersey. He has been a member of the Kiwanis
since 2005.
He spent most of his life in
Bethesda, Md. And has lived in Mount Olive since 1974.
He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and
received an MBA from the Wharton School there.
He was the human resource
director at Overlook Hospital in Summit until 1979 and
later worked as an independent human resource consultant
until he retired in 2004.
His wife, Judy
Buell was a Latin teacher in the West Morris Regional
High School until her retirement. They have three
children, one is a Physics Professor in the New York
State College system, one lives in New Providence and
works for Home Depot and the third works in the
petroleum industry.
Richard Escobar, 56, ran for
mayor in 2007 against the current mayor, David
Scapicchio. Born in Yonkers, New York, he and his wife,
Janice, moved to Budd Lake in 1985. Janice is a physical
therapist in the Mount Olive school system. They have
two children, a son, Jared, who is on active duty in the
United States Marine Corps. and a daughter, Brittany, a
student in Mount Olive High School.
A technical manager, Escobar
has a graduate degree in Computer Science from Kean
University. He also received his Bachelor’s Degree
there. He also graduated from the County College of
Morris.
He is a member of the Mount
Olive Democratic Club and the Flanders United Methodist
Church.
Titus, 49, has been a
firefighter in Byram for 30 years. He is the past
president of the Cranberry Lake/Byram Twp. Fire
Department, and has held most other offices in the
department. He currently is the president of the State
Relief Assn. for Byram Twp., vice president of the State
Exempt Firemen’s Assn. for Sussex County and is a
captain in the Firemen/Police in Byram Twp. He most
recently was employed as the director of operations at
Camp Vacamas in West Milford, a camp for underprivileged
youth.
He was born in Dover,
graduated from Lenape Valley High School and has lived
in Mount Olive since 2005. He is married to Sheryl, who
works for the Rico Corp. in Fairfield and has three
children, John 3rd of Parsippany who teaches
in Rockaway Township and two daughters, Stacey, 25, a
student in Fairleigh Dickinson University and Heather,
19, who is working in a mall as the Easter Bunny.
He is a member of the Mount Olive
and Morris County Democratic Committees and a former
baseball, basketball and soccer league coach in Byram.
He was vice president of the Soccer Assn. of Rockaway
Twp.
Gary Mahabir, 43, lives in
Eagle Rock Village with his wife, Gail, and their two
daughters who are in Mount Olive High School.
Gary was born in Trinidad and
has lived in the United States for 25 years. Before
moving to Budd Lake eight years ago he lived in West
Orange. He studied computer science at Gibbs College.
He is a strong supporter of small businesses and is
running to work to help small businesses in the township
grow. He also believes much can be done to relieve the
local real estate tax burden and is committed to spend
his tenure on the Council doing that.
