VTMBH Article: Body
At press time, Republican David Chong received a total of just 865 votes for Palisades Park, N.J. City Concil. This number does not include all absentee ballots, but his loss was evident regardless of the rest.
Mayor Sandy Favre (1,987 votes), and City Council candidates James Rotondo (2,057), Tony Omali (1,953), all Democrats, won with over twice the number of votes.
Chong's campaign staff called the result shocking, since this year's total was much less than last year's 1,300 votes. One Chong staffer said, last year Chong ran for City Council and got 1,300 votes, but this year two Republican candidates ran, and we received few votes. The campaign office counted 200 Koreans as voting.
This was Chongs third bid for a City Council seat. It seems that the Democratic Party's negative campaign to provoke racial conflict among residents affects me disadvantageously, said Chong, referring to an incident which has been an issue in the Korean American community. During the campaign, Mayor Favre distributed pamphlets calling Chong a boss and an alien and charging that he would represent only Korean Americans' interests.
Among 1,300 Korean eligible voters, 73 percent (950 people) voted but failed once again to produce the first Korean City Councilman in the Eastern United States.
Dong-suk Kim, director of the New Jersey Korean American Voters Council, said it is not possible to produce a Korean politician with only Korean votes, and when the Korean community and the support of the local party are united, a Korean candidate will win in the election.
In this election, the Republicans and Democrats argued over how to apply for absentee ballots and count them. On election day, the Democratic Party contended that 276 absentee ballots, assumed to be from Koreans voters, should not be counted.
The Democratic Party asked the County Prosecutor to examine the legitimacy of the absentee ballots and Judge Josep Yatino, of Bergen County Court, decided not to open the ballots until the legitimacy of the 276 absentee ballots was determined.
Mayor Sandy Favre (1,987 votes), and City Council candidates James Rotondo (2,057), Tony Omali (1,953), all Democrats, won with over twice the number of votes.
Chong's campaign staff called the result shocking, since this year's total was much less than last year's 1,300 votes. One Chong staffer said, last year Chong ran for City Council and got 1,300 votes, but this year two Republican candidates ran, and we received few votes. The campaign office counted 200 Koreans as voting.
This was Chongs third bid for a City Council seat. It seems that the Democratic Party's negative campaign to provoke racial conflict among residents affects me disadvantageously, said Chong, referring to an incident which has been an issue in the Korean American community. During the campaign, Mayor Favre distributed pamphlets calling Chong a boss and an alien and charging that he would represent only Korean Americans' interests.
Among 1,300 Korean eligible voters, 73 percent (950 people) voted but failed once again to produce the first Korean City Councilman in the Eastern United States.
Dong-suk Kim, director of the New Jersey Korean American Voters Council, said it is not possible to produce a Korean politician with only Korean votes, and when the Korean community and the support of the local party are united, a Korean candidate will win in the election.
In this election, the Republicans and Democrats argued over how to apply for absentee ballots and count them. On election day, the Democratic Party contended that 276 absentee ballots, assumed to be from Koreans voters, should not be counted.
The Democratic Party asked the County Prosecutor to examine the legitimacy of the absentee ballots and Judge Josep Yatino, of Bergen County Court, decided not to open the ballots until the legitimacy of the 276 absentee ballots was determined.