GOP Freeholder Race Looking Too Close to Call

In a primary election that appears to be heading for a recount, Republican challenger William “Hank” Lyon of Montville was leading incumbent Morris County Freeholder Margaret Nordstrom of Washington Township  Tuesday by just six votes at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, with one voting district to count.

The Republican winner will face Democrat Truscha Quatrone of Montville in the November general election; Quatrone ran unopposed Tuesday. But in heavily Republican Morris County, where Democratic freeholder victories are rare, it's the primary race that many say matters most.

Morris County had a 12 percent voter turnout, with 26 percent of Republican registered voters heading to the polls, and 11 percent of Democrats.

Lyon received 12,234 votes to Nordstrom’s 12,228, a virtual tie, according to the tallies late Tuesday. Quatrone received 5,847 votes.

Nordstrom has been a freeholder since 1999 and was director from 2006 to 2008.

Nordstrom has been instrumental in the freeholders’ budget process in recent years—a process that has lowered the tax rate for the past three years. Nordstrom said the county has reduced it workforce by 16 percent since 2007. She said the freeholders were using program-based budgeting to reduce costs even before the state imposed a 2 percent cap on year-over-year tax levy growth..

She helped create the board’s airport advisory board, which oversees issues at the county’s  airports, primarily Morristown Municipal Airport. She also helped create the board’s economic development subcommittee, which has brought together the freeholders, the Morris County Chamber of  Commerce, the county's college and technical high school, and the area's business leaders to discuss and find solutions for issues that confront local businesses.

She also is a member of the board’s freight rail advisory board, which is working to find ways to create more rail use in the count to reduce the amount of truck traffic and promote economic growth.

Lyon, who works for his family restaurant business,  was seeking his first elective office.

He said the freeholders have not cut taxes in the recent years, seeing an increase of 6.3 percent annually.

He also criticized  the freeholders’ plans for a new public safety center in Parsippany, the use of tax funds for open space purchases (although voters approved the tax in 1994), and questioned the  approach the county took to create a solar-energy program that is intended to save $3.8 million in taxes over 15 years.