Cooke, Leonardis capture Englishtown council seats
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer

ENGLISHTOWN - Voters in Englishtown turned back the re-election bid of a veteran councilman and tapped his running mate and an unaffiliated candidate in the Nov. 7 election for two three-year terms on the Borough Council.

A ninth term on the governing body turned out to not be in the cards for Republican Councilman Rudy Rucker.

According to results posted on Monmouth County's Internet Web site, Rucker's Republican running mate Lori Cooke received 200 votes and independent challenger Janet Leonardis received 190 votes to win seats on the council.

Rucker came up short in his re-election bid with 168 votes. He did not return requests for an interview following the election.

Speaking several days after the election, Cooke said she was still digesting the win. She was saddened by Rucker's loss saying, "I think our town lost a really dedicated councilman. [More than 20] years of service and now he's not in it anymore. I am thankful the people elected me and I'm very excited and will do the best I can for the people that had confidence in me. I'm looking forward to it."

Cooke is presently a member of the borough's Economic Development Committee.

As part of her campaign platform, Cooke talked about how she wants to work to revitalize Englishtown's downtown. She said she would work with other municipalities to learn how to acquire grants that can be used to underwrite needed projects in the borough. She said she would work to attract and retain businesses for the downtown district.

Leonardis served on the council three years ago when she was appointed to complete an unexpired term. She is a member of Englishtown's Unified Planning and Zoning Board.

She said before the election that she would work to see what can be done to stabilize the municipal tax rate through initiatives such as developing shared services agreements with other public and municipal entities.

Leonardis could not be reached for comment by press time.