Republican Incumbents Will Face Competition from Democratic Candidate for Township Committee

The two Republican candidates for Township Committee, incumbents Mary Pavlini and John Carpenter, will this fall face competition from Democrat Bonnie Diehl after the three candidates filed in time for Monday's 4 p.m. deadline to be included on the ballot for the June primary election.

However, there will be no contest for either party in the June 7 primary election for Republican and Democratic nominations for the November ballot. Two Township Committee positions, now held by Carpenter and Pavlini, who is this year's deputy mayor, are up for election in November.

All five seats on the Township Committee are now held by Republicans.

Pavlini, of Martinsville Road, has served on the Township Committee for two terms. She was appointed as mayor in 2007.

Carpenter, of Berta Place, was elected to the Township Committee in 2005. He was appointed for a one-year term as the township's mayor in 2008.

Diehl, of Addison Drive, had run a write-in campaign last fall against Republican Township Committeeman Scott Spitzer. Spitzer had won re-election.

However, Diehl had announced earlier this spring that she would be an officially-sanctioned candidate for the Democratic  party in the 2011 election for the local governing body.