A recent campaign mailer casts Jeanne Kingsley, candidate for Union County Commissioner, as a champion of transparency and fiscal responsibility. However, her track record tells a different story.
In 2017, as a member of the Berkeley Heights Council majority, Kingsley blocked residents from voting on a multimillion-dollar municipal project. By 2022, problems with the completed building forced the township into a costly lawsuit against the developer.
Kingsley’s Council also frequently obstructed public records requests and blamed residents for the legal costs this incurred as a result of their decision to withhold important information. While complaining about the $15,000 in legal fees they created in blocking OPRA requests, they were very quiet about the $4 million increase connected to the municipal building until after they won the primary and then defended this increase.
This pattern of withholding information reflected similar tactics used by former Board of Education members and a former Superintendent—both of whom Kingsley supported—against families seeking transparency.
In her final remarks as Councilwoman in 2023, Kingsley took credit for convincing Board of Education members who hastily pushed through a controversial school district reconfiguration in 2021, to run for office. The mass reconfiguration passed after only two meetings and led the NJ Department of Education to find the District in violation of state regulations. Even the County Prosecutor recommended reforms to the District’s meeting practices.
When parents voiced concerns at a Board of Education meeting, Kingsley advised them simply to “trust the administration.”
The Board members Kingsley backed were also responsible for a budget that ballooned due to administrative costs, while academic performance declined—until nonpartisan candidates (mostly “independent women”) recently gained a majority and began reversing these trends. Kingsley’s admission of supporting these former Board members is striking, given her years of claiming the Council didn’t interfere in Board of Education matters. This year we are aware of BOE members following a similar path to prior Kingsley candidates – like Angela Penna – Real Estate Agents who headed the PTO then decide to run for office and show up at Republican fundraisers.
Throughout these controversies, Kingsley’s political Operatives harassed residents who spoke out against the municipal project and school reconfiguration on a large community Facebook group, often preventing dissenting residents from even defending themselves by banning them, taking down their posts and even blocking them from even seeing the forum on Facebook. There are currently two “independent” BOE Candidates running this year whose join requests still have not been approved.
The mailer itself provides minimal information about the organization behind it on their website. While the mailer suggests they are a non-partisan group, a closer look at the content on their website reveals a focus on recruiting “moderate” and “independent” Republican women.
Additionally, Mary O’Connor, who is featured alongside Kingsley in the mailer, is also affiliated with the Republican Party.
While scrolling through their Twitter feed, I only saw endorsements for Republican candidates, with no mention of unaffiliated candidates.
In Berkeley Heights, there’s a smaller Facebook group managed by Kingsley’s affiliates that also promotes the idea of supporting “independent voices.”
However, independent voices that disagree with them are often removed.
Within the past three years, they suddenly prohibited endorsements for Board of Education (BOE) members—who run in non-partisan races—right after allowing them for candidates with Republican ties. When some users posted endorsements or expressed support for non-partisan BOE candidates, many of whom were independent women who disagreed with Ms. Kingsley and her BOE candidates on transparency in government, they were promptly removed from the group.
The “extreme positions” banned candidates and supporters took simply involved a more transparent budget process, saving a French languages program, concerns on academic achievement and improving transparency in connection to BOE decisions (like the reconfiguration).
The Berkeley Heights Democrats are no better, you need to submit a blood test and loyalty oath to even get into their Facebook group or “club” as they refer to it- but at least they are up front about it.
To be clear, this isn’t to say you shouldn’t consider Ms. Kingsley—she’s likely on par with other candidates in the race. That said, her record on transparency and fiscal responsibility is unremarkable.
Her opponents, the Union County Democrats, don’t fare much better on these issues. At this point, it’s difficult to see any clear distinction between the parties.
Finally, a quick tip: when you receive a mailer, take a moment to research the organization behind it.