Vella Hopes to Bring Experience as Mediator to Bridge Partisan Gap in Trenton

A series of profiles on the candidates running for the 16th District's Assembly and Senate seats in the upcoming election.

Democrat Maureen Vella said she's seeking to become senator for the 16th District to bring her background as a professional mediator to Trenton in order to bridge the gap of partisan politics. 

The Hillsborough resident is an accredited professional mediator and is certified to practice collaborative Law. Vella is the Vice Chair of the Hillsborough Democratic Organization and District Committee Person for Hillsborough Township.

"I've been an attorney for the last 28 years and a business owner for 25 of those years," Vella said. "When I go door to door and talk with people about their issues I hear a lot about the loss of jobs, health care and the potential loss of homes. These are the same issues I've been working on for a long time. I'm a collaborative lawyer and an accredited professional mediator who has worked for a long time on resolving issues without creating conflict.

"I want to go to Trenton to fight for people, and there is a way to do this that's not adversarial, with both sides working together."

Vella said the key to alleviating high property taxes is pursuing shared services throughout the 16th District and by making sure all residents are sharing in the sacrifice, specifically with the millionaires’ tax.

"There are 15,000 people that earn over $1 million each year and they get a $40,000 tax break," she said. "Based upon that, we would have an extra $500 million in the state right now."

Vella said the state needs to keep safety nets in our communities for lower-income and middle-income families, as well as seniors on fixed incomes who are in desperate need of property tax relief. She said an important step in making sure there is funding for those safety nets is generating more jobs and economic growth.

"We have to bring more jobs and businesses into our communities, both small businesses and large businesses," Vella said. "With businesses come jobs, and then you have people with the income to afford to live in this district. I own a small business, and if there were certain tax incentives I could employ more people. I think New Jersey could come out of this economic problem through small business owners and look at what we're doing to attract large businesses."

On the issue of consolidation, which has long been discussed for Princeton Township and Borough, Vella said the will of the residents must be the first priority.

"I think consolidation in general needs to be carefully researched and you need to look at the numbers," she said. "I don't think there is a simple yes/no answer. Princeton has spent a lot of time doing research and only the people who live in those towns can really express their opinions. Officials believe it will save money in the long run and (Gov. Chris Christie) has said we'll take the cost of consolidation and spread it over five years, with the state taking over the payment for the first year so the town immediately feels relief. That's a great opportunity, especially in Princeton, but it's up to the local people to see how affects them personally."

Vella said the should've been split into separate legislation that didn't take away the constitutional rights of employees for collective bargaining. 

"Pension and health care needed to be looked at and something needed to be done, but collective bargaining should've remained in place," she said. "The bills should've been split and I think it was a mistake to put pension with health care benefits. 

"As an attorney I believe in due process and taking away someone's rights by changing the deal in the middle of the game was wrong. We have to look at the spiraling cost of health care and allow people to be involved in the process and come to the table."

On the issue of charter schools in the suburbs, Vella said the taxpayers in the district who are most greatly affected should have the right to vote before a school is approved by the Department of Education.

"With charter schools, you have to make sure that the schools remain accountable and transparent," she said. "I know those sound like buzzwords, but if people don't have a vote in having a charter school come into their town then I think the schools may pop up all over the place, and that will only affect our own great public schools, so we have to be careful."

Vella said that she believes she can cross the aisle and work with Republicans if elected, and also believes Gov. Christie has taken many positive steps to move New Jersey in the right direction.

"When I was going door to door, what was really alarming was seeing so many people in their 40's and 50's without jobs," she said. "Their unemployment is about to run out and that's extremely alarming. We need safety nets and we need to create jobs for these people. Those are the two most important things that I see in this district."

Tomorrow: Incumbent 16th District Senator Christopher "Kip" Bateman