NewsWhore
11-06-2008, 04:31 PM
Dominican doctor Alex Blanco was elected mayor of Passaic, New Jersey on US Election Day, and is the first Dominican to be elected mayor in US history. Cid Wilson, former president of the Dominican-American Round Table, called the election "a historic achievement." Dr. Blanco, a podiatrist, won in a five-man race for the unexpired term of former mayor Samuel "Sammy" Rivera who resigned after he was sentenced for accepting bribes in exchange for approving city contracts. He defeated runner-up Vincent Capuana by 400 votes. Blanco, who is a member of the Passaic Board of Education, won with 3,872 or 28.01% of the vote. Code enforcement inspector/School Board president, Capuana received 3,465 votes, real estate developer Jose Sandoval received 2,741 votes, landlord/City Councilman Jose Garcia received 2,626 and bail bondsman Carl Ellen received 1,052 votes. The election was regarded as the most highly-contested local race in Passaic County. Passaic is a small town of 56,665 residents, 37,873 of whom are Hispanic, according to census figures, and the city has been without a mayor since May when Samuel Rivera resigned after being sentenced to 21 months in a federal prison. The Mayor-elect was born in La Vega 36 years ago, arriving in the United States at the age of 12. He will take over the mayor's job for the six months remaining in Rivera's term, until 30 June 2009. Rivera. Blanco promised a change in the administration of Passaic and said that he would do away with corruption. He said "we will work for the unity of Passaic in order to eliminate the division that has worked against us for years. We will work to unite the Hispanics with all of the communities." In New Jersey, Democrat Barack Obama, the President-elect of the United States, won 57% of the popular vote.
For more background on the new mayor, see: www.myheraldnews.com/view.html?type=stories&action=detail&sub_id=42291 (http://www.myheraldnews.com/view.html?type=stories&action=detail&sub_id=42291)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#8)
For more background on the new mayor, see: www.myheraldnews.com/view.html?type=stories&action=detail&sub_id=42291 (http://www.myheraldnews.com/view.html?type=stories&action=detail&sub_id=42291)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#8)