Brower Optimistic for Fourth Term

Sitting Committee Member Bailey Brower, Jr. feels "great" about his chances in Tuesday's primary election.

"There's been a low turnout, and usually it's the [committed] Republicans who come out and vote," Brower said after casting his ballot Tuesday.

Brower is one of four Republican candidates running for two available seats on the Chatham Township Committee. He is currently serving a third term on the committee, and is the only candidate running as a sitting member.

The committee member came to attention recently in the township after a private resident, not a political opponent in the race, paid for signs which read "Anybody But Brower" and placed them throughout the township. Brower said he thinks the signs may have helped his performance in the polls rather than hurt it.

"People called me incensed and asked what they could do," Brower said. "[Mayor] Nicole [Hagner] was really upset over the signs when she found out."

Hagner and the other two committee members with years left in their terms, Kevin Tubbs and Bob Gallop, endorsed Brower and his running mate, Jeff Furbish, in the primary election. Brower said the endorsement came as a surprise, especially from Hagner.

"I didn't think she'd be able to give any attention to the local scene, with the big election," he said, referring to Hagner's run for State Assembly this primary.

The citizen who paid for the signs is opposed to a new farming ordinance which the committee is entertaining. The ordinance has not yet been drafted, and a subcommittee of Hagner and Gallop will meet Wednesday to begin outlining a draft.

Brower, a lifelong resident of Chatham Township, is in favor of allowing farming. He said that allowing small farms in Chatham of under five acres is in keeping with the town's history as a farming community.

"If people want to farm three, four, five acres of their own land and sell their produce at the farmer's market, to me, it's not even an issue. It's not like it's a 200-acre hydroponic farm here."

The Brower-Furbish campaign sent mailings to registered Republicans and hired people, called walkers, to hand out publicity information door-to-door. Brower said the feedback he received from the community was "great," and he looks forward to another term on the committee.

Brower said he has an event to attend Tuesday evening, but he plans to head to the Chatham Township Municipal Building at around 8:30 p.m. to watch the results come in.