Candidate Wants to Bring Communication Skills to Committee

Curt Ritter is no stranger to how to communicate during a crisis. After he attended the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University, the candidate for Chatham Township Committee worked in the public relations department for Mayor Rudy Giuliani in New York City, where he served as the mayor's first deputy press secretary.

Six months after he left the mayor's office for a position  at a real estate investment trust, terrorists attacked the city on 9/11. Ritter was asked to return to Giuliani's press office to help rebuild the mayor's press offices, which were destroyed in the attacks. There, he said, "I helped organize dignitary visits and mayoral press conferences."

Ritter's name is familiar to Chatham residents as the founder and president of the annual Chatham Turkey Trot, a run in the Highlands section of Chatham Township which raises money for the Chatham Township Fire Department and the Diabetes Research Institute. Both his daughter and nephew have diabetes.

"What started four years ago with about 100 runners just running around our small neighborhood around here has evolved over the years to over 435 runners last year," Ritter said. "Over the course of those four years we have raised over $25,000."

He is also a former member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment and teaches religious education at Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church. He is also the communications chair for the Chatham Education Foundation and is the director of communications for CIT in Livingston.

"I've always been involved in the community one way or the other," Ritter said.

Ritter grew up in New Vernon and attended Delbarton, where he is also a former member of the board and former president of the Delbarton Alumni Association. He moved to Chatham ten years ago with his wife Jennifer, where their three children were born.

Ritter, along with Daniel Miller and Deputy Mayor Robert Gallop, is running for two available seats on the Chatham Township Committee. All three are Republicans.

The two candidates who win the most votes in the June 4 primary will go on to an uncontested general election in November and will take office in January 2014. The terms will last three years.