The Fastest Pencil in Morris County and Other Supposed Surrogate Arts
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Many people have no idea what county surrogates do. And the fact this is an elected office only adds to the voters’ bewilderment.
But for politicians, this is a great job. It pays in excess of $100,000 a year and there really isn’t all that much heavy lifting involved.
So with John Pecoraro retiring as Morris County surrogate after more than a 20-year run, a competitive GOP primary is developing for the party’s nod to run for his seat.
Two of the three candidates, Assemblyman Michael P. Carroll and Freeholder Heather Darling are willing to give up their current posts if successful. The other candidate is Isabella Alfano. The Democratic hopeful, Michael Thompson, is unopposed in the primary.
Both Carroll and Darling hosted small fundraisers about 14 hours apart Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Some people went to both. As you can tell, the excitement of local politics is unrelenting.
All candidates must grapple with quite the pertinent query. Just how do you run for surrogate?
“What am I going to say? I have a faster pencil?” Carroll jokingly asked at his event at Cafe Navona Restaurant in Rockaway.
But Thursday morning at the Park Avenue Club in Florham Park, Darling, of Roxbury, had a more complete answer to the question. She said you run for surrogate by telling people about the need for the services the office provides.
The surrogate, who is technically considered a judge, probates wills and oversees guardianships for those who need them. Darling said rising incidents of autism and an aging population figure to increase the number of individuals needing care.
“You can sit behind a desk, or you can get out and tell people about services,” she said.
It is true that virtually everyone in the county eventually interacts with the surrogate’s office one way or another, After all, in the long run, everyone dies. But this is still an office that doesn’t translate all that well to a bumper sticker slogan.
Carroll of Morris Township suggested that he will rely on the 24 years he has spent in the state Assembly and his related support and service to the Republican party. As one of the few Libertarians in Trenton, Carroll long has garnered support from right-to-lifers, Second Amendment supporters and, generally speaking, anti-government types. Grouped together, this is a big voting bloc in a Republican primary.
Darling for her part is a very energetic campaigner. Some may have noticed her likeness on a van when she ran for freeholder. The van and her likeness are back.
Alfano, who lives in Parsippany didn’t respond this week to an emailed request for comment.
Notwithstanding the relative obscurity of the office, when Pecoraro won the seat more than two decades ago, the campaign was awfully nasty.
How so? Well, a campaign advertisement compared Pecoraro to a rodent trying to gnaw his way to the top. This race may get contentious, but it’s hard to see it getting that “colorful.”
Fred remembers that rat because he wrote the story on it.
Quite disturbing that a Morris County Surrogate candidate minimized the duties of the office they are vying for to PENCIL PUSHING. Thank goodness at least one candidate, Heather Darling, understands the importance and responsibilities of the post.
I feel sorry for Morris County if Assemblyman Michael P. Carroll is elected Surrogate. Pencil Pushing? When a loved one dies and you need to probate the estate you learn very quickly what a Surrogate does. As an attorney and a son who probated many estates, including my parents and mother-in-law I know first hand how important it is to have a Surrogate’s Office staffed by knowledgeable, helpful, compassionate and honest people who recognize the important service they provide to the Community. In my opinion every Surrogate’s office I have been to in New Jersey has been the most helpful, pleasant and easiest branch of the Courthouse to deal with. It is vital that Morris County continue this fine and unbroken tradition of public service for our citizens at what is often one of, if not the most difficult, times in their lives. Heather Darling will do that for Morris County. It would be a huge mistake not to vote her into office. Please don’t risk your vote on someone who thinks the job is about pushing paper. It is about dealing with people, the people you love, the ones you planned your whole life to take care off when you are gone. Yes, it is that important. That’s why I support Heather. She cares about people and if you live and die in Morris County you will want people like her to see that things are done smoothly, easily and right.
Republican candidate Isabella Alfano worked for trusts/estate powerhouse Sotheby’s Auction House for more than two decades, where she efficiently navigated the financial side of its many distributions. Alfano has learned how to work with a varied public while there, and will bring her bilingual language skills to the role of surrogate, greatly expanding the office’s ability to communicate with its Spanish-speaking residents too. It was Alfano’s idea to bring short education seminars about the office’s function and benefits to senior citizens and other county constituents as well as updating its sparse and dated website. Alfano’s ideas, however, were quickly copied and co-opted by unoriginal lawyer Heather Darling, who then enunciated them as if they were her own at every speaking opp she subsequently appeared in!
Alfano has skin in the game because she’s mother to a boy with Autism, who will need extended care well into adulthood to be established for him via one of the very services that surrogate’s office helps to foster. Alfano’s natural warmth, caring and compassion for others will be extremely helpful to any residents who come to the Morris County Surrogate’s Office seeking help for minors and young adults left bereft due to the passing of a loved one. And Darling? She’s bragged more than once that she’s unattached to any familiar relationships, being unmarried with no children and no living parents. Darling doesn’t need the surrogate’s job, she’s told the public during several candidate meet and greets, because she already has a well-paying job as an attorney with her own office. I guess for folks who keep banker’s hours like Darling, giving only part-time attention to a position that manages more than $20 million in assets is business as usual. Not so for Alfano, who’s stated she intends to give the office her full-time attention every single working day. And that’s what the voters want: Representatives that give the people their undivided time and attention. Darling, with her massive bodybuilder’s frame and stiff, chilly delivery when speaking to the public, was a real turnoff for me, whereas Alfano’s nurturing friendly demeanor seems perfectly tailored for consoling, guiding and championing the needs of her soon-to-be citizen clientele.