BRIDGEWATER – Twenty-six years after graduating from Hamilton Elementary School,
Bridgewater Council-President Matthew Moench returned on Saturday, February 9th, to kick of
his campaign for Mayor of Bridgewater in the Republican primary against incumbent Mayor
Dan Hayes. Surrounded by a large, energetic crowd of Bridgewater residents, childhood friends,
and his family, Moench formally declared his candidacy to “protect the future of the town from
more taxes, overdevelopment, and a failure to plan for the future.”

“We’re kicking this event off today surrounded by family, friends and Bridgewater residents.
That’s what this campaign is about. Our campaign is about Bridgewater and it’s residents.”
Moench said. “Last week our Mayor kicked off his campaign surrounded by politicians,
lobbyists, developers and special interests. Those are the people whose endorsements our mayor
covets. But they don’t get to decide who our Mayor is. In June, and then in November,
everyone in this room gets to decide who our Mayor is going to be. You get to decide what the
future of this township is going to be. I continually hear when knocking on doors and talking to
residents that they don’t want what this Mayor is proposing for Bridgewater. They want low
taxes they want responsible development and they want to preserve this town for their Children.”

The event began with Matthew’s son Jackson, also a Hamilton School student, leading the crowd
in the Pledge of Allegiance. Moench’s wife Stephanie emceed the program, who told the crowd
a story about how when they first started dating Moench presented his wife with a fancy present
and when she opened it she discovered a voter registration form. “He told me that even if I
didn’t vote the same way he did, there was nothing more important than participating in the
voting process,” Stephanie Moench said. Matthew later joked that his wife did in fact “vote
democrat that first election, although she’s now safely a Republican.”

Councilmen Howard Norgalis and Filipe Pedroso also spoke on behalf of Moench’s candidacy,
along with former Freeholder Patrick Scaglione and Bridgewater Republican Chairman Michael
Kirsh. In a touching moment, Moench was introduced by his former elementary music teacher
and Bridgewater resident Toni Hoffman, who stated that while she taught over 10,500 students in
her career, “Matt always stood out…and with those student numbers you can imagine the
magnitude to that….As I stand here today, it’s hard not to think about those early days, when I
tried to keep Matt from running the halls, and now I am 100% behind him running for mayor. It
is a race that, with your help, he will win, and the voice of the residents will once again be heard
at town hall.”

The theme of the day was looking to the future. “We have a unique opportunity this year. We
have an opportunity to chart our course for the future.” Moench said, adding “When we look to
the future, to development, to Taxes, I want my kids to be able to stay here…Every time we raise
your taxes it makes it harder for you to stay in Bridgewater. It’s death by a thousand cuts.”
Drawing the loudest applause of the morning were Moench’s comments on multiple proposed
development sites “what we don’t need is a thousand apartments in Bridgewater. We’re the ones
who are going to have more people on the roads, we’re the ones that are going to have more
children in the school districts and less tax revenue to pay for all of it..it has to stop, it absolutely
has to stop.”

Moench and his wife Stephanie are both lifelong residents of Bridgewater Township with their
three children Jackson, Emmanuella, and Julia all of whom were in attendance Saturday. He is a
graduate of Rutgers College and Seton Hall Law School and currently works as a lawyer running
his own private law firm. Moench attends Blessed Sacrament Church.

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