Melinda Kane, a longtime Cherry Hill resident, Gold Star mother and small-business owner, will be moving up from her seat on township council to the Camden County Board of Freeholders.
Kane served on council for more than seven years, from her election in November 2011, so her absence at its latest meeting, back on March 25, was conspicuous.
Later that week, she resigned her seat on council, required to do so before being sworn in on the freeholder board, selected to fill the spot vacated by Bill Moen. Moen had resigned his freeholder position to run for the soon-to-be open Assembly seat in New Jersey’s 5th District with the expected retirement of Assemblywoman Patricia Egan Jones.
Though tasked with new and greater responsibilities, Kane won’t be leaving the place she calls home.
“Part of my duties as a freeholder will be in Cherry Hill, and I reside here. I’m very excited. Part of me is looking for new opportunities, and to take on new challenges in new and different ways. I know Cherry Hill is in great hands going forward. The work and the relationships I’ve made will continue as well,” she said during an interview with The Sun on April 3.
Born and raised in Buffalo through some turbulent times in America, Kane’s values and the values that led her to the Democratic Party were formed through public service and interest in the issues of the day.
“I was a very involved person growing up. I spent time in B’nai B’rith, and as a regional vice president with the BBYO (formerly B’nai Brith Youth Organization) which helped me receive skills in leadership and involvement with different social actions from the 1970s: Equal Rights Amendment, Title IX, all other social issues which occured in that time period,” she related.
Kane was first motivated to run for public office after the death of her son, Jeremy, in a suicide-bomb attack in Afghanistan in January 2010. Jeremy had been a criminal justice major at Rutgers University-Camden before enlisting in the Marines, and made the ultimate sacrifice mere months after arriving.
Kane plans to continue her work on behalf of veterans and current military during this next step in the journey up the political ladder.
“I’d always been interested in the business of Camden County itself, and I knew people there who were involved in veterans affairs. One of the things on council we’re acutely aware of is, what happens in Cherry Hill affects the rest of the county, we’re not on an island and we see what goes on as a whole,” she said.
“Bill and I had discourse and worked together in the past at different county-wide veteran events, talking about service and veterans and how to continue fighting for them. I look forward to doing the same.”
Kane will have to run again this November to win a full term to the all-Democratic freeholder board. The Cherry Hill Democratic Committee is required to present three nominees to succeed Kane on township council to fill the void left by her resignation.
Council will then appoint one of the three to take the open seat. The decision may take place as soon as council’s next meeting, which was to occur on April 8.
