Montclair Rejects Candidate Seeking to Reduce Spending MONTCLAIR, N.J. - Voters in this historically liberal town rejected on Tuesday a mayoral candidate who had campaigned on a platform of reducing spending and debt and freezing taxes. The candidate, Karen Turner, placed second in the three-way race. Robert Jackson, a real estate developer, won, with his slate sweeping all but one of the six council seats that were also at stake. Mr. Jackson won with a 48 percent plurality in the township of about 37,000, which had an unusually high turnout, with more than 8,000 voters. Ms. Turner received 31 percent of the vote, according to the Essex County clerk, and her slate of three other candidates all lost. The third candidate, Harvey Susswein, a retired management consultant, received 21 percent of the vote. The debate during the campaign reflected the national debate over spending and closed with an often vicious round of robo-calls, fliers and accusations. In the final 24 hours, Mr. Jackson's slate released an audio clip of a town council meeting where Ms. Turner asked, "Is it essential to have the library?" and suggested that schoolchildren could instead use the school libraries. For years, the town had used debt to balance its budget, borrowing to pay for operating costs as well as several expensive school building projects. The debt has more than doubled in 10 years, as have taxes. The three mayoral candidates and their slates had all argued to keep taxes flat and reduce the town's debt. Mr. Jackson argued that the town should increase its revenue by developing more real estate, to avoid tax increases. Mr. Susswein campaigned on a promise to work more with neighboring towns and the county to reduce the amount the town spends on services like police dispatching and trash collection. Ms. Turner, who started a group called Concerned Citizens of Montclair after her husband said that they had to leave the town because taxes were rising so much, had argued that the town had to examine its spending, including benefits for town employees.