Thanks to Astrococktail for this delicious tidbit: An article in the Sentinel in New Jersey reports that three council members have birthdays within a 5-day span, and proceeds to consult a reputable astrologer (founder and president of the Academy of Astrology in New Jersey):

Mayor Francis “Mac” Womack and Councilmen Ralph Andrews, Bob Davis and Carlo Socio all have birthdays within five days of one another, but one area astrologer feels there’s no correlation between their birthdays and their rise to elected office.

Steven Joseph Sinopoli, the founder and president of The Academy of Astrology in New Jersey, said that compatibility and personality analysis is most dependent on time of birth, not the birth date. [This is not entirely true, other factors are more important such as Mercury and Mars compatibility and aspects between the charts.]

::details on each individual snipped::

Andrews said the makeup of the council is effective because the councilwomen are community-based, Davis is a fiery, exuberant individual, Socio lacks shyness, and Womack is the statesman, holding the group together, which was pinpointed by Sinopoli.

“We all get along real well. We’re fairly respectful of each other. I don’t know, [maybe] what we do with our birthdays has to do with making up who we are,” Andrews said. “I’m certainly not one to argue with the stars. If that’s what the stars say, the stars must be right. … To come together this way, it may be meant to be. I don’t know.”

“What we have here … is a vast amount of different personalities. Two people can be born on the same day, [but] that doesn’t mean they have the same personality. Even twins do not have the same personality, because they are minutes apart,” Sinopoli said. “In astrology, every four minutes equals one degree and one degree by solar motion is a year, one degree by lunar motion is a month. … Where you are on your birth day surely is going to set a precedent for the year ahead, so that’s the complexities of astrology.”

Since many skeptics do exist in society, the council is unsure if the stars actually brought them to the board, but they enjoyed learning about their personality characteristics.

“Now that this has been brought up, it’s kind of fun to look back and think about it, because in a way it does make some sense,” [Councilman] Socio said. “Whether it’s a coincidence or just the way it is, it’s wild.”

The article has some inaccuracies, but it’s always good to see astrology presented in mainstream press in all of its complex glory to help battle the bad press we get from newspaper horoscopes.