A blog about living in Aberdeen, New Jersey.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Lopsided Governance in Aberdeen

I received an ad in the mail the other day from the Aberdeen Democrats promoting their candidates for Township Council. The ad suggested that the "Aberdeen Democratic Team" has proven itself by fixing roads, installing solar panels, and securing open spaces, but 3 of the 4 candidates weren't even on the Council when those projects were accomplished. What they are really telling you is that the Township is being run by the Democratic Party through the Council, whoever they happen to put in there.

Individuals should run for office, not parties.And parties ought not to be running the town; the Township Council should be in charge. I personally believe in the checks and balances that result from a two party system and would prefer that the Council was, if not balanced, then at least less lopsided. Voters simply don't have adequate access to local political decision making when one party goes into executive session, for example. Where is the give and take? The exposure of bad ideas in press releases or news leaks? Where is the corrective when things are going wrong? Voting Column 2 as the Democrats suggest in their ad won't give you those checks and balances.

There are a lot of big signs and glossy mailings being paid for by the Democratic Party this year, so the machine obviously wants to remain in total control of the Council. The Republicans have yet to make their presence known, so I suppose the Dems will sweep the Council yet again.

There is apparently no political cost to the Democrats for major projects that continue to languish - the pool club, the glass plant, and the railroad plaza. The new senior center seems to be going to a major Democratic contributor in the state. And there is no cost to the Dems for overdeveloping County Road, tapping the free public library's budget allocation, leaving the grass growing tall at our roadsides and the snow piled so high on area sidewalks that our kids have to walk in the street to get to school.

I'll be voting for sunshine on the Council and quality of life in our Township this November.

1 comment:

  1. They've done nothing. It's comical that paving a few pot holed roads is the only accomplishment that they've had and the funny thing is there are tons more of those pot holed roads that haven't been paved yet. The only projects being worked on in aberdeen are the buidling of more townhouses that we don't need. The things we do need like senior housing, a pool club, train station improvements just sit there with no movement in sight.

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