From the Sidelines: Look out, Mike O'Brien. Here Come the 4-year Presidential Voters

The sad fact is that they are what has been come to be called the "Low Information Voters." Most of these voters don't vote in local elections. In fact, 80 percent of them skip School Board Elections which up until this year included the spending of 65 percent of their local property tax dollar. They moved the school elections to November but we no longer get to vote on budgets.  Almost 60 percent of voters don't vote in local elections unless they get to have a Presidential choice. That is where 20 percent of their property tax dollar is spent. We have those every year in Montville. We also have County Elections every year and Assembly elections every two years. It isn't for lack choice that people don't vote, They have choice. It is simply a lack of interest.

In a Township like Montville it represents a particular challenge to local Democrats. When the Republican Party holds a 3-1 or 4-1 advantage in party registration, voters who don't vote often tend to take the path of least resistance and simply go down the party line. It takes a heck of alot of effort to fight off that wave that flows down ballot. It takes lots of donations and the communication that those dollars can buy to get the attention of people willing to change their voting trend and cross party lines. I won 5 elections in Montville Township and 2 of those were in Presidential Years. Both times I had to run 1500 votes ahead of the Presidential Candidate that was at the head of my Ticket. Both times I won by less than 100 votes.

That brings me to this years Local Democratic Candidate. Mike O'Brien. I have known Mike for many years. He has been a great volunteer for the Community and was a History Teacher at Montville High School for 40 years. He is as qualified a candidate as you will find. The question that he faces is how do you get those low information voters to pay attention and there is alot to pay attention to.

In the 4 years that Montville Township has had One Party Rule, the one party has accumulated $4.8 Million in sewer and water overcharges that they called a surplus. They claim it snuck up on them. They did give back about $2 million but what about the other $2.8 million in money taken out of the rate payers pockets? They also spent $1.3 million for an over priced piece of property from which their supporters benefited. Granted that was County Open space dollars but those are your property tax dollars also. They fight regularly over who is going to be mayor, changed zoning to suit their friends and regularly raid water and sewer to look like they are holding the line on taxes. They have decreased police protection, making the Township less safe and putting extra burdens on dedicated police. You won't hear about any of this from them but if we were a legitimate two party Township either some of this would not happen or at the least you would know about it.

Mike O'Brien is the person who can open the door and let some light in. The Republicans will not. If you haven't paid alot of attention to local government and think that all you want to do is come out and vote for President then I would suggest you take some time and pay attention to the down ballot people who can actually effect your lifestyle more directly. After all if your garbage doesn't get picked up, if your water bill is high and you don't understand it, if you need a police officer and it takes a while to get one because they are understaffed, you aren't going call the President but if you elected him you can call Mike O'Brien and get a real answer. That is how two party government works.