From the Sidelines: Oh Brother and Sister Democrats, Where Art Thou?

In the last election, the Democratic Candidate for Montville Township Committee, Mike O"Brien, received over 3200 votes so I know you are out there somewhere.

I myself managed to win 5 elections and serve 15 years. Jean Bader won twice under the Democratic banner and served for 6 years. 

Many other Democrats have run and received well over 2000 votes. Those are not insignificant numbers of Montville Township Residents who chose not to support the ruling party. They may not all be Registered Democrats but a large portion of them are.

One thing that is true of our party that isn't true of the other is that we also get a fair number of independents voting for us. It is a number well over our number of registered Democrats in town. The Republicans rarely have vote totals exceeding their registration. For them it is about organization.

For us it is about participation and persuasion. Montville has elections every year and for every year for the last 23 we have had Democrats on the Ballot and some of them have won. Now we face a crossroads and we need your Democratic participation.

Montville Township has been run under one party Republican rule for the past 7 years. In fact they have had control since 1962. Lest you think there are no issues or that it doesn't matter consider the following. They raised sewer rates only to develop a $4.8 million surplus ( payments they didn't need). They gave rate payers a $2 million refund in the form of a sewer payment Holiday and promised lower rates in the future. Now that promise is broken and rates will go back up to what they were without much real explanation. 

In closed a session deal that finally became public they arranged the purchase of land from political supporters and potential business partners for $1.3 million in County open-space funds. Those are your tax dollars. They refused to reveal the sellers in a public meeting. Infrastructure is declining and our Township workforce including Police are losing ground in terms of manpower. The Police Study was a joke and could well have been handled internally without the cost. Those are just the highlights.

There are many more issues to talk about. You will notice that these are not really partisan issues. There are in fact very few issues that come before the Township that could be labeled either Democratic or Republican but they are issues of one exclusive team running the Township. Call it Team A, if you want. What this Township really needs is a Representative of Team B. Call it a watchdog or open government doesn't matter but the people need someone there to watch and report what really goes on.    That is where you fellow Democrats come in.

You have taken the time to register and vote as Democrats. That is your belief system or political bent and now what is needed is for you to get involved. I am asking you for the good of the Township to step up.

You can contact me if you want to help in any way. My cell is 973-723-0403. My e-mail is dgran7147@aol.com. Feel free to contact me even if it is just to ask some questions.