Letters to the editor

The party’s over
To the editor:
   It is with a heavy heart that I must write this letter. I am a lifelong Republican. I registered to vote Republican for the first election after my 18th birthday, 35 years ago. I have voted Republican continuously in every General Election since and have only missed voting in a few primary elections. Now it is with great sorrow that I am being forced to change my party affiliation because of underhanded politics. let me explain.
   Our Republican Party has been administered on the local level by a Committeeman and a Committeewoman. It is up to them to screen candidates for office and decide locally what the issues may be. I have advocated open primaries for years but have continually been told that the process is to have the Committee people endorse candidates after they screen.
   The Republican screening was to be held at Committeewoman Gail Pedrick’s house on Tuesday, Feb. 13. I wrote Ms. Pedrick that I was interested in screening, a I am an incumbent Republican Borough Councilman. However, since the screening was to be held during a Borough Council meeting, I would not be able to attend. I did say that I would attend if it were scheduled at any other time. I was informed that the meeting was changed to Monday night Feb. 26. My suspicions of how business is conducted by our Committee people were confirmed. Instead of a crowded roomful of people, the only people who attended were Committeewoman Pedrick, Stephen Stahl appointed Committeeman, the fired ex-police chief Robert Brobson and myself. The Committee people announced who had contacted them and expressed interest running for the various offices. I was the only incumbent for any office in attendance. I was surprised that the Committeewoman stated that the choices for endorsed candidates would not be made until after all petitions have been filed after the closing deadline of March 6. I expected, having been elected in a landslide in 1997, to get the nod. Instead, I got put off.
   Now here is my problem, the appointed Committeeman is a reprehensible individual who has high-jacked Borough Council meetings in his attempt to bully residents and Borough Council into supporting his friend the fired ex-chief Brobson. To my knowledge he is an ultra-liberal. He has only voted here in New Hope four times, yet he has lived here for over 13 years. It appears that this man and our Committeewoman are going to run a slate of candidates whose sole purpose is to re-ensconce the fired ex-police chief Brobson.
   It is clear to me that although I am a lifelong Republican and lifelong resident of New Hope, I will not be endorsed by these Committee people. I will be tricked into filing as a Republican and not be endorsed causing me to either lose in the primary or not be allowed to file in any other way.
   When I last ran for office I had participated in a coalition government of Republicans and Democrats who decided that the corruption of the New Hope Police Department had gone on for far too long. We won in a landslide. We acted, as no previous Council cared to act, to clean up that corruption. although thwarted in many attempts by the incompetent Mayor Larry Keller, we made great strides. We did not set out to fire ex-chief Brobson, but when he continued to display an unwillingness to cooperate or to change his ways, then as a responsible Council we had to act.
   The thought of Mr. Brobson running for office and making decisions on Borough Council, when as a chief he bilked the community out of thousands of dollars of "comp-time," is unthinkable. The thought of the hard-nosed and insensitive police officers that he allowed to roam free in our community makes good people shudder. The thought of the $112,000 settlement paid to him by the borough and the additional $100,000 being paid to him by our insurance company must make citizen’s blood boil. The one thing you can bank on about Mr. Brobson is that it is always about the money.
   This attempt to re-grab power by him defines this personality to perfection.
   New Hope cannot survive Mr. Brobson on Borough Council. I cannot run for Council on the same slate as he. Therefore, I have no choice but to change my party affiliation. Effective Monday, March 5, I will change my lifelong Republican Party membership to Independent. I will form a separate party to oppose this madness and together we will offer New Hope a sane third choice for decent leadership.
   I encourage all like-minded people to get in touch with me by e-mail. I will host a meeting, at a time and place to be announced later, to put into effect his important change. Together we will move New Hope forward into the future.

Community thanked
To the editor:
   I want to thank all the community members on both sides of the river who have stepped up to support the Friends of the A.H. Holcombe House’s March 12 Benefit. The area has been so supportive — restaurants, contributors and volunteers have all jumped it to make this a bigger success than even we had hoped for. It’s been a truly wonderful experience and another example that we are not as a community divided by a river.
   The good news is that we have in fact sold out the Monday night Gourmet Grazing at The Fish House. Unfortunately that means some supporters had to be turned away this year. We encourage anyone who is interested in our next FUNdraiser to drop a postcard with their name, address and phone number to me at 22 Quarry Street, Lambertville, NJ 08530 or to Robin Larsen at 4 Runnemede, New Hope, Pa. 18938 to ensure receiving an invitation by mail for our next great event to benefit the Friends of The A.H. Holcombe House. Thank you for the support.