To the editor
Alec Moore penned a thorough article outlining the goals and objectives of our newest Mayor, Mr. Gwiazdowski. Indeed, much of the article was comprised of direct quotes from Tuesday’s Township Committee Re-Organization meeting.
Unfortunately, Mr. Moore stopped short of relaying one very telling quote: after citing the great need for parks and recreation facilities throughout the town, Mayor Gwiazdowski went on to say that, and I quote: "Between the two football programs, the Dukes and the Jr. Raiders, we have 700 boys playing football, and hundreds of girls cheering them on."
Now had the new mayor extolled the virtues of Hillsborough’s many fine cheerleading programs, nary an eyebrow would have been raised. But in 2003, are the girls still relegated to merely "cheering on" the boys?
Hearing such a seemingly sexist remark made my insides lurch. However, this only goes hand in hand with Mr. Gwiazdowski’s treatment of municipal staff over the past year. The record will show that virtually all of the accusations he levied, in public, were directed solely to the female employees of the township. And Mr. Gwiazdowski was mercilessly unrelenting in his persistent attacks on these women.
He even violated township procedure when attempting to fire Township Administrator Judith Haas, without warning or required notice, without a hearing as to the validity of his claims, without the decency of doing so in private away from TV cameras, at a recent Township Committee meeting. An unfortunate "coincidence" that Ms. Haas suffered chest symptoms that required hospitalization within minutes after this public debacle.
Now factor in the Mr. Gwiazdowski’s new administration’s blatant attempt to marginalize lone Committeewoman Sonya Martin. After successfully winning two elections, serving for two consecutive terms, and diligently attending to every detail of her assignments, Ms. Martin was given absolutely no primary Committee assignment, although she is a full member of the Township Committee. Committeewoman Martin was assigned to assisting Committeeman Joseph Tricarico in overseeing Parks and Recreation. That’s it.
The overwhelming majority of the municipal assignments, that of planning, engineering, budget and finance, public safety, police, fire, rescue, public works and personel, went to the two committeemen with a combined experience of zero years. Bear in mind that together, Dr. Tricarico and Ms. Martin have over eight years of solid experience. It goes without saying that this imbalance in the division of assignments is unprecedented in Hillsborough, no matter what the political divide is.
Given all of these implications, one has to wonder if there is an underlying current of sexism in the way our new mayor perceives the nature of his watch.
Hillsborough

