Voters can learn by attending Oct. 27 public forums

EDITORIAL

By Ruth Luse
   For those Hopewell Township registered voters who plan to cast ballots on Nov. 8, the evening of Oct. 27 is an important one.
   Two sessions that should be of interest are scheduled. One is the League of Women Voters’ Candidates’ Night and the other is a final public forum slated by the Hopewell Township Charter Study Commission.
   It is unfortunate that both are being held the same night, but we have been told the Charter Commission could find no other date. So it’s up to voters to make a choice that night, just as it will be on election day.
   Hopewell Township is the only one of the Valley’s three towns to have Nov. 8 races. Four people are running for two three-year terms on the Hopewell Township Committee. They are incumbents Arlene Kemp (Republican) and Vanessa Sandom (Democrat) and newcomers Robert Cacciabaudo (Republican) and John Murphy (Democrat).
   They are expected to participate at Candidates’ Night, which will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the TV studio at Hopewell Valley Central High School, Pennington-Titusville Road. Entrance to the TV studio is through the high school’s main entrance. The public is invited to participate by submitting questions to the candidates.
   Hopewell Borough and Pennington voters who attend Candidates’ Night also can expect to see their Borough Council candidates at the league’s session. All candidates are incumbents and all are running unopposed. They are: Hopewell — Robert Lewis and C. Schuyler Morehouse, both Republicans; and Pennington — Democrats Edwin Weed Tucker and James Lytle. Also running to keep the Pennington seat to which he was appointed is Democrat Joseph Lawver, who replaced Democrat Nancy Ross.
   Voters will be able to see what happened at Candidates’ Night, after the fact, on Comcast channel 19. A schedule appears elsewhere in this edition.
   At 7 p.m. in the township’s Municipal Building, Route 546 and Scotch Road, the Charter Commission will take questions about its recommendation to change the town’s form of government from the township committee form to the mayor-council-administrator form. Township voters will say yes or no to this proposal on Nov. 8. If voters say yes, the existing township committee would cease to exist on Dec. 31, 2006. A new government, composed of six council members and one elected mayor, would be seated on Jan. 1, 2007. If voters say no, the township committee form, which has been used since the 18th century, would remain.
   The commission says it has mailed a copy of the "Charter Study Commission Final Report" to every household in Hopewell Township. So, voters should have all the information they need at their fingertips. But if they are confused and have questions, the Oct. 27 session will enable them to get answers.
   We urge local residents who want to learn more about local candidates to attend the league’s session at the high school. We urge those township voters who have little or no idea how to vote on the commission’s government-form proposal to attend the Charter Commission’s meeting at the Municipal Building.