Middlesex County has an unethical politician named H. James Polos who is presently running again for a position on the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders. He will tell you how much he is doing for you.
County advisory councils have bylaws that they have to abide by. When an elected official does not think much of an advisory council or its bylaws and totally ignores them, the official does not deserve to hold public office.
The Middlesex County Area Transit (MCAT) Advisory Council, formerly known as the Middlesex County Area-Wide Transportation System (AWTS), that only meets four times a year, is no different. An application is submitted to an advisory council, as I did more than a year ago with the best of intentions. The application was voted on and accepted by the membership committee, then submitted to the freeholder liaison to be voted on by the freeholders.
Mr. Polos is going to sit on my application indefinitely because he, who does not even know me, does not approve of me. This freeholder appointed a woman from his town who the council never met or voted on. I don’t believe the committee even saw her application, if she filled one out. It seems Polos recently appointed four more people, three of whom the council never met. I wonder if their applications went past the membership committee. In the past, four people that I know of were not reappointed because they spoke up. If you attend a meeting, express no opinion or complaint, you are guaranteed to be appointed or reappointed.
This all happened because I asked questions, made suggestions and statements at advisory councils and brought up bad experiences on a county bus. Why should all buses not have first-aid kits? Why should all buses not have working radios to communicate with their base? Why should the air-conditioners not work all summer and not be repaired?
Why should it take two and a half hours to get me home after a transportation meeting, when the trip is a half-hour? There is a 90-minute window from the time of the meeting or appointment. I waited two hours, and no bus even showed up. Instead of the driver being cautioned, I was charged with a no-show.
I plan to continue to attend the meetings, and if I have something to say, I will say it under the public sessions. This is still America, and people have the right to speak up without penalty.
Freeholders are elected officials who are supposed to work for the people. If they refuse to do that, then vote them out of office and vote in someone who will.
Alan Weinrib
South River