During the three years in which Robert Kleinberg has been Marlboro’s mayor, he has drawn most attention by his efforts to posture himself as a corruption crusader. We now know that the corruption fighters were actually working for the U.S. Attorney’s Office and a few brave people who preceded him as mayor. Nonetheless, he sought to leverage the attention he drew to himself in an effort to run for higher office almost from the time he became mayor, unsuccessfully seeking his party’s nomination to run for freeholder twice.
The one thing that Mayor Kleinberg neglected to do was pay attention to his job as mayor. During that time, taxes have skyrocketed so that during his term, Marlboro’s taxes have risen higher than almost every other town in the entire state. As we are paying ever more in taxes, resident services have stagnated with hardly any new facilities or significant programs coming on stream to enhance our quality of life.
Realizing that he can’t run as a corruption crusader or as tax hawk, Mayor Kleinberg is belatedly engaging in windmill action seeking to introduce a flock of new programs so that people will think he’s doing something for residents.
Most recently, he issued a press release saying that he wanted to put a dome over the municipal basketball courts so that we can avoid having to pay the school board rent for our basketball recreation league as well as to provide additional resources.
The problem with Mayor Kleinberg’s press release is that it’s just wrong. The school board does not charge Marlboro rent to use township schools. And it’s against the law to build a permanent dome structure over property designated Green Acres funded property, which only permits outdoor uses. Indeed, at the time Mayor Kleinberg issued his press release, he knew that the state had already verbally ruled against a permanent dome structure.
The important thing to note here is that if left to the mayor’s own devices, residents wouldn’t know that the press release is misleading. You don’t hear any of his colleagues on the Township Council objecting to a press release that they know is inaccurate.
This is what happens when Marlboro’s entire government is controlled by a single party with no checks and balances or oversight. That’s a dangerous situation under any circumstances. It’s doubly so in an environment that is still affected by years of municipal corruption. The price of one-party government is indeed high.
Steven P. Sukel
Marlboro