‘The people have spoken,” said Upper Freehold Mayor Stephen Fleischacker Nov. 7 in a local daily newspaper, reacting to his electoral defeat.
In rejecting Mr. Fleischacker, Upper Freehold voters have indeed spoken. They have rejected the thousand-plus homes his master plan would bring to our township.
I strongly caution Mayor Fleischacker and his allies, Committeemen Bill Miscoski and David Reed, not to defy the will of the people. Do not attempt to rush a master plan through the Planning Board before you lose your 3-2 majority on the Township Committee in January when a new propreservation majority takes office.
We have just been through three years of costly, divisive and inconclusive debate over a master plan. That debate contributed heavily to Fleischacker’s defeat and to the defeat of Sal Diecidue last year. We can wait a few more months to craft a plan that responds to the will of the voters and hopefully can build consensus and thus end some of the bitterness that has characterized Upper Freehold politics. Trying to ram a developer-friendly plan through now will create turmoil on a scale not yet seen in our town.
With the imminent departure of Fleischacker and Miscoski from the Township Committee, we have a chance to restore some credibility and openness to our electoral process and municipal government. If you can’t be honest about whom you are running with and supporting in the election, how can you be trusted on anything once in office? That question, as much as the development issue, caused Fleischacker’s political demise.
Newly elected Committeeman Stan Moslowski starts out with a major credibility problem due to his obvious involvement with the ill-fated “independent” candidacies of Fleischacker and Jennifer Coffey. Moslowski will need to demonstrate a scrupulous fairness devoid of a personal agenda if he is to succeed in office and not go the way of his friends Fleischacker and Diecidue.
For the sake of Upper Freehold, I wish Mr. Moslowski and Committeewoman-elect Lori Horsnall-Mount great success with crafting the master plan and the other formidable challenges they face in governing this contentious town.
Chris Berzinski
Upper Freehold