Gen. Eisenhower once said that there can be no leadership without integrity. I have begun to question the integrity and leadership of our mayor, Jun Choi. I thought he would be a change in the right direction for the township, which is riddled with division and corruption. It is disappointing to say that in two years little has changed.
Mayor Choi’s insecure and secretive behavior is worrisome; he seems paranoid and jittery, unable to make clear decisions when faced with any opposition by residents; even abusing the legal system to intimidate known activists. I read of his desperate need to depoliticize the Edison Police Department by jumping ranks, a move that seems by design to demoralize any employee who works hard yet refuses to join the mayor’s bandwagon. It should be noted that the only police that were promoted worked on his campaign in 2005. This act in itself has caused more division in our town.
Choi and his council campaigned on an open government, yet they are shutting down the council meetings at 11 p.m. Never has this been done before. Even under former Mayor George Spadoro’s rule, council meetings would continue until every last resident said their piece. It seems that residents are struggling to receive their requests for township documents in a timely manner, and more troubling is that the township attorney is billing thousands of dollars to review what residents are requesting.
Finally and of most concern is the mysterious lack of audio at the last council meeting where citizen after citizen spoke out against many of Mayor Choi’s decisions, including a massive 11-percent tax increase.
Choi’s call for unity will continue to ring hollow until he begins to work along with the people he has been elected to serve. He should be reminded that as Aristotle said, “A common danger unites even the bitterest of enemies.”
Lin Ziskoski
Edison