John Hartmann of Lawrenceville
The Lawrence Township Democratic Committee’s assertion that they opened up the process for selecting a replacement for former Councilman Mark Holmes shows two things. First, that they are out of touch with the voters. Second, that they are out of touch with reality.
It was only through the determination of Councilmen Rick Miller and Bob Bostock that the public had the chance to learn anything about the three nominees for the vacancy before a replacement was named.
Here are the facts:
On Dec. 23, then-Mayor Mark Holmes scheduled a special meeting for Dec. 30 to interview the three replacement nominees, for just 15 minutes each, in closed session.
On Dec. 28, Councilmen Rick Miller and Bob Bostock informed their Democratic colleagues that they would not attend this closed meeting because they believed the interviews should be open to the public and press and should be more than a cursory 15 minutes long. They proposed an alternative that would also include getting resumes and statements of candidacies from the three nominees.
That same day, then-acting mayor Pam Mount flatly refused to agree to Mr. Miller and Mr. Bostock’s request, and on Dec. 30 went ahead, and in an obvious case of political grandstanding, tried to convene a meeting she knew could not take place because no quorum would be present.
On Jan. 6, at a regularly scheduled council meeting, Councilmen Miller and Bostock again tried to convince their Democratic colleagues to agree to the process they had outlined in their Dec. 28, request: a resume, a statement of candidacy, and an open, public interview with each candidate. The Democrats again refused.
On Jan. 7, Mr. Miller and Bostock wrote directly to the three nominees, asking each of them to provide the background information they had been seeking and to agree to an open, public interview.
On Jan. 12, the Democrats finally relented and agreed to provide background information on each candidate and to attend an open, public interview.
On Jan. 20, Mr. Miller and Mr. Bostock interviewed the three candidates in an open, public meeting attended by about 20 Lawrence residents and by reporters from all area newspapers. Although Mrs. Mount and Mr. Powers attended, they declined to participate in the interviews.
For more than two weeks, the Democrats fought Mr. Miller and Bostock’s attempts to create an open, thorough process for filling the council vacancy. In the end, seeing that they would not be allowed to get away with their cynical, backroom ploy, they relented and agreed to Mr. Miller and Mr. Bostock’s request.
The Democrats have been in control in Town Hall for 13 straight years. It’s obvious that they have grown so accustomed to exercising absolute power that they believe they are accountable to no one. The arrogance with which they have acted in the wake of Mr. Holmes’ resignation is matched only by their disrespect for good, open process and for the residents of our township. Their actions are a real disappointment.
