By: centraljersey.com
Our nation’s eminence depends upon our leadership in science and technology. Countless public policy decisions are made by a Congress with four scientists.
We are fortunate to have one of the few physicists representing us in the 12th District: Rush Holt. The testimony of many of his colleagues is an affirmation of Mr. Holt’s sage advice on science and technology. Mr. Holt has led the Congress in providing funding for science and math education, research, child nutrition, and computer-based voting machines.
As terrorism has so dominated the national dialogue, Mr. Holt’s understanding of security as the chairman of the Select Intelligence Oversight Panel has proven invaluable. It would be a travesty if the 12th District did not return Mr. Holt to his position of prominence in Congress.
Robert H. Harris Hopewell
Disappointing debate between candidates
To the editor:
On Oct. 18, my wife, two sons (ages 11 and 13) and I attended the Holt-Sipprelle debate hosted by Young Israel of East Brunswick and moderated by Eric Scott of NJ 101.5 Radio.
We were looking forward to a lively exchange of ideas on the many critical issues facing the 12th Congressional District and our nation. What we got was a juvenile mudslinging contest.
This was a disappointing outcome for several reasons.
First, there are important issues facing our congressional district, our state and our country in this election and during the next two years heading to the presidential election in 2012. There is general agreement about the problems we face both at home and abroad. To spend so much of the hour-long debate focusing on ad hominem attacks, innuendo and guilt-by-association does a disservice to the real problems facing all of us.
As my son put it, "these guys sound like third graders on the playground." (I think that’s an insult to third graders.)
Second, I believe that each of the candidates is a good, decent man, who wants to do what he thinks is best for the people of the 12th Congressional District and the country. Each exhibited an impressive level of intelligence, creativity and grasp of the issues. Each wants to commit his professional life over the next two years to public service, a path that entails family and economic sacrifices.
As any student of American politics will tell you, there is a long history of vitriolic personal attacks in campaigns at all levels, a tradition that continues to this day throughout the United States. Naively, I suppose, I expected more of these candidates.
How refreshing it would have been last evening if, toward the end of the debate, when asked by the moderator to say something nice about his opponent, one of the candidates had responded, "[Rush] [Scott] has my admiration. I may disagree with him on many issues and I do not like where he wants to take this country, but I appreciate the commitment he is bringing to this campaign and to solving the problems facing our district, our state and our country."
Instead, we got more mud.
Brad Middlekauff Princeton
Koontz an advocate for fiscal restraint
To the editor:
I am writing to strongly urge the voters of Mercer County to support Andrew Koontz for Mercer County freeholder. Mr. Koontz has a clear-eyed understanding of the two most important issues facing the residents of our county: property taxes and jobs, and he has good ideas for how to tackle both.
As a Princeton Borough councilman, Mr. Koontz has been a strong advocate for responsible budgeting and fiscal restraint. He understands that government must live within its means. He is an effective advocate for shared services between municipalities to create greater efficiencies. As a freeholder, he would look for ways for the county to assist municipalities in delivering needed services as a way to control property taxes.
Mr. Koontz understands that making Mercer County a great place to do business is the first step in meeting the challenge of creating jobs. He will work to ensure Mercer County residents can get excellent and up-to-date training, especially in the fast-developing green jobs sector, so that businesses can find workers with the training they need to be competitive.
I know Mr. Koontz is an energetic, hard-working public official with good ideas. He has my vote for freeholder. On Nov. 2, join me in supporting him and his running mates, Paula Sollami-Covello for clerk, and Anthony Carabelli for freeholder.
Marilyn Silverman Hamilton
Township candidates have demonstrated leadership
To the editor:
As Township Committee addresses the challenges of reducing costs and creating efficiencies in local government while also addressing the harsh realities of our state’s regressive property tax system, I hope they will keep in mind the values that define our community.
Although a slash-and-burn approach to budgeting may appeal to our frustrations in the current economic climate, Township Committee must be sensitive to the impact of reckless cuts – the kind often promised in the vacuum of a political campaign – on our long-term financial and social health. Of greatest importance to me are the policies and services that preserve our diversity as a community and create for our children a place to grow up that they will be proud to call their hometown.
Of course many other aspects of local governance are of similar importance, such as environmental regulation and sensible land use, strong recreation programs, town-gown relations that are both innovative and respectful, and the range of human services required by our populations in need, to name a few. It all must be affordable and difficult choices lie ahead.
Yet most important is whom we elect to make these choices. In this spirit, I will be voting for Lance Liverman and Liz Lempert for Township Committee. They have track records in local government that demonstrate the strength of their leadership in pursuit of responsible policies that serve our community values. I commend them for their positive campaign addressed to the full array of issues that will challenge our Township Committee in the next three years.
Walter Bliss Princeton
Greenstein fights to make government transparent
To the editor:
On Nov. 2, voters in the 14th Legislative District will be going to the polls to vote for a new state senator. Linda Greenstein has the experience and tenacity we need in the state Senate. She has spent her years in the New Jersey Assembly fighting to clean up government and rid the system of corrupt politicians.
Ms. Greenstein has made it easier to arrest and prosecute corrupt public officials. She fought for tougher corruption penalties by increasing fines to up to half a million dollars, imposing prison sentences of up to 20 years, mandating the loss of pension and retirement benefits, and allowing the state to recover illegal profits.
Ms. Greenstein authored the clean elections law, sponsored one of the toughest play-to-pay bans in the nation, and is now fighting for the full disclosure of campaign contributions and public contracts.
Ms. Greenstein is one of the most ethical people I have ever met. She is consistently fighting to make government more transparent. With Linda Greenstein as our state senator, we will have a representative who is working for us. That is why, on Nov. 2, I will be casting my vote for Linda Greenstein.
Mike Donnelly West Windsor
Candidate works to make New Jersey a safer place
To the editor:
Linda Greenstein has been on the front lines of fighting for laws that make people safer throughout the state of New Jersey. From strengthening Megan’s Law, which created the sex offender registry to authoring Jessica Rogers’ law, which creates harsher penalties for people whose cause injury due to road rage, Ms. Greenstein has always fought to protect our children and families.
Ms. Greenstein has supported tougher penalties for identify theft and protected the rights of fraud victims. She is continuing to stop scammers from preying on New Jerseyans. She supported creating the Do Not Call registry, providing relief from telemarketers.
Ms. Greenstein sponsored a law establishing the "Silver Alert System," similar to the "Amber Alert System," which notifies the public when people who are believed to be suffering from dementia or other cognitive impairments are missing.
Ms. Greenstein authored the law, endorsed by the AARP, to protect New Jerseyans from the spread of infectious diseases at hospitals and requiring the public disclosure of preventable medical errors. This law requires hospitals to test for common types of infections to protect us from exposure to dangerous diseases as well as prohibit hospitals from charging patients for mistakes that hospitals make.
Ms. Greenstein has been an advocate for our children, our parents and us. As our state senator she will be able to continue her fight to protect our families. I will be casting my vote for Linda Greenstein on Nov 2. I urge you to do the same.
Susan Connolly Parris West Windsor
Holt is accessible to his constituents
To the editor:
I was shocked to hear Scott Sipprelle accuse Congressman Rush Holt of not serving his constituents.
I have never known a congressman to be as accessible to his constituents, and transparent in his voting record as Mr. Holt (e.g. Mr. Holt has responded to all voter guide questionnaires while Mr. Sipprelle has refused to disclose his views). He is always ready to help those in the 12th District from Social Security snafus to child abduction by estranged parents, from veteran suicides to weather related crop losses sustained by farmers. Mr. Holt helps resolve constituent problems.
Furthermore, all Americans are helped when Mr. Holt fights for integrity in elections with a voter-verified paper ballot and an audit, or when he protects consumers against the unfair practices of the health insurance industry, the banking industry, and credit card companies, or as he protects the environment.
It is not surprising that the millionaires and Big Business are trying to unseat him by pouring vast sums of money into the dissemination of lies and distortions. Mr. Holt stands with us ordinary Americans, to give us a fair shot at the American Dream, and prevent us from being trampled by corporate power. We are grateful for his integrity as he serves the public, and encourage everyone to re-elect this excellent congressman.
Adria Lique Hopewell
Guide us wisely in choosing a course
To the editor:
Winter approaches. You need a sweater. Your credit card debt is already too high. What to do?
That’s the matter of weighing the consequences of your not buying that sweater. Certain politicians totally miss telling us what the consequences for not having the health insurance bill would have been. Our health expenditures go steeply up with medical innovation and the aging population, also with our own living longer Do we really want millions of uninsured citizens, children, the old, and possibly ourselves ending up in misery – while the health insurance companies increase their profits?
No "public option" for health insurance buying was the cry! Why not also privatize the military – as Venice did employing Colleoni or the Vatican employing Duke Montefeltro. Both got immensely rich, the mercenaries were employed and those governments did not have to mess with another public service. Medicare and a "public option" for health insurance are similar options. Some of us want essential services in the hands of dedicated public servants and elected government.
Spending on TARP: Did TARP keep unemployment down? How much was repaid anyway?
Cut-back on taxation. Consequence: less money for government. Consequence: More unemployed and less services. Let’s not cut taxes until the politicians tell us where they will cut services.
Do our politicians take us for stupid or think that exciting ideological emotion will be the answer for the cold winter coming? Please compare expenditures or tax cuts with the consequences and alternatives. Guide us wisely in choosing the right course.
Helmut Schwab Princeton
Channel voters’ anger to help the majority
To the editor:
So many New Jerseyans are said to be angry this year and will be voting for the party out of power. However, a vote cast in blind, angry reaction is a vote wasted.
This is especially true here in the 12th Congressional District, in which Rush Holt is up for re-election. Most people cannot name any aspect of Mr. Holt’s platform that upsets them. Yet, they are ready to deprive him of his voice in Congress by voting for Scott Siprelle.
It’s as if this one act can magically erase the pernicious effects of the years of Republican control, when we went from budget surplus to huge deficits, entered one war under false pretenses while ignoring the real war, created the conditions under which the rich prospered while everyone else languished, supported the interests of big business rather than those of the average citizens, and used fear to turn people away from real health care improvements.
A vote for Mr. Siprelle, a Wall Street millionaire who now denounces Wall Street, instead of Mr. Holt, may be a temporary vent for that anger, but it does not represent a logical policy choice. We need to vote for the candidate that best represents the interests of most people, rather than those of large corporate entities.
Yet this is exactly what Mr. Siprelle is about. He is against regulating the corporations that caused the meltdown, he is against assistance for the unemployed, and he is against realistically improving health care except through individual savings accounts, which only the richest of us can afford.
Mr. Siprelle, along with most Republicans, casts the government as the enemy to be minimized. It is Mr. Holt who sees government as the protector the average person against the demands of the corporations and the wealthy. It was government who passed the GI Bill, who built the interstate highways, who created Medicare and Social Security, and who allowed unions to form to protect workers against inhumane conditions.
Therefore, it is vital to channel our anger effectively, using our vote to support only those candidates who will stand up for the majority of citizens, and that is Rush Holt.
Terri David Princeton
Sipprelle offers fresh perspective on issues
To the editor:
Over the past several weeks, it has been both amusing and interesting to read letters emanating from the leftwing supporters of their beloved congressman, Rep. Rush Holt. For the first time in this campaign, I just saw a negative TV ad attributed to Mr. Holt, indicating that the DNC is spending money in the 12th District and that they and other supporters now consider him an endangered specie.
Since election, Mr. Holt has not faced a serious re-election challenge. This year is different. To his credit, Mr. Holt has been available and responsive to concerns of his constituency. That said, when in Washington, he is a sycophant to the Obama/Pelosi agenda, which seeks to fashion our country into a socialist state.
Scott Sipprelle, on the other hand, offers clear alternatives and a fresh, unencumbered perspective on critical issues facing our federal government. He believes that entrepreneurs and private business interests create jobs, not embedded career politicians dispensing massive stimulus packages funded on the backs of taxpayers.
Mr. Sipprelle is in favor of term limits for members of Congress. Under his standard, Mr. Holt would have been retired a long time ago. Results from last year’s elections and recent primaries ought to be of concern to incumbents of both parties. Who would have thought that another Scott would have succeeded Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts?
There is a strong likelihood that control of the House of Representatives will change on Nov. 2 and that as a member of the new majority party, Mr. Sipprelle will help arrest and reverse the destructive legislative initiatives of the Obama administration, and sponsor constructive alternatives.
On Nov. 2, 12th District voters have a unique opportunity in supporting and voting for Mr. Sipprelle, a superior alternative to the currently entrenched liberal incumbent.
Albert H. Swanke Jr. Princeton

