Two Democrats will be running against two Republicans for the Township Committee slots in the November general election in Manalapan.
The incumbent Republicans were asked to pass a resolution against torture, secret and unlimited detention, and the suspension of a person’s legal rights. They refused and the Democrats remained silent.
The Republicans have instituted a gag rule on citizen participation at the public portion of committee meetings. A citizen currently has five minutes to speak, but once the governing body responds to the citizen, the citizen is prohibited from responding. This eliminates true accountability to the citizens in a public forum.
The Democrats go along with this sham by not objecting to the gag rule and by not offering a just alternative. The fair alternative is to allow the citizen three minutes to make a case, then allow the governing body to respond, and then allow the citizen two minutes for a response to the governing body’s response.
The entire public portion should be a minimum of one hour, which would allow the citizen perhaps more than one opportunity to address the governing body.
If from now until the election, the Democrats do nothing publicly about my concerns, then “none of the above” as a write-in is the only fair and moral choice. There are those who hold that both parties are owned by a segment of the 1-percenters. I submit to that belief.
Ray Kalainikas
Manalapan