MANVILLE: GOP campaign manager says power is in balance

Letter to the editor

To the editor:
I’m writing to stress the importance of the Manville Council race on Nov. 4.
The Manville governing body is currently made up of three Democratic and three Republican council people, with a Democratic mayor to break any tie votes concerning all the decisions made for our town’s future.
I attend most council meetings, and if every taxpaying resident took one hour a week to do some research on this matter, you would be as outraged as I am.
Earlier this year during the budget vote, there were many unanswered questions left out there from the three Republican Council people and the public as well. And with all the uncertainty left on the floor, the vote split, three no votes by Republicans, and three yes votes by Democrats with the Democratic mayor voting yes to break the tie, raising your taxes.
When it came time to ignore the hiring freeze and start a hiring frenzy, or decisions that will eventually close down our rescue squad, the vote went the same. They bonded hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep the Democratic tax-and-spend policy we suffered from under the Corzine administration. And when the money was short, leaving a long term burden on tax payers.
When it comes to flood buyouts, shame on the Democratic leadership for leading people on a false hope of a flood project when any simple person could have figured out that the U.S. government cost-to-benefit ratio results wouldn’t even come close to it being feasible for a project. Originally we were slated for 180 buyouts but then in the Courier-News on Aug. 9, 2013, Councilman Komoroski stated, "We don’t want to see anymore buyouts." Now it’s down to 104. In all of this mess, a deal for a commercial building in the Lost Valley that originated from our Democratic leadership swayed the county to buy out this building while our residents are still waiting for years.
Sadly, during the last meeting they admitted that they hadn’t even read or looked into the matter before voting on it. To top it all off, Democratic Councilman Skirkanish admitted he is on the buyout list, while all along voting on matters concerning the buyouts. Sounds like a conflict of interest doesn’t it? I learned in the U.S. Army that soldiers come before leadership always. In this case Mr. Skirkanish, you are the leadership, and the soldiers are the residents. If I were an elected official living in the flood zone, I would make sure the residents of my town were all bought out before I even considered it for myself.
I’m voting for Steve Szabo and Dayna Camacho for council and taking the tie-breaking vote out of the mayor’s hands. After 20 years, Mayor, you’re still "working on it." Well, time’s up! We the people deserve a better deal.
Joe Lukac 
Manville 