Reader Submitted
To the editor:
After watching the League of Women Voters forum, I’ve concluded that there are only two legitimate choices for Hopewell Township Committee: Mayor Kevin Kuchinski and Michael Ruger.
All four candidates seem friendly and likable, and they agreed on a surprising number of things. If the election were about finding some easygoing guys, we couldn’t go wrong.
But right now Hopewell Township is facing some truly major issues: how are we going to stop the Penn East pipeline? How are we going to continue negotiating with the state about affordable housing? How we are going to fend off developers? How are we going to continue to deliver more services while reducing our spending?
The times require knowledge and experience. In addition to serving as our current mayor, Kuchinski has a long resume of community and professional service, including being a vice president for marketing of a major U.S. company. A lawyer with over 25 years of experience in the public and private sectors, Ruger is on the township’s Finance Advisory Committee and the Environmental Commission. Both candidates have detailed knowledge of the issues facing Hopewell Township. Both have the experience to handle these issues prudently.
Their opponents do not. Anyone who watches the forum on television will agree that Volpe and Nicolao came to the debate woefully unprepared. They didn’t know the rules set forth by the League of Women Voters. Instead of asking their opponents probing questions, they invited each other to tell us their life stories, again. They had no command of the facts, and they hadn’t studied the budget, which anyone can access on the township website. Watch the forum on television and you will see that they had almost nothing substantive to say. They did not do their homework. For all the sugar and cream they poured into the evening, it was kind of insulting to see how little Volpe and Nicolao had prepared. I wanted to say, “This is our future, dudes. Work for it!”
If I was looking for someone to have a lazy Sunday beer with, I guess I’d have four good choices. But I want committee members who respect me enough that they are willing to earn my vote. Smiles and stories just aren’t going to hack it with the likes of Penn East.
Challenging times demand experienced committee members like Mayor Kevin Kuchinski and Michael Ruger. As Thursday’s Forum showed, they are the only candidates willing to do the tough work to know and represent our community. I’ll be voting for them on November 7.
Russell Swanson
Hopewell Township
