To the editor:
I read the letters to the editor last week and was reminded of that famous Yogi-ism, "Its deja-vu, all over again."
Returning home after a long layoff was former Committeeman Doug Hoffman with a letter that demagogues the council and zoning board’s consideration of a warehouse application but fails to note that it was his generation of Republicans that spearheaded the sweeping zone changes which forever changed the character of that part of our town to become part of the national distribution center which now radiates out from the Turnpike’s Exit 8A. I don’t know but I have a hard time buying Mr. Hoffman’s dime-store incredulity that warehouses are being built in the vicinity of Exit 8A.
But Mr. Hoffman doesn’t stop there. He makes vague insinuation that the considerations of the council and zoning board were pre-determined by campaign contributions. Never mind that he doesn’t have basis to make such accusation, the insinuation suffices for Mr. Hoffman. South Brunswick’s Democrats would have a stronger case if they said that, because local Republican Chairman Pat Bayer was a running mate of Brett Schundler’s last year and because the local Republicans accept campaign contributions from Mr. Schundler’s PAC and from the Hudson County Republican Party, that our local Republicans agree with Mr. Schundler that the State Police were derelict in the execution of their duty during last September’s tragedy, that we should roll back women’s rights, and that the public schools system is innately corrupt.
We are prevented by making such accusation by knowledge of our Republican counterparts that is, because we know many of our Republican neighbors to be thoughtful and not tied to Mr. Schundler’s extremism, we refrain from vilifying the local Republican party, because such broad vilification would be a sham. Common decency and the knowledge that sham politicking reflects poorly on the mudslinger stops us from jumping into the slop heap. Mr. Hoffman’s letter doesn’t possess such discipline, and that’s a shame.
Also returning to form was Republican candidate Dawn Smith, reminding us of her 2000 campaign’s inability to get a handle on factuality. When Ms. Smith says that the South Brunswick Democratic Party was fined by the NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), don’t believe her it just isn’t true. Our local party has not been cited or fined through the course of my five-year tenure. When Ms. Smith says that the local Republicans were fined by ELEC for the mere transgression of late reporting, don’t believe her it just isn’t true. ELEC’s reprimand of this year, which the local Republicans acceded to, cites them for failing to identify contributors and for failing to identify $5,300 in expenditures. I’m not a lawyer, but I read that reprimand decision not as a commentary on tardiness, but as an identification of misleading reporting. But enough, already.
The Democratic election effort won’t be about pigtail pulling it’ll be about quality-of-life issues. As ever, South Brunswick’s Democrats will run an issue-oriented campaign. We’ll talk about the great job Frank Gambatese has done and about how excited we are to have Chris Killmurray on the team. Nothing fancy, nasty or dirty we believe in building things up, not tearing them down. And, wouldn’t you know it South Brunswick’s voters have repeatedly shown that they prefer to be engaged on that level.
Yogi also said, "It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future." But here’s a prediction: it’s August summertime I’m going to go about enjoying the summer with my family and leave the business of politicking until after Labor Day, where it properly belongs. I’d suggest that my Republican colleagues stop flailing about in the summer heat, have a nice tall glass of lemonade, and relax before they exhaust themselves.
Charles Carley
Chairman, South Brunswick Democratic Committee