To the editor:
I am happy to be back in the race for a council seat after such a dirty, deceitful campaign run against me by Mayor Corradino and his hand-picked Democratic candidates in town last November. I hope the majority of voters will not believe their lies this time around. The issues are what really matter to Manville’s future and to your wallets. Do not allow yourself to be deceived again by a vicious campaign filled with personal attacks and untruths.
So let me begin to set my record straight and refute their lies. I never voted in favor of the municipal budget because I felt no real cuts were ever allowed to be made to it. I suggested sensible cuts but they fell on deaf ears. Cost-saving ideas were never implemented and our property taxes go higher and higher with no end in sight. Even some Democrats in town feel we are on “the wrong track” and are justifiably concerned. So, for the record, I was never chair of the finance committee. I never made the town’s line item budget. They are all lies spread to deceive voters of where I stand on the issues.
I stand with Governor Christie, who wants lower property taxes in New Jersey and who has balanced budgets without a tax increase in the last three years. I believe that can be done right here in Manville. Wasteful spending must stop in Manville in order to stabilize taxes.
For example, our Borough Administrator gave up the use of his borough vehicle to commute to and from work but failed to mandate all other employees be required to do the same. Our mayor then lies at the last council meeting and says the issue is still in committee when nothing could be further from the truth. Our gas, phone and health insurance budgets, to name a few, are in need of tightening.
Ever-increasing costs simply cannot be passed on to the taxpayers of this borough year after year. Bad policies approved by the Democrats are hurting everyone who lives in town. These policies are real campaign issues, not the character assassination and lies spread against anyone who wants change and who will bring common-sense management of the borough for everyone’s benefit.
As a former flood victim trapped in a flooded home as a youth, I have spoken out asking for Manville to be given funding and the same consideration and recognition as Bound Brook. I have attended every flood commission meeting and have pressed for answers. I traveled to our nation’s capital in 2010 to inform our elected officials of our urgent need for funding. I was the first elected official from Manville to do so on everyone’s behalf at my own expense. Our mayor lied by not giving me any credit for the progress made to date with a flood commission in place.
And when an old low-level berm is reconstructed into a massive flood levee on the Franklin Township side of the Millstone River, alarms should go off in Borough Hall as to its impacts on Manville. But the Democrats really don’t seem to care about it. They continue to lie to the citizens of Manville, claiming its current size is as it stood since 1950. Even at the last flood commission meeting Mayor Corradino wanted to “put this issue to bed.” We all know the truth. And the truth will be told in Manville.
If you follow the issues this campaign you’ll know who to vote for come November as the better candidates will be self-evident. We will always put the best interests of the taxpayers of this borough first!
I ask for everyone to come out and vote to show your support for Governor Christie and for Councilwoman Susan Asher and myself in the Republican primary June 4 and in the general election Nov. 5.
Richard M. Onderko
Manville
