Mike Kassick, Manville
With elections approaching, I would like to voice my personal opinion about the race for Borough Council, and more importantly, remind my fellow taxpaying residents about some facts before they decide who they are going to support this Nov. 4.
I would first like to remind everyone that they can thank the Democrats on this council for their taxes going up while services went down. They unanimously voted to raise your taxes and have proceeded to go on an out-of-control spending binge with our money.
They continue to keep hiring more and more employees, buying new equipment instead of repairing and maintaining our current equipment in town, allowing overtime to be abused by employees and buying and allowing many employees to take vehicles home.
When I or other residents have brought this up at council meetings, they attack you, or worse, laugh about it right in front of the public while they waste our money.
They have also put "our" best interests at great risk when they refused a few open public records requests by citizens, which ended up in the courts where "we" lost, and I say "we lost" because, in the end, we pay for their errors. And they don’t even bat an eye or show a sign of respect towards the residents of Manville that they failed with very poor decision-making.
Second, I’d like everyone to remember that when this mayor was elected, he stated in his literature that by the following March a shovel would be in the ground at the Rustic Mall site. Then he had a number of excuses, from government red tape to his favorite answer, "I’m working on it."
And let’s not forget about the Democratic-led council’s disregard for the law. At past meetings they have allowed Councilman Ed Komoroski, who is running for re-election this year, to intimidate and personally threaten bodily harm to a senior citizen for asking a simple question about a drinking incident that occurred on our high school property involving borough employees, which they tried to cover up.
And the best comment I have heard to date is the Democrats taking credit for cutting crime and making Manville safer. I guess they haven’t paid too much attention lately to what has been going on in town, but I trust that "we," the people, know exactly how bad it has become where residents come to council meetings stating that they are afraid for their lives to even walk down their own street at night.
I’d say that the Democrats on this council are out of touch, out of control with spending and out of time to show me that they have anything but irresponsible intentions for our town’s future. And they have run out of time for my vote and, most importantly, my trust.
I hope the residents of Manville remember these facts when they vote Nov. 4 and elect Steve Szabo and Dayna Camacho for true leadership we can all trust and rely on.
Mr. Komoroski, you have used up your last chance with voters, broken their trust, and we will bring this to your attention on Nov. 4.
Mike Kassick
Manville
