To the editor:
Locally in Hillsborough we must vote to change the all Republican township committee by electing Jeff Wright and Olivia Holmes to prevent any further corruption in our town. Did you know that similar to how Trump is using his public office to benefit him and his cronies personally, Hillsborough’s Republican Township Committee is doing its own version of Republican use of public office and public tax dollars to help themselves personally?
For example, reports in the media show that Committeeman Carl Suraci and Mayor Gloria McCauley are using their public office to use tax dollars – nearly $45,000 in recent budget year – to pay for their personal medical insurance instead of using these public funds to serve the public. Another article featured how little they’re both paying out of their own funds for this insurance, a mere $1,527 for both leaving $44,953 for taxpayers to pay, less than 4 percent of the bill. The state mandates that employees contribute 30 percent. Tens of thousands of tax dollars have been diverted for their personal benefit by the township committee.
That does not even count all the past years that these two have been on the committee, receiving this taxpayer funded benefit, which is probably 10 or more years. Multiply $45,000 by ten or more years and you get nearly a half a million dollars.
This policy that the all Republican township committee created in the past at one time included all five members, until the committee decided to fix the problem it created and do away with the public funding of their personal health insurance. They didn’t give back the hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars they spent on themselves before terminating the program for everyone but Suraci and McCauley.
We need to elect Democrats in Congress to put a check on Trump and the Republican culture of corruption. Elect Democrats to the committee to say no to this type of self-serving corruption by our public servants. These officials have no shame to give themselves these benefits while other part-time Hillsborough employees, who are not on the committee, are not eligible to receive medical benefits from the town.
To stop this type of corruption, elect Democrats Wright and Holmes to the township committee on November 6.
Roger Koch
Hillsborough