What happened to being nice?
To the Editor
Adlai Stevenson once said: “There are worse things than losing an election; the worst thing is to lose one’s convictions and not tell the people the truth.”
The local Hopewell Township Committee race was marred by a black mailer from the Blake campaign that spouted gross distortions of the truth.
She CLAIMED: “Residents were hit with a 5.28% tax increase when Republicans were last in charge”
She CLAIMED: “Increased spending by 9% in 2015 alone”
The TRUTH: 2015 was the year of the tragic Public Works fire that destroyed every Public Works vehicle. The fire had an impact on spending and ultimately the budget. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats were responsible for the fire.
She CLAIMED: “Republicans have twice voted to massively expand sewers everywhere.”
The TRUTH: Back in 1998, the Republicans sought to bring in Trenton sewer service to the southern tier. I fought that as much as I opposed the recent initiative to expand the sewer service area to the west side of Scotch Road. Ed Jackowski was NOT interested in sewer service expansion.
She CLAIMED: “Suggested each township resident pay $32K to fund Affordable Housing.
The TRUTH: FALSE. Five Pinocchios. This claim assumes that Ed Jackowski wanted 100 percent Affordable Housing everywhere. That’s just silly and an outright falsehood.
She CLAIMED that she blocked sewer expansion outside the existing sewer service area, preventing sprawl.
The TRUTH: She voted to expand sewer service to the west side of Scotch Road, an expansion that previous committees had adamantly opposed.
She CLAIMED that Ed Jackowski wanted higher taxes.
The TRUTH: No one wants higher taxes. Ed’s a businessman and aimed to keep tax rates as low as possible.
She CLAIMED that Ed wanted “Valley Wide Development”
The TRUTH: Julie Blake voted to approve the building of 2,881 new market-rate homes, to give developers a 30-year tax break, and to sell a $5 million open space parcel to a developer for $10K.
She still refuses to acknowledge the impact of her decisions, and still insists that 9,000 new residents will have no impact on our schools or taxes.
If Ms. Blake now wonders why even more people are starting to attend Hopewell Township Committee meetings, and why residents are becoming feistier, she has only to look at the campaign she waged. She won the election, but at a very heavy price.
She lashed out at a resident last week, scolding him for speaking out of turn. That resident was my husband, a former Mayor, who objected when the Mayor told residents to stop applauding a speaker during public session. My husband reminded the Committee that they themselves had just been disrespectful to the public, talking among themselves privately during the meetings, and even giggling at Mr. Hart, who was not even present at the time (he arrived late).
Ms. Blake won the election, but she owes us an apology for running a campaign that will be remembered, by those in the know, not for her victory, but for its many distortions. Such political conduct must not be tolerated.
Cheryl Edwards
Hopewell Township