Brian McBride chooses candidates for several township offices.
To the Editor:
For as long as I can remember, Washington Township has been a political hotbed for local elections. These elections become popularity contests that lack any relation to the candidates' experience or qualifications.
The time to change this is now, and it could not be more critical. In the June primary, the Democrats and their leadership voted out Mayor Barbara Wallace. They denied her the nomination simply because she would not toe the party line, even though she is a distinguished public servant with considerable experience.
Her Democrat replacement on the Nov. 8 ballot, Joann Gattinelli, lacks the qualifications to serve as chief executive of our town. The Republican, Joseph Micucci, is an honorable former law-enforcement officer who also lacks experience to be our leader.
The only candidate for mayor with the experience, vision and willingness to listen to voters' perspectives is independent Giancarlo D'Orazio. He is the only candidate with a plan to lead our government and produce fiscal responsibility.
The same level of experience is required of Nov. 8 candidates for the township council and the school board. For the council, Democrat Shawnequa Carvalho-Dawson and Republican Dana Pasqaulone are the most experienced candidates with appropriate skill sets for the two seats at stake. Among six candidates seeking three school board seats, only Tiffany Orihel and Sudipta Bardhan have educational credentials necessary to manage a school district of college-graduate educators.
For a township that calls itself "a premier community," we deserve the best elected officials who are not content with doing the minimum amount of work necessary as officeholders. I urge everyone to vote for the candidates listed above.
Brian McBride
Washington Township
Westville pays more if water is privatized
To the Editor:
As the Times' Oct. 18 editorial ("Can towns sell utilities without getting soaked?") notes, Westville residents will vote on whether to sell their municipal water system to a private entity for $8.4 million. But the sale price is hardly the most important factor.
The advocacy group Food & Water Watch was cited in the editorial. Our research on water system privatization finds that while these transactions might provide short-term revenue for stressed municipalities, the negative consequences last much longer. Residents pay more for water service from private corporations -- an average of $230 more a year in New Jersey -- and often see a decline in quality of customer service. Worse, residents lose local control over an essential service indefinitely.
Westville voters will be asked Nov. 8 whether or not the sale price is a good deal. Some will inevitably conclude that getting $8.4 million sounds better than nothing. But the private company that buys the system will get that money back with profit, on top of whatever it spends to make repairs and the costs associated with financing the purchase.
Ratepayers will be the ones to foot those bills for many years to come.
Lena Smith
South Jersey Regional Organizer
Food & Water Watch
Philadelphia
Praise Sweeney on college affordability
To the Editor:
As everybody knows, the cost of college is increasingly out of reach for most middle-class families. Students are graduating with suffocating debt and finding it difficult to obtain a decent-paying job, let alone one that can pay for student loans in addition to rent or a mortgage. I have friends who are not able to move out of their parents' house because they just cannot afford it.
This is a huge problem that needs to be addressed at every level. I specifically give credit to state Senate President Stephen Sweeney for the work he has been doing to fix this.
Sweeney sponsored legislation that created the state College Affordability Study Commission, which brought together education experts to study the issue and offer recommendations to incorporate into legislation. He also made a great choice in Rowan College at Gloucester County President Fred Keating as the chair the commission, because Keating has personally implemented programs at the college to reduce the financial burden for students.
This is absolutely the direction we need to move in and I thank Sweeney, Keating, and everyone else who is taking this issue seriously and making a real effort to make education affordable.
Shaina Kolman
Turnersville
No whining from Subaru
To the Editor:
Subaru of America executives are whining because some of its Pennsylvania-resident employees who work in its New Jersey facilities will have to pay more in state income taxes. This is because Gov. Chris Christie has ended a reciprocal commuter tax agreement between the two states.
Give me a break!
Subaru received a cool $118 million in tax credits -- I think of them as legal bribes -- from the state Economic Development Authority simply to move an expanded headquarters from Cherry Hill to Camden.
Let them try and sucker some other taxpayers into picking up their load.
I don't think they'll find a lot of takers.
Carol Rhodes
Barnsboro
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