10 reasons to vote for Mayor Sharon

Plainfield Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs.

Here are ten reasons to give Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs a second term. (Follow the links if your memory needs refreshing.)

10. She's a MATH WHIZ.

• Defying the laws of mathematics and gravity, Mayor Sharon singlehandedly reduced Plainfield's murder rate by 300% (see here).

9. She understands the importance of TIMELINESS.

• By failing to use the 2-year window to renegotiate the Comcast cable franchise, she insured Plainfield customers are locked in without any further benefit to the community (see here);

• Don't forget she was flown by helicopter to a must-attend Trenton meeting -- at taxpayer expense -- because state officials wanted her there ON TIME (see here).

8. Her use of CITIZEN VOLUNTEERS.

• Boards and commissions have languished awaiting appointments by Her Honor. Resumés are submitted, 'lost', resubmitted and 'lost' again. Longtime appointees are summarily dropped if they don't see eye-to-eye with Her Honor (see here).

• Mayor Sharon has never implemented the Civic Participation ordinance championed by the late Councilor Ray Blanco which required posting details about all Boards and Commissions online, as well as downloadable information on how to volunteer.

7. She is a MASTER OF COMMUNICATION.

• Mostly by not taking or returning phone calls, as reported publicly by Jay Jefferson Cooke in the Courier News, but also privately by elected officials from other towns (see here).

• And let's not forget, Mayor Sharon singlehandedly took down a working City website and left Plainfield without a viable online presence for months on end (see here).

6. She is a PERSONNEL EXPERT.

• Consider that in one term, Mayor Robinson-Briggs is now on her -- hmmm, 5th? -- Director of Administration and Finance, her third City Administrator, and is now in VERY HOT WATER with the State for not having appointed a Chief Financial Officer for nearly two years, despite the position being consitutionally mandated (see here and here).

• Oh, and let's not forget the hundreds of thousand of dollars spent on hiring political operative Nagy Sileem for a low-show job with the DPW, and, of course, her personal bodyguard detail, which served for three years before it was finally admitted there was no credible threat to Her Honor's personal safety (see here).

5. She is TOUGH ON CRIME --

• Except when it comes to insiders. For instance, she has never prosecuted the person responsible for pocketing more than $4,000 in cash missing from a Tax Collector's deposit (see here).

• Nor did Her Honor prosecute a former City Administrator for paying $135,000 in city funds -- without City Council approval -- to an IT consultant firm in which he failed to disclose he had a personal interest, not to mention other financial shenanigans (see here).

4. Her record on DEVELOPMENT and REDEVELOPMENT.

• With pliant Zoning and Planning Boards and nearly two dozen projects on the books, Robinson-Briggs managed to deliver ONLY ONE in her entire first term, the ill-fated Monarch condos and Senior Center. Delays have frustrated the Seniors and veterans who still await their promised quarters, and the public has been outraged by Robinson-Briggs' proposal for tax abatements for condo buyers (see here).

3. She is sensitive to HOME FORECLOSURE AND TENANT ISSUES.

• Robinson-Briggs is so sensitive to the plight of HOMEOWNERS losing their homes through foreclosure that she organized a bus tour for POTENTIAL BUYERS of the homes of those in trouble with their mortgages. And brags about it! (see here).

• As for TENANTS, Robinson-Briggs targeted the 'Safe Homes' initiative for elimination within months of taking office. Through regular inspections, the program would have guaranteed City awareness of the deteriorating conditions at Connolly Properties long before they hit the headlines. Then, after hosting Connolly tenant meetings, she fails to get back to them (see item 7 above) (see here).

2. She understands President Obama's STIMULUS MONEY is to be used wisely, not wastefully.

• So, instead of using Stimulus money to repave Somerset Street from Front to the North Plainfield line, one of the projects on her list (see here), the money is used instead on Geraud Avenue, a road-to-nowhere (see here).

1. MUHLENBERG.

• Both Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs and Assemblyman Jerry Green proved lacking in both vision and leadership by coming too late and with too little gumption to the struggle to save Muhlenberg. Robinson-Briggs has never to this day taken up her proper role as a member of the Muhlenberg Board, deflecting any questions or criticism by saying she prefers to 'deal with Trenton directly'. You will find no footage of Mayor Sharon chained to the front door of Muhlenberg Hospital on Channel 74. When you look closely, you will see that what she really did was SMOOTH THE WAY for Solaris to close Muhlenberg (see here).

So, there are the ten reasons to vote a second term for Mayor Robinson-Briggs.

Tuesday is Election Day.

I certainly hope you exercise your right to vote, and that you urge your friends to do likewise.

And, in the privacy of your heart and the voting booth, vote for the person you believe will best serve the people of Plainfield.

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-- Dan Damon

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