The following is an OpEd piece submitted by longtime Plainfield resident Tom Kaercher to the Courier News and the Star-Ledger today. I am putting it up as a guest post as the newspapers may not publish it in time. -- Dan
Jerry Green and ‘His” Democrats Have
Ruined Plainfield
Long Enough!!
For 20+ years Jerry Green, Plainfield
Democratic City Committee Chairman, has personally
chosen Plainfield’s
elected officials with very few exceptions. In Plainfield,
registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans 9
to 1, making the June Democratic Primary the de facto
election for city-wide offices. The general election in
November is a mere formality. At this year’s
Democratic City Committee meeting, Jerry completely
subverted the electoral process by just announcing “his”
candidates for City Council and never even holding a
vote. Jerry’s
Democrats always get the official Democratic Party line
in the primary, which is a huge advantage. Even in 2005,
when Jerry lost control of the Democratic City Committee
and thereby the democratic line in the primary for the
duly elected democratic candidates, he conspired with
the Union County Democratic Party leadership to “steal”
the democratic line in the primary for his chosen
candidates and moved the duly elected candidates to an
outside line on the ballot.
Jerry chooses ‘his’ Democrats, not
based on their expertise or competence, but to carry out
‘his’ agenda. Unfortunately for Plainfield
residents, Jerry’s priority always seems to be to spend
the City’s resources to help his friends and political
allies. The
needs of the citizens of Plainfield seem to
always come in a distant second. Plainfield’s city
budget is $74.6 million dollars, which gives Jerry’s
democrats plenty of money to shower on Jerry’s friends
and allies. If any of “his” democrats break with his
agenda, Jerry gets rid of them by throwing them off the
Democratic line in their next primary election.
The simple fact is, Jerry Green has
run Plainfield
for over 20 years. Plainfield’s
corruption, dysfunction, waste and abuse are Jerry
Green’s political legacy.
By any objective measure comparing Plainfield to the surrounding
communities, Jerry has failed the citizens of Plainfield. In the nearly 27
years I have lived in Plainfield, my
taxes have gone up 500%, while my property is worth
about what I paid for it in 1987.
Last year Jerry made a deal to become
Union County Democratic Chairman in return for giving
Adrian Mapp the democratic line as mayor in the Plainfield
Democratic primary. Mr. Mapp ran on a platform of
bringing experienced professional ethical leadership to
city government in order to boost economic development,
increase the tax base, and reduce taxes on all citizens.
He was elected with 70% of the popular vote. In the five
months since Mr. Mapp took office, Jerry has had “his”
democrats on city council block the mayor’s progressive
agenda even to the point of almost losing federal
funding for rent-support of 96 low income families
because Jerry wasn’t “included” on the sale of the
Liberty Village housing complex. It is deplorable that
one man puts his own interests above the needs of the
people.
On June 3rd, Plainfield residents have the
opportunity to break Jerry Green’s personal stranglehold
on Plainfield
by voting against “his” democrats on Line A on the
ballot and voting for the NEW Democrats (Williams, Swan,
McRae) on Line E on the ballot. The choice is clear:
continuing the corruption, dysfunction, waste, and abuse
by Jerry Green and “his” democrats or moving Plainfield
forward to benefit all citizens. It’s time to say ‘NO”
to Jerry Green and “his” democrats!
Sincerely,
Tom Kaercher
Plainfield, NJ
View
today's CLIPS
here. Not getting your own CLIPS
email daily? Click here
to subscribe.
Posts
