Guest Post: Jerry Green and ‘His” Democrats Have Ruined Plainfield Long Enough!!

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

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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 3^rd, 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       

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  -- Dan Damon [follow]

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