Who do You like and Why - here in Downtown Edison?!?

Well, next Tuesday we get to go to the polls to elect a Mayor and three Council members here in Downtown Edison. I put up a poll so you can share who you think will be the next Mayor. We have the sitting Mayor, two sitting Councilmen and a former township employee vying for the spot - three Dems and one Republican. With apologies to Inder J. Soni (Houses Tax Break), an additional candidate for Mayor which I inadvertently left out of this post (11/2/13). Added a new poll to the right to include him. As of today, they were only 2 votes cast on the old poll and they were for Guy Gaspari.

Now that the 1 hour debates are over and campaign fliers are in full bloom - it's important to recognize that this is a very important election.

If you strip away all the political in-fighting, self-inflicted wounds, self-serving rhetoric, hyperbole and juxtapositions, who is the best candidate of the bunch and why? Who has the best ideas for the town to deal with the myriad of opportunities and problems facing us? What are the most important issues, did the candidates address them and who do you think has the best solutions?

To encourage a conversation on the candidates' position on these issues and the future of Edison, feel free to share your thoughts and comments here on what's most important to you, what are the most important issues that you see facing us and why you support any particular candidate and their slate.

Feel free to support whoever you want but share the reasons why. If you're a person like me who votes for people and not columns, feels free to split up the tickets. It will be helpful to all to hear differing opinions before stepping into the voting booth on November 5th.

Anyhoo, the only thing I ask is that you keep it civil, and stick to the issues and the candidates' positions on the issues.

WCTC's Edison Mayoral Debate!

Just an additional 1 hour debate hosted by WCTC on October 30th - you can find the info here.

Edison Mayoral Debate - October 24, 2013!?!

Well, looks like there's going to be a debate next Thursday at 7:00PM at Edison High School. According to the flyer, it's sponsored by the Edison Chamber of Commerce in cooperation with the Edison School District and moderated by, Deborah Macmillan - League of Women Voters of New Jersey.

It's open to the Public and Pre-event questions are welcome - Email info@edisonchamber.com.

Confirmed candidates:

1. Gaetano V. Gaspari (Republican)
2. Thomas Lankey (Democrat)
3. Mayor Antonia Ricigliano (Ricigliano 2013)
4. Sudhanshu Prasad (Your Independent Voice)

The debate runs from 7:00 - 8:00PM and there's a Meet & Mingle with the Candidates from 8:00 - 8:30PM.

Now, I'm happy to see they're going to debate and to hear their views & plans to deal with both the problems & opportunities facing our town. Certainly, there are both.

However, herein lies the concern - with only a one hour debate with four candidates participating, that leaves only 15 minutes for each candidate to make his case and answer questions along with opening & closing remarks!

Just doesn't seem like there's ample time for them to get to their positions and plans on the substantive issues. I hope I'm wrong and that this isn't going to be just another 'Live' campaign flyer.

Anyhoo, you should attend if you can.

Local Dem-Party infighting here in Downtown Edison!?!

Well, it's the Silly season again here in Downtown Edison and I'm reminded of some of these thingies that go on (after reading this piece today in the Star Ledger), which place form over substance;

• Elections are about Winning not the truth
• Politics is political theater-the theater of the Absurd
• Spin is all well and good, just as long as you don't believe it
• Glossy campaign flyers so uninformative that they only make the Printers happy
• Let's attack the Candidate rather than the Candidate's position on the issues
• Dem-Party in-fighting benefits the few at the expense of all of us

Now, here's my point - ever since Jun 'RforMe' Choi knocked George Spadoro off in the primary a few years back, the people of this town have been treated to the worse of the worst in power grabbing that I have ever seen. And, it doesn't seem to be going away any time soon. 

Dem-Party Politics at it's worst that benefits the few at the expense of all of us. Who would of thought that the Perils of one-party government that have turned into reality over the years here in Downtown Edison would be trumped by the Perils of Dem-Party in-fighting?

A Dem Mayor and a Dem Council that live for blocking each others efforts, for one-upping each other every chance they get or for pulling every trick in the book to trip each other up and for what? 

How is it helpful to the people of this town when they spend all their time positioning themselves for and defending against each others' attacks? Aren't there some more serious issues going on in this town that need to be addressed and fixed? Don't see anyone describing the problematic issues that need to be addressed and how they're going to fix them.

Anyhoo, as for putting the 14 new firefighters on now, what's the freakin' problem? This is Edison! Ricigliano has the 'Bully Pulpit' and is taking advantage of it and Lankey is complaining about the timing of it. That's what they do in the Silly Season here in Downtown Edison. 

Of course, I did notice that they both agreed that it was necessary to add the 14 new firefighters but didn't notice anyone say how we're going to pay for it when the federal grant for 10 of the new firefighters expires at the end of 2015. Now, that's something that's more important to know than how the timing of these new hires worked out! 

You know, as a life-long Dem here in Downtown Edison, it's embarrassing to watch this stuff go on. It's time the Dem-Party Candidates put the real issues facing this town before the people and what their plans are to fix them - it's time to place substance over form, where all too often in the past, form has prevailed.

So, Mayor Ricigliano, Council Members Lankey & Prasad - who wants to step up to the plate?