Vote for democracy, not Democrats, in Edison

That was the title of a piece (below) that I wrote some 11 years ago. Given the actions by Mayor ChoiLankey and his 'Fresh Start Tour' entourage - just change Spadoro and his all-Democratic rule to ChoiLankey and his 'Fresh Start Tour' entourage and you get the same results.

[[About the only thing that Edison Mayor George Spadoro and the local Democratic party like more than winning is making the other side lose. In the latest example, while it's called wards, it's really the will of the people they're trampling all over to keep the status quo. It's not surprising, since it's all about maintaining power and one-party control over the purse strings - and they'll do and say whatever is necessary to keep it away from the people. It's the reality under Edison's all-Democratic rule; protect and preserve the Democratic party's interests above all, including those of the people.

Someone once quipped. 'a democracy is where two wolves and a sheep take a majority vote on what's for supper.' The point is democracy works best when there is an open and free exchange ideas, and when debate is encouraged. When dissenting opinion is absent, representative government is at its weakest and most clandestine. Such is the case under Edison Mayor George Spadoro's all-Democratic government. It's an unfortunate by-product of our form of government - the one-party rule.

The overwhelming concern with Spadoro's one-party government is information or more specifically, the lack of information, With total control by the democrats, what you get to know, how much you get to know, and when you get to know it is all predetermined and detrimental to your pocketbook. There's no one to challenge anything or to tell you otherwise. Priorities are set and monies disbursed without any substantive questioning or verifiable rationale.

There is no distinction between the administration and the council and hence, no checks and balances. The open and free exchange of Spadoro's ideas and policies is non-existent. Public involvement and input is impossible since debate is limited to what they want to tell you and only when they tell you.

The simple reality is that Spadoro's one-party government unnecessarily costs us money to fund party excesses. It's not what they tell us that costs the most but rather what and when they don't tell us.

With four council spots up this year, it's time we arm the sheep and prevent the wolves from determining what they'll be having for supper again. We need to vote out the democrats and break-up the one-party rule.

On Nov. 4, whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, a vote for the Democratic slate is about the most un-Democratic thing you can do.]]

Anyhoo, welcome back to one-party rule in Mayor ChoiLankey's 'DemBadLands.' As Yogi Berra says, 'it's deja vu all over again!'