Hoffman and Resto: Negative Mailers Show They Are Out of Ideas

There are some very negative mailers from Peter Hoffman and Len Resto being distributed in Chatham Borough today. I won't address the ridiculous content. Carolyn and Jocelyn have written their own excellent response. I do want to ask the question: Why would incumbents with a built-in demographic advantage feel the need to not only "go negative", but invent positions for their opponents? This is something you do when you have nothing else to offer, or you sense you are losing.

It would not surprise me if Mr. Hoffman and Mr. Resto feel that way. They tout their stewardship, but the scene on Main St. belies the argument. The reason for this is obvious. While they have worked hard to reduce costs, they have neglected the other side of the balance sheet. For years, the Borough Council has been taking actions to reduce costs - primarily through shared services. That is wonderful. I am all for efficiency and keeping spending to a minimum. But I also know that you can cost-save yourself into oblivion if you don't move the needle on the revenue side. I am sure Mr. Hoffman and Mr. Resto would agree. I just don't think they know how to do it. There is an old saying "When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail". You cannot cut your way to growth.

Take a look at the proposals presented by Carolyn and Jocelyn. They want to attract business, and make it easier for businesses to move in. Create a business development committee; streamline zoning changes for businesses that want to open in Chatham; ensure that Main Street is attractive to businesses and consumers alike - does that sound very liberal to you? They sound like smart ideas to me. These are the kind of low- to no-cost proposals we need to be considering. This is how we grow the local economy and keep taxes perpetually low, without desperately resorting to downtown Taj Mahal projects, or losing the couple of services we want to keep, like the police force and the DPW.

I strongly urge you to ask yourself: If Mr. Hoffman and Mr. Resto know how to put us on a virtuous cycle of revenue growth, why haven't they done it?