​Conservatives Without Representation for Berkeley Heights Mayor

As a conservative Republican, the 2018 Berkeley Heights Mayoral Election has no true representative for me. I have spoken with many others in Berkeley Heights who are feeling the same way.

The Berkeley Heights Mayoral race has Angie Devaney (D) against Robert Woodruff (R). In my opinion neither of these candidates is ideal. In a normal election I would side with the more conservative of the two but here there really is no clear standout.

We have an incumbent mayor who has taken part in clear conflicts of interest, regularly misled the residents, has driven municipal taxes through the roof over the past 10 years and locked in another big increase over the next 10 years by shoving a $32,000,000 municipal building project down our throats. Even his ‘results’ boast about big government and even bigger spending.

Unfortunately, the other option is a Democrat with ties to the Union County democratic machine.

Who to vote for? Write in? None of the above? Coin flip? Or pick my poison?

Neither candidate seems sensitive to Berkeley Heights paying some of the highest property taxes in the nation, which I believe should be the number one priority.

This election could be a lose-lose situation for Berkeley Heights, with both candidates looking at record-breaking spending. I would not be surprised if close to $100,000 is spent on campaigning for this part-time mayoral race.

Why is so much money being spent? It is clear that special interests could be involved as there is just way too much money in play for a local seat.

Since there is no clear-cut better candidate to endorse, I would like to take this election to help continue to inform residents and taxpayers by fact-checking comments and articles, and clarifying the issues being discussed.

I would urge all of you to follow the discussion, do your own research, post questions, discuss the topics, ask for supporting documentation and most importantly share with others. Don’t believe propaganda presented as “facts” by campaign people masquerading as “citizen volunteers.” The only win here for Berkeley Heights is to make this historically bad decision in the most informed way. Let’s get past the innuendo thrown around by both parties, lets get past the vague statements like “together forward”, “neighbors first”, “change we can agree on” and focus on the real issues of the town that affect us all. What is most important to you?

Municipal Building: What are we getting? How much should this cost? Conflict of Interest? How much will the residents benefit?
Campaign Contributions: Where is all of this money coming from? Who’s really pulling the strings? Special Interests, contractors from outside of Berkeley Heights, developers, politicians and why all of this interest in this part-time job that should be for the benefit of the Berkeley Heights taxpayers?
PILOTS: Why are we giving such massive tax breaks to developers and declaring Berkeley Heights blighted while simultaneously claiming we are a thriving community? Why are PILOT negotiations hidden from public view? Why are new residents exempted from paying school taxes for 30 years while the existing residents are stuck with the bill?
Truth and Transparency: Who is telling the truth and who is not? Why are some so averse to telling us the straight truth? What is real transparency; what is communication?

These are just examples of what is really important. I hope that the residents this year don’t fall for the slogans and don't just settle to vote party lines. If you are not already, please become an informed voter. If you are already an informed voter, please reach out and have informed discussions with your neighbors.

The nasty mudslinging has already begun, let us all look past that. This is not how elections should be run. This is our community. I believe the residents should be dictating the questions that the candidates should be answering and we the taxpayers should be holding the candidates accountable.

This year we may have to pick our poison, but let us do it as informed voters.

Regards,
Tom Maciejewski