October 9, 2008

It's time for one-party gov't to stop in Middletown

Democrats Calling:    
By JOE CALIENDO

    There is not transparency in government in Middletown. What is happening here is there is a municipal administration that has used "deferred taxes" for its own benefit.
    These "deferred taxes" are monies collected by the township on behalf of the school board. This is legal, but deceitful.
    The school district is getting blamed for a high tax rate, but the truth of the matter is that the Township Committee does not give all of the money back to the school district. They give 50 percent of the money back.  As I said, there is nothing legally wrong with this practice - and I don't understand that but it is what it is.
    But let us put the blame on raising taxes where it belongs. It is not the school board that is raising taxes on residents like it is going out of style; it is the Township Committee. Why are they doing this? Because there has been a one-party system in place for over 27 years in Middletown and that system has grown self-indulgent and even corrupt.
    Now that there are two members of an opposing party on the Township Committee, things have come out. Issues like contamination beneath Banfield and Town Hall would never have come out or been exposed. In the past these things would have been covered up, even though this issue could cost Middletown millions. There has been 10 years of neglect about disclosing these issues to the people, or even addressing these issues appropriately.
    So 27 years of Republican control in Middletown has not lowered taxes in this township - it raised them. In three years, this Township Committee raised taxes 16 percent. But these Republicans still claim the taxpayer "comes first." Is that supposed to be sarcasm?
    The only thing coming first for these Republican politicians has been their government pensions, excessive billing for their vendors, getting their families jobs in Town Hall and paying back political favors. In short, Middletown just cannot afford it anymore.
    The price has gotten too high. The cost of political corruption in Middletown is starting to impact where kids go to school, what kind of sneakers they are wearing and what kind of computer they get for school. The time when there was some prosperity that these politicians could drain from is over, and they just have not figured that out yet. I propose that during this election, they get reminded that people watch, listen and need a break.
    One-party rule was never the way that the Founding Fathers saw it. The Founders believed in two parties for a reason: it works. Middletown has not worked, in my opinion, because with one party running the show people who should have seen their positions as sacred trusts started to take them for granted, and that is a shame. Elected and appointed office is a sacred trust, and the way to take care of it is not by abusing that trust, nor the people that gave it to you in the first place.
    Unfortunately, the Middletown Republican Party's top elected and appointed officials have abused that trust. Consequently, I think it's time for that trust to be taken away.

(Joe Caliendo is the chairman of the Middletown Township Democratic Party. He has been active in municipal government and politics since the 1961 campaign of former President John F Kennedy.)