October 16, 2008

Middletown GOP has a history of embellishment

Democrats Calling    
By JOE CALIENDO

    There must be a certain amount of truth in politics, free of embellishment. However, I must say that the Middletown Republican Party has quite the history of that sort of thing in the township.
    I recall an election season in 2001, where then-Committeeman Patrick Parkinson was running for re-election in the township. He got into a situation where he was charged with sexual harassment, but denied this throughout this campaign. After the election, everyone found out there was such a court action. I can safely say he lied about this during his reelection campaign. He lied like a rug.
    There has never been a full disclosure about just how much money the township spent on taking care of what should have been a personal problem for Mr. Parkinson. And, until this day, there is no reckoning. In this case, Middletown isn't lying, the Republican controlled Middletown Committee just won't tell the truth.
    Then a few years later, I recall that the campaign of former Mayor Rosemarie Peters, who is now the county surrogate, distributed flyers in some senior areas talking about how Republicans are going to make sure that every Middletown senior gets free health care. I don't know if she lied, but I am still waiting for the free health care.
    When Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger ran for office the first time, he pledged that he was going to "fight terrorism." I don't know if he lied or not, but Middletown isn't famous for being a part of any terrorist networks. It's just heartwarming for me to know that our mayor is ready for action. Of course that has nothing to do with the budget that needs trimming, which he will not do. Mr. Scharfenberger's fight against terrorism also has nothing to do with the over-billing by the township's professionals and firms.
    Now Deputy Mayor Pamela Brightbill is saying that "taxpayers come first" in her literature. Well, if that's the case, then why did she raise taxes 7.1 percent this year and refuse to do anything about cutting the budget when she knew there was fat hanging off of it? In fact, Ms. Brightbill has raised taxes more than 16 percent during her entire term in office the past three years. So maybe Middletown taxpayers come first for her, but not when it comes to them saving money and funding good government. Ms. Brightbill is guilty of nothing more than every one of her predecessors has been during the past 27 years.
    The fact is that Democrats have not held majority in Middletown for many years.
    Democrats are not the problem in Middletown and have not been the problem in Middletown. It is not Democrats who have raised taxes, but control of the Middletown Committee by Democrats will have the effect of lessening taxes. This is because the Middletown Republicans have a lot of mouths to feed, where it involves partisan supporters that they got jobs in the township government.
    The fact that there are made-up jobs in this township administration, not actual jobs that working people hold to keep the township running, says there is room for a lot of change in Town Hall. The more things change, the more stay the same. A little historical note here is that the last time the Middletown Democrats had control of the committee taxes went down. I think I'll end on that note.

(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.)