Politicians For The People?

Whenever the subject of politics comes up in polite conversation, most people have the same cynical attitude. Almost every person I speak to feels that nothing can make a difference, and we should resign ourselves to the reality of paying high taxes while getting nothing in return. Many people feel that our elected officials are involved in corruption, but that it doesnt effect them that much, so why bother to fight it.

I was once told that politics is like going down into the sewer with the lowest common denominator, so why would I want to be involved in something like that. My answer was simple. If you knew that the sewer was going to start overflowing, and the only way to save your way of life was to go in and repair the problem before it ruins everything, wouldn't you do it?

For the last ten years I have been noticing that our local politicians spend most of their time helping a few select powerful people get what they want. Whether it is approvals for housing developments that ultimately end up costing the taxpayer instead of being an asset, or misusing public funds for projects that have no benefit. The rest of their time is usually spent trying to make themselves look like they care about the people that voted them into power.

Unfortunately now the sewer is backing up. Our current Senator has been in office so long that he owes favors to so many people. Lakewood has grown at a rate that no other Township would have ever allowed. This happened because our Senator allowed it to happen, and now this unfettered growth threatens all the neighboring Townships as well. Who hasn't experienced the frustration of trying to pass through Lakewood traffic? As newer developments are built on the edge of Howell, Jackson, Brick, and Toms River,  that traffic will only spread. Senator Singer now says we need yet another study to figure out how to solve the problem. What he doesn't say is that he had an integral part in changing the zoning to allow large multi family housing projects in areas that did not have sufficient infrastructure to support them. Our own deputy mayor Steven Langert recently admitted that he is a partner in building a housing project right off of Route Nine.

During an election year whenever our incumbent Senator feels challenged he starts to make promises. He has had over twenty years to keep those promises. Instead he made more problems that we now have to fix.

On  Tuesday, June 4th please help me try to clean up our mess.

Sincerely,

Harold Herskowitz (R)

30th District Primary Candidate