Wednesday, September 05, 2007

And they're off!

The Democratic candidates for Monmouth County Freeholder have finally started their campaign.

According the the Asbury Park Press, candidates John D'Amico and Stephen Schueler have joined Republican candidate Jeff Cantor in calling for limits on the number of years a Freeholder can serve as Director.

Freeholder Anna Little has been proposing a rotational directorship and Freeholder term limits since shortly after she took office in February of last year. Cantor has also endorsed term limits.

D'Amico and Schueler said they also want to create a new paid county job -- an internal inspector general, who would review county operations and serve as an ombudsman for citizens. Isn't that what Freeholders are for? If they really want to triangulate, the Democrats will announce that they will offer the job to Anna Little if they are elected.

D'Amico and Schueler can win on the directorship issue. They will make taking down Bully Barham the center piece of their campaign. Running against Bully, even when he's not on the ballot will be a winning strategy and neutralize Cantor's appeal.

Republican Freeholder Rob Clifton should finally stand up to Bully Barham and propose term limits and a rotational directorship. The votes are there to pass the resolution at the next Freeholder meeting. Take the issue off the table, Robby. It is the right thing to do, and good politics to boot.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The democrat answer to the corruption would be to establish a new patronage position picked by and responsible to the freeholders. That should do a lot.

The Press was right to point out that this idea has been presented by several Repub's already including this years candidates. They do need to stand up and do what's right. It would seem that if Clifton and Cantor both want a new director, Burry won't be standing up for Barham, so either way there will be change for the county next year.

So to review the democrats major initiatives so far this election are: 1) spend money on a new jail (we don't want our prisoners to be unhappy) and 2) spend money on a new patronage position to watch over the freeholders (sorta like Malcom's job). Good Plans!

Anonymous said...

Malcolm doesn't watch over the Freeholders....he tells them what to do....or tells them to go to H***. Big difference.
Boss Barham will not go easily into the night. He will need to be pushed hard to give up the power that was bestowed on him by Harry Larrison. Hopefully, when the dems get in, he'll become irrelevant in a hurry.

Downtowner said...

well, on the positive side of things: mr. d'amico and mr. shuelyer are saying some good things. the whole permanent freeholder director is not a good idea. i do think that mr. cantor was first out on this, and very clear. so these 3 have a good issue. it's an idea whose time has come, i think.