From the "Voice of the People", Press of Atlantic City, August 27, 2009
The Aug. 7 editorial, "Free speech in Mullica/Bad law resurfaces," has managed to alter a very complex issue that all towns grapple with, liability, into something it is not.
Like most Atlantic County towns and school districts, Mullica belongs to the Atlantic County Municipal Joint Insurance Fund, or JIF. Upon its recommendation and our municipal Safety Committee's suggestion, we updated an existing ordinance to include a hold-harmless clause and clarified the application process. Towns spend a lot of time and energy keeping their liability at a minimum. Since when did that become such a bad idea?
For Committeemen Bernard Graebener and Michael St. Amour to transform this into a political debate diminishes the foundation of the JIF recommendation, which was to minimize liability and protect taxpayers. As Committeewoman Kathy Chasey expressed in a portion of her original, unedited Aug. 15 letter regarding safety vests, "As someone who has spent more time than anyone utilizing this unique form of meet and greet, I know firsthand the increased traffic over the last 14 years coming through the transfer station and on the roadway on whose edge we stand."
Let us focus on the real issue and keep politics out of it. The longstanding tradition of greeting residents at the transfer station is not going anywhere. We will just be a bit more colorful in our safety vests.
JANET FORMAN
Mayor
Mullica Township
Thursday, August 27, 2009
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28 comments:
She's not going to convince anyone with this letter.
Really?
All BS.
Mayor Forman must think that people who subscribe to the Press are particularly gullible.
A vest really won't help someone if a person is deliberately trying to run them down with his truck. Will it Janet?
I am truly surprised that you would write this letter under the circumstances.
"I know firsthand the increased traffic over the last 14 years coming through the transfer station and on the roadway on whose edge we stand."
What? Was there some local building boom that I missed in the last 14 years or was this statement just intended to dupe newcomers in our town? The only thing that has changed in 14 years is that more and more people have seen through Chasey's lies and she has increasingly used her minions to try to keep unfavorable information from the people. First it was the claim that the residents' No Dump signs were illegal without permits. The ACLU had to set her straight on that one. Then the ludicrous claim that house-to-house pampleteering would somehow affect storm water control and should be banned. What a joke that concern was. And now the push for a permit and insurance to campaign outside the dump. Even her normally deferential solicitor couldn't go along with that one.
I have never seen any campaigner, including Chasey herself, standing on the edge of the road at the dump. Why would anyone do that when they can safely stand 12 feet off the road? Nobody is so stupid to put themselves in harm's way by standing on the edge of a road when they don't have to. Maybe Chasey figured that she could fool those residents who don't go to the dump and don't know the layout.
Abraham Lincoln once said, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time." Let's hope that the majority aren't fooled by Chasey in this election.
How much are we paying the twp. attorney to write letters for Chasey and Forman. The two are only BARELY LITERATE at best, and it was obvious that they did not write these letters on their own. The clue? If Forman REALLY wrote the letter, she'd be trying to stick it to the Green Guys a lot worse than what she did.
Geez, usually it's Forman accusing everybody else of conspiracy theories...now she is blaming the opposition for politicizing? Now who has the conspiracy theory going?
To the 9:26 poster:
If Forman's opposition is at the dump, they'll put a bulls-eye on the vest!
After reading this sad excuse of a letter from Crybaby Janet it is very clear why she had Dawn who seems much more articulate and brighter than her make the presentation at the meeting.
I don't think that someone who is being intentionally targeted should be wearing a brightly colored vest. Camouflage is more like it.
Janet, I don't believe you.
Janet, who wrote the letter for you?
And for what purpose does the mandatory $100 application fee serve other than to discourage people from using the facilities that they have already paid for. Give me a break. It never was about safety but to keep people they don't like away. JIF is just a convenient excuse.
Not Guilty! Not guilty!
Forman obviously ordered the staff at Townhall to write the letter. Her track record of doing absolutely nothing except to instigate betrays her.
re 12:01pm
I think you should send your comment to the Press.
Forman has shown with this letter what a spin artist she is.
Any one who has been following this story will have a good laugh at her feeble excuse to blame JIF for this ordinance.
Forman states"The long standing tradition of greeting residents at the transfer station is not going anywhere."
How come you didn't finish that statement,Janet?
You should have added(is not going anywhere)because St. Amour, Graebener,the ACLU, the Alantic City Press and JIF said it was unconstitutional for you and Chasey to try and stop the campaigning at the "dump."
You and Chasey put a lot of harsh restrictions on us that other towns belonging to JIF do not have.
I really hope this is brought out during Chasey's reelection bid.
Neither one of you have ever been for the people of this town and this is another nail to shut the door on Chasey.
re 8:36 pm
If you're going to put truth into Forman's statement,why not finish Chasey's quote with the truth.
"As someone who has spent more time than anyone utilizing this unique form of meet and greet, I know first hand"...what an effective and cost saving way of campaigning this is. I would try anything to keep my opponents from impressing the public with their great appearance,fresh ideas and wonderful qualifications.
re 1011pm;You're certainly right on with that post. I can only add that with mailings there are residents who wont read any politcal stuff since they get overwhelmed with it from all levels. However at the town dump not only does Chasey hand out her stuff on a personal basis she and her friends have no problem with residents pulling their vehicles along the side of the road and chatting for hours which is far more effective than mailings which dont even get opened.Strangely she had no problem with any safety issues all those years and never told her caravan to leave the area due to safety issues.
RE: 11AM post
This is reason why Chasey has repeatedly agreed at meetings that since people can always use the mail that other forms of campaigning can be prohibited in Mullica. She knows that mailings are the least cost-effective way of reaching people and that the incumbent usually has the advantage over the challenger when most people don't know who is running or aren't aware of the issues. The effort to close down the dump as a campaign site is just one of a number of recent attempts to limit the methods of campaigning in Mullica. The theft and destruction of political signs by a few partisans every campaign, as an example, is not some political prank but a concerted effort to diminish the visibility of the contenders. Literally scores of their signs are stolen or destroyed every election. These thieves know that with a low voter turn out that their candidate wins.
Just the fact that none of the other towns are forced by JIF to change all their laws, shows what liars Chasey and Forman are.
They used JIF as an excuse to stop the campaigning and when that didn't work,they had to try to cover their tracks with the liability issue.
They say they are protecting the taxpayers but they are really putting the liability ON the taxpayers and protecting the insurance company.
Talking about thieves! What about all the taxpayer money that was spent by Chasey and Crowe for their personal cell phone use. Larry pressed charges against Crowe and I believe that Chasey is the only one who would not give up her phone and we are still paying for her usage.
That's an example how little they care about spending YOUR money.
Forman said that Graebener and St. Amour turned this into a political debate. That's not correct either.
Forman and Chasey are the ones who turned this into a political debate when they tried to take away our constitutional rights.
Chasey actually said she saw no difference between a birthday party and campaigning.
We should all be grateful that we have St. Amour and Graebener to fight for our rights and our town.
Once again Kennedy has betrayed all of us with his blind devotion to Forman and Chasey and his obvious stupidity.
Is it really going to be 15 years with Cathy Chasey on the Committee?
Go back in your records and find out how much your tax bill was 15 years ago.
What kind of new services have we gotten for all that money? I can't think of anything.
I recall Chasey making the argument several years back, just following her tough re-election, that since the town turned down the girl scouts' request to sell cookies outside the dump that no one should be able to use it. This was the start of her blatant attempts to stop her opponents from campaigning. The election made it clear she needed to stifle the opposition whenever and wherever she could.
The condensed version of Mayor Forman's letter to the Press: "Whine, whine, whine, whine, whine." The end.
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