Dear Gadfly readers,
With several days having past, Mullica Tax Force has not received a single e-mail challenging the validity of any of the statements posted on the site. Moreover, I have attended two public meetings this week (the budget workshop and the committee meeting) which were also attended by Ms. Forman and at which I would have graciously accepted any verifiable corrections. Again, not a single word.
The current administration has instead embarked on a campaign to stifle public comment that either questions the motives of the administration or points out any inconsistencies with their message. The public comment segment of the meeting is the opportunity for interested parties to raise questions or concerns of any nature pertinent to our government. At last night's meeting, the mayor sought to shut down commenting and questioning that did not agree in lockstep with his positions. This is not open government, which was promised by Jim Brown. Further, Mr. Brown is allowing audience members to heckle those who have the floor in public discussion who do not agree with him. This is a return to the embarrassment of the Chasey years in Mullica and a gross departure from the professionalism of meetings in 2010.
We need to stop thinking of things in terms of Republicans and Democrats and get on a track that benefits all of Mullica. Mr. Brown is polarizing the community with his partisan bullying at a time when everone should be invited to the table. This has long been the tack of Mullica's Republican Club. His demeanor leads one to believe that he only cares about certain residents here in town.
It is time for all of the good Republicans in Mullica, the ones who care about the community and care about taxes, to stand up for what is right and to show up at meetings and ask Mayor Brown to be respectful of all members of the community. If he mis-spoke on his campaign materials, just say it. Stop ducking the truth---it only makes the new administration look corrupt and laughable. Then we can all move on. When you put something in writing, you need to own it. You can't just bully your way out of addressing it.
Michael St. Amour
Moderator, Mullica Tax Force
www.mullicataxforce.com
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
UPDATE ON MULLICA TAX FORCE'S CHALLENGE TO CORRECT ANY MIS-STATEMENTS
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
26 comments:
I just commented on your other post, I was at the meeting last night and Mike was interrupted during public discussion loudly by Chasey and also a couple of other people not so noisy who did not agree. They were calling him a sore loser, but they looked more like bad winners.
At the Budget meeting last Monday, Mayor Brown quickly recommended not pursuing Tax or Sheriff sales "right now" stating that they should wait. With the township having to budget for next year while knowing from experience that there are late or no show payers, what is the benefit of waiting? Is it political? If you don't pay your taxes, you shouldn't be allowed to vote.
And the township would only benefit from the tax sale.
RE 7:12 PM Post
I beleive that when Brown said "not now", he was responding to some committeeperson's suggestion that the township consider giving discounts to those who paid their taxes on time so that more residents would be encouraged to pay them earlier rather than later. Dawn Stolenwerk supported Brown, stating that there were significant financial penalties for those who paid their taxes late and that they used the stick approach rather than the carrot to get complience.
re 7:12 pm
" If you don't pay your taxes,you shouldn't be allowed to vote."
I disagree with your statement. I would think that if a person doesn't pay their taxes,it means they are hurting. Maybe they lost their job or are barely able to put food on their table. They are already going to be subjected to tax liens and penalties. The debt just gets bigger and bigger.
Taking away their right to vote because they don't have money is unthinkable to me. They are American citizens who have equality in the voting booth regardless of their bank account.
It seems Janet Forman is stating that she is disgusted by the behavior of some people at public meetings. She thinks it's rude,ignorant or stupid or likely all three.
She and Chasey are the biggest offenders of laughing,calling out whenever they please and speaking among themselves while people are trying to hear the business of the meeting. Jim Brown does nothing to curtail their behavior.
Rude,ignorant,stupid and disgusting behavior by two former mayors being aided by a third of equal character.
Hey kid it's hot down here! Miss you a bunch though. I see my girl "the Auto Insurance Fraud Queen" has been real busy causing striffe. My boss calls her his special girl, don't worry she will be here with me in this spa one day too. Any how, was a bit bored so I wanted to say hi and give you my latest insight. Got some new nicknames too. Here we go, we have James the "Chief Redcheeks Brown" leading the pack with his sidekick Larry the "Rifle" Riffle. Susan "Kumbaya" Polk loving everybody and Anthony "on the River" Gabris voting to the wims of the Republican Klan. The good thing is I can see alot from down here. Not much has changed up there in Mullica, same old stuff, fraud, corruption, backroom deals, bully attempts to shut up anyone who questions the powers that be. Yep some real good stuff. Got to go though, will shout out o you again soon,
Miss Ya much,
Larry
Anonymous said: "If you don't pay your taxes,you shouldn't be allowed to vote."
This would violate the 14th Amendment,that gives the citizenry equal protection under the law.
Not everyone in Mullica is flush with money these days in this poor economy. Some of our neighbors are either unemployed or can only get parttime work and struggling to keep their homes. As a community,we need to show some compassion for them and not be so quick to criticize their misfortune and kick them out. We're better than that. The township already hammers them with stiff penalites when they can't pay on time. Let's not make matters worse by putting more pressure on them right now, OK?
RE: 7:12 pm
" If you don't pay your taxes,you shouldn't be allowed to vote."
If our property taxes weren't so godawful, ridiculously high already, this wouldn't be an issue. We are all paying way too much today and someday someone on committee will try to do something about it. As George Bush Sr. promised, "Read my lips; no new taxes", before he raised taxes and was defeated in his re-election bid. This will happen to J.Brown and crew if they renege on their campaign promise of no tax increase.
"She (Forman) and Chasey are the biggest offenders of laughing,calling out whenever they please and speaking among themselves while people are trying to hear the business of the meeting."
That's how they got the name "Heckle and Jeckle".
My guess is that the rhetoric in Brown's and Riffle's glossy campaign postcards were not their own words but were written for them at the state level of the Republican Party, which is trying to get control of all of Atlantic County. Afterall, Trenton is where the mailings originated. There is too much of a disconnect from what the postcards said and the real situation here in Mullica. That's why Brown and Riffle are now having such a difficult time defending their statements. They never made them but can't admit to it.
"Another ongoing aspect of the desire of the Mullica republican leadership to hide fiscal irresponsibility and incompetence and back room sellouts of the residents."
"What these Mullica republicans are truly stealing from the people of our community is openness and democracy and we are all a loser,Democrat,Independent and Republican." 4/30/06 Larry Angel
Our town has went backward to the bad old days of stifling free speech and trying to suppress questions of committee accountability. It has been quite obvious that Chasey and Forman have been controlling the puppet regime.
Re 9:55 am
If you were running for office,would you put your name on statements that were totally untrue and make fanasty promises?
While I do believe that the mailers were ordered through the county,I think the local republicans put in the words.
Brown and Riffle either went along with the lies or did NO investigation of the real facts.
Which do you pick? Either liars or idiots? You're right they are trying everything,heckling ,insults,gaveling,to block the truth because they can't admit that they deceived the public.
2:29 pm post
Looks like you pegged it right, although I would say they're both liars and idiots at the same time.
I don't think that Riffle and Brown, or their local supporters, are bright enough to write those postcards. They were too slick. They came from the state Republicans, fabricated by a North Jersy advertising firm and mailed out from Trenton.
Re 9:55 am
I think that you give Brown and Riffle too much credit to say that they wrote those cards. I've never been impressed by the quality of the political literature eminating from the local Repulican Club. Its always been garbage in the past - poorly written, full of mispellings and superficial.
Re 2:29 pm
I'm not 9:55 but if I was approached to run for office by people who I "thought" were very respectable and I had been "out of the loop" for 30 years,I might have believed everything they told me.
If I won and found out that everything they said was a lie,I would be totally embarrassed and angry. I would have to make a choice of continuing the charade and being their pawn or tell them that because they made me look like a fool and lied to me ,I owe them nothing.
No matter how hard it would be,I would have to publicly acknowledge my mistakes and cut the offenders out of my life. I would then go on to try to do the best I could for the people of Mullica.
Of course,if someone knew that he was campaigning on lies from the start and was part of the club,he would bring in ignorant hecklers and try to gavel down the truth. He would give jobs to cronies,funnel campaign contributions to skirt the law,bring in his mentor's attorneys,encourage his mentors to spread false information and allow his mentors free rein to harass anyone who questions him.
From the proof that's been presented so far,I would have to say that that Brown and Riffle are falling into the "liar" category very easily.
Re 9:55AM
In the last issue of the Tax Force 2/9/11,it was stated that "Riffle tried to explain away his campaign rhetoric by stating that his taxes had been raised nearly every year in the 20 + years that he lived in Mullica." This was his definition of the "fiscal fiasco" mentioned in this literature.
He's not very quick in thinking up lies under pressure or maybe he doesn't know that 3/4 of those 20 years of increases had Chasey involved in them and the last decade had Forman's fingers in the pot.
No doubt he will be given remedial education by the "club" in how to evade questions and not implicate them in future statements.Bad,bad boy.
re 5:09 pm
I am inclined to agree with you.
9:55AM post
The voters did not put Chasey or Forman back in office. The prevailing consensus with the voters at the time was that the both of them were doing more harm than good under their leadership. Chasey was defeated after 15 years in office and Forman,seeing the handwriting on the wall,decided not to run for her third term.
The same group that elected Chasey and Forman now put Brown and Riffle in office. Based on their campaign rhetoric,the expectation was that they would be different than Chasey and Forman. They would "cut the fat" and stop Mullica's "fiscal fiasco" caused by previous administrations, when Chasey and Forman were in power. They would conduct an audit to see where the waste was. They were their own men,not to be influenced by partisan politics. Based on their performance so far,they're not getting off to a good start,that's for sure.
Re 10:04 am
Both Riffle and Brown are following in Chasey and Forman's footsteps.
It's like they have leashes around their necks and are their obedient puppies being dragged into oncoming traffic.
If the people who voted Chasey out think they are getting a different agenda,they are in for a big surprise.
There's a new Tax Force article. How much would it cost to hire one full time police officer? I was very surprised to find out how little it would cost me as a taxpayer.
I really think this should be investigated for the welfare of our police dept. and our citizens.
Re 3:47 pm
I agree with you. The only problem is that I read in one of the other articles that Brown threw out all funding for another officer before the 1st budget meeting.
It doesn't make any sense to me that our guys will be working double shifts and collecting over time when we could hire another cop to ease the stress on our force and probably save money at the same time.
This should be looked into and be brought to the table. I feel that Brown is putting our whole police force in danger because of exhaustion of the men. They have to be physically in shape and mentally alert to deal with the life and death decisions forced on them at any moment.
Re 5:33 pm
Maybe the whole police force should show up at the next budget meeting and let Brown know how his decisions are affecting the health and safety of the department.
If Brown would stop catering to his cronies and quit worrying about Taste Buds,I could put in a dime a day and get two cops.
That would benefit the whole community and not just the club.
Does anybody know how many people are behind in paying taxes???
Does anybody know how many people are behind in paying taxes???
Less than 5%.
Post a Comment