Petition is not partisan
BY WILLIAM E. MARSALA, ESQ. Guest Contributor
I have just read an article written by reporter Carol Fletcher about the petition being circulated to change the form of government in Ringwood. This is not an accurate account of Ms. Fletcher's conversation with me.
First and foremost. no petition has been filed by anyone. Secondly, I distinctively informed Ms. Fletcher that neither I nor anyone else from the Republican Party was the force, which began circulating this petition! I distinctively informed Ms. Fetcher that a group of five (5) citizens were the force behind the circulation of this petition. I informed Ms. Fletcher that these citizens were of different party affiliations and provided to her the names of these citizens. Lastly, I distinctly informed Ms. Fletcher, that 1, as an elected official, would not commence such a petition nor would I support a petition if commenced by a political party in an attempt to negate the people's vote.
Did I start this petition? No! Am I circulating the petition? Yes! I informed Ms. Fetcher that I was approached to sign the petition. I signed the petition and asked if I was allowed to circulate the petition. I was told that I was allowed to circulate the petition and began to do so.
Why do I support the petition? I support the petition for the following reasons:
(1) It is a non-partisan petition supported by regular citizens like me and everyone else in our town. It is supported by citizens of various parties. One of those who commenced the petition is someone who was appointed by the present majority to chair a commission in town. This alone is evidence that the petition is not partisan.
(2) What the petition supports is a greater voice in government for the citizens of this town.
(3) Ringwood's government is outdated and we are only one of a few towns who use this form of government.
(4) For the first time in years, the Borough Manager, the person who runs the day to day operations of the town, has no vested interest in the town. The present Borough Manager does not live in Ringwood nor is he elected but he controls the purse strings and, ultimately, your money.
(5) This petition will allow you to vote for your mayor. The mayor will be elected by the people of the entire town.
(6) People get to vote for their mayor. The Mayor's term would be four (4) years and each council person's term would be three years. Every year two (2) council seats will be up for re-election. This makes the Mayor and every council person more accountable for their actions. It also makes the parties and people who support these council people more accountable. These means that the people have a greater voice because they get an opportunity to vote every year.
This is not about changing the rules as Ms. Fletcher asserts. Our form of government should have been changed a long time ago. I have never lived in any municipality in this country, except for Ringwood, where I did not vote for my Mayor.
I will say that whoever does oppose this petition does not want the people to have a voice in government, they want a closed government and they don't want you to vote for your mayor. This is un-American and not a Democratic process!
I guess I have learned a lesson, which is that when I speak to reporters I will respond with “no comment" or I will ask that our conversation be taped to protect both myself and the reporter. Oh, by the way, many people, Democrat, Independent, Republican and Undecided, have requested to both sign and circulate the petition.
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William E. Marsala, Esq. is. a Republican Councilman in the Borough of Ringwood.
Trend's Editor's note:
While we welcome all letters and criticisms of our paper, we take some exception to some of the assertions in the above letter. First, the article in question in no way said that a petition had been filed. Nor does it mention who initiated the petition. While Marsala provided one name of a purported petition seeker, that person never returned calls.
The article also does not say that Marsala started the petition but it does state some of Marsala reasons for supporting the petition. The councilman also objects to the article's headline., "Lose an election then let's change the rules." He is incorrect in the assumption that the reporter Carol Fletcher wrote the headline. She did not, the editor writes the headlines, and the headline was based on a quote in the story by the council's lone independent, Ted Taukus, who later repeated it when he told Marsala in a public meeting that it was blatant attempt by Republicans to regain control in Ringwood. Our story, in fact, included a rebuttal to Taukus from Marsala.
Lastly,, the article was not about Marsala, but about the efforts to change the form of government. The effort came suspiciously after Democrats took recent control of the council.