Issues

Environment

• Our Children's future depends on a safe environment.  We cannot allow Union County to become a dumping ground for medical waste and New York City garbage. 

• Preservation of remaining open space is vital to ensuring both the quality of life and economic success of each town in Union County. In recent years, some of our County parks have been seriously neglected. Lake Surprise in the Watchung Reservation was allowed to deteriorate to the point where was nothing more than a mosquito factory. It was only after Republicans chose to make this a campaign issue that the Freeholder Board was embarrassed into taking action.

Equal Education for All

• Our County College should be financially accessible to all residents, not just a chosen few. Have you or your child received a Freeholder scholarship?  

Unified and Safer Neighborhoods

• We must work together as one county, as one community, to stop drugs and violent crime from tearing apart the fabric of our neighborhoods.  We must keep our sense of family and values safe.

Taxes

• Whether we own or rent our homes, each of us actually contributes to the property taxes collected. In many Union County communities, the county accounts for the 2nd largest component of your property tax bill. Yet, in most towns, the local municipal government provides far more services than the County.

• The Republican Vision for Union County government states that local governments should have more to say about the use of their tax dollars. County government should provide a means for it's municipalities to share services, but not create services that the towns don't want or need.

Debt

• The amount of new debt acquired by the current Board of Chosen Freeholders is alarming. The current Freeholder Board doesn't miss an opportunity to boast about projects such as Pocket Parks and Downtown Union County. What they don't say is that these were all funded through sale of bonds, NOT from taxes collected. This is money that we and our children will have to repay over the next 20 years.

Communication

• In order to effectively represent the citizens of Union County, elected officials must be available to listen to their concerns. The closed door meetings and back-room politics used by the current Freeholder Board prevent the introduction of public opinion to our political process.

• Citizens should not be forced to file Open Public Records Act (OPRA) forms to simply learn how their tax dollars are being spent... or wasted!

It's Time for a Change

• All 9 members of the current Board of Chosen Freeholders are Democrats. During the past 8 years they have used this absolute monopoly of our county government to increase spending & debt, put family and friends on the county payroll, encourage needless duplication of services and create a growing bureaucracy.