Citizens should get involved, take back Monroe

It should come as no surprise to anyone following the political activities in Monroe that our mayor is at it again. Recently he has been caught consulting for a political action committee (PAC) that has as a contributor a developer who is planning projects in Monroe.

Anyone who has as much political acumen or holds as many state jobs as our mayor does could see that this is a blatant violation of the public's trust. While it may not be a legal violation, it is definitely not within the sprit of the law that makes it imperative to maintain impartiality in dealing with potential issues that may be voted upon. Anyone with common sense could see that this situation is a conflict of interest, yet our experienced mayor doesn't have a clue.

After all the facts have come out, he goes into damage-control mode. Only then does he consult with his close friend, business partner and township attorney, Joel Shain, who gives it his approval. Sounds like this should have been done when he started his one-customer consulting firm. Now, the mayor decides to drop his only consulting customer. If there was nothing untoward about this relationship, why has the mayor decided to step away from it?

The next step in damage control is obfuscation. What better way to do this than to create a campaign-finance review panel? This will take the spotlight away from the actions of the mayor and put the focus of the public's attention on the panel. This panel, which is appointed by the mayor, will merely be another pawn for the mayor to use in his game of public deception. After its members make their recommendations, the mayor will take credit for improving the ethics in Monroe, and all will be forgotten until the next scandal.

The culture of corruption is so prevalent in New Jersey that the voters seem to be numb to any new scandals. Now that it has been exposed in Monroe, we need to stand up and take notice. The only way to avoid this in the future is to force our elected officials to have a more open government. That means putting the Township Council minutes on the township Web site for all to see. That means putting term limits on our council members to avoid long-term relationships with builders that can be used to influence their votes.

Monroe is too good to turn our backs on. I urge the concerned citizens of Monroe to take back our town from the hands of corruption and get involved.

Thomas Nothstein

Monroe